Minnesota has a long and storied history of housing discrimination rooted in racism. Inequitable policies and practices that include redlining, restrictive covenants, predatory lending, and community disinvestment have continued to perpetuate stark racial disparities in opportunities for homeownership, particularly for people who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color. In fact, Minnesota’s racial homeownership gap is significantly wider than national disparities. According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the homeownership rate for Black Minnesotans is less than 25%, compared to 76% for White households. Nationally, those rates are 42% for Black households and 71% for White households. Among other benefits, homeownership is a viable tool for building generational wealth. Accordingly, longstanding and intentional practices of blocking access for certain populations have tangible ramifications for young people’s opportunities to build wealth and prosper.
Join us for a compelling virtual dialogue, (Un)equal Housing Access: Youth Perspectives on Homeownership, where local youth will share their lived experiences, insights, and goals concerning homeownership, as well as what they perceive as barriers. Youth panelists are cohort members of Youthprise’s Youth Cooperative Homeownership Initiative, a collaborative, youth-directed effort that seeks to create homeownership opportunities for young people. Youth panelists will offer their thoughts on two domains:
The Racial Gap in Financial Literacy: This segment will explore cultural attitudes about credit and debt, family conversations about finances, and the alarming lack of financial literacy education in schools.