“While homeownership increased for Black Rhode Islanders in 2023 relative to 2019 … the percentage of Black Rhode Islanders living in owner-occupied homes continued to be lower than Black Americans overall, and much lower than white Rhode Islanders,” the latest report states.
According to the data, in 2023, overall 65 percent of Americans lived in owner-occupied homes. Some 72 percent of white Americans owned their homes in 2023, while 45 percent of Black Americans owned their homes.
In Rhode Island, the percentage of people living in owner-occupied homes was “lowest for Black Rhode Islanders relative to all other racial and ethnic groups with available data,” the report states.
Historically, the lack of Black homeownership has been the product of national, state, and local laws and policies, such as the “Federal Housing Authority’s redlining practices, GI Bill of 1944, [and] racism in banking,” according to the report.
The racial homeownership gap is not unique to Rhode Island.
In Massachusetts, for example, while almost 70 percent of white households own their home, only about 38 percent of Black households do, according to Census data included in a report from the Partnership for Financial Equity and the Woodstock Institute published in July 2024.
And the latest Rhode Island report notes “persistent racism in housing practices towards Black Rhode Islanders is pernicious.”
Specifically, the report points to a $9 million settlement Rhode Island US Attorney Zachary Cunha reached with The Washington Trust Company in 2023 to resolve allegations the bank engaged in lending discrimination by redlining majority Black and Hispanic communities in the state for years. The bank denied the allegations at the time of the settlement.
The report noted that in 2023, the rate of mortgage application denials was twice as high for Black Rhode Islanders compared to their white neighbors.
“Almost 12 percent of Black Rhode Islanders had their applications denied compared to 6 percent of white Rhode Islanders,” the report states. “Although there were fewer applicants due to high mortgage rates, mortgage loan application denial rates for Black Rhode Islanders were two-fold higher than the rates for their white counterparts in 2021 and 2022 as well.”
The report notes that in recent years, state lawmakers have taken steps to address the state’s housing shortage and to try to make homeownership more affordable.
In November, for instance, voters backed a $120 million housing bond, which included $20 million allocated to spur home ownership opportunities.
“The efforts to introduce housing legislation are important, however, this legislation fails to acknowledge enduring, legally sanctioned harm against Black Rhode Islanders that excluded them from homeownership opportunities and fails to offer legislative solutions to address those harms,” the report states.
In response, the report offers several policy recommendations. Among them are requests for lawmakers to: create financing programs for Black residents with lower credit scores; increase access to small-dollar mortgage assistance; address “Black Rhode Islanders’ perceived barriers to home ownership;” and pursue avenues to sustain Black homeownership rates.
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.