Racial Transition and Black Homeownership in American Suburbs

• Date: 01 January 1979
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627944100111
• Published date: 01 January 1979
• Author: Robert W. Lake
• Subject Matter: Articles

142

Racial

Transition

and

Black

Homeownership

in

American

Suburbs

By

ROBERT

W.

LAKE

ABSTRACT:

Home

ownership

has

traditionally

served

as

an

efficient

wealth

generating

mechanism

for

the

American

middle

class.

Recent

data

indicating

an

increase

in

the

metropolitan

area

black

population

living

in

the

suburbs

raise

two

questions:

is

black

suburbanization

equivalent

to

home

ownership,

and

does

black

suburban

homeowner-

ship

lead

to

equity

accumulation

and

the

generation

of

wealth?

These

questions

are

addressed

through

analysis

of

a

national

sample

of

suburban

housing

units

surveyed

in

1974,

and

again

in

1975,

as

part

of

the

Census

Bureau’s

Annual

Housing

Survey.

As

of

the

mid-1970s,

black

sub-

urbanization

has

not

been

entirely

synonymous

with

home-

ownership

nor

has

homeownership

automatically

served

the

wealth

generating

function

for

blacks

that

it

has

provided

for

earlier

suburbanizing

aspirants

to

the

middle

class.

Robert

W.

Lake

is

an

Assistant

Research

Professor

at

the

Rutgers

University

Center

for

Urban

Policy

Research,

New

Brunswick,

New

Jersey.

He

has

published

several

articles

on

race

and

housing,

and

is

currently

directing

a

two-year

study

of

institutional

barriers

to

black

suburban

homeownership.

This

analysis

is

part

of a

larger

study

financed

by

the

U.S.

Department

of

Health,

Education,

and

Welfare,

National

Institute

of

Mental

Health.

I

wish

to

thank

George

Stemlieb

for

comments

and

suggestions

on

this

paper

and

William

Dolphin

for

invaluable

computer

programming

assistance.

ANNALS,

AAPSS,

441,

Jan.

1979