Blacks and Latinos have always placed a high value on homeownership, and they, like all Americans, believe that being homeowners will improve their lives and increase their household wealth. Civil rights and progressive housing groups also stress the benefits of owning a home and the importance of increasing black and Latino homeownership rates. For example, at the beginning of the recent recession, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights stated that

Likewise, the National Council of La Raza noted at a congressional hearing in 2011 that

As demonstrated in the last chapter, blacks and Latinos have always faced special obstacles and barriers – many placed by the U.S. government – when they have tried to buy homes. Even when these groups manage to overcome these obstacles and barriers, however, they receive fewer of the economic and noneconomic homeownership benefits that white homeowners with similar incomes and credit profiles receive. Despite having heavier burdens but fewer benefits, blacks and Latinos continue to be encouraged to do whatever it takes to buy a house. Given the demographic shifts in the U.S. population, though, it now appears that blacks and Latinos are being steered toward homeownership for reasons that likely have very little to do with their financial well-being.