Homeownership and financial security of Chatham Habitat for Humanity partner families

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Last Modified
  • February 28, 2019
Creator
  • Satinsky, Sara
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of City and Regional Planning
Abstract
  • Homeownership has been described as "The American Dream" (Rohe, Van Zandt, & McCarthy, 2002a) and as "right up there with baseball and apple pie" (Cannato, 2010). Homeownership is a brass ring idealized in the American mind. Historically, homeownership has been promoted in the United States to express a variety of ideologies characteristic of their times: independence during the nation's first century, social status and health at the turn of the 20th century, sociopolitical sentiment during World War I, and societal improvement during the Hoover administration (Cannato, 2010). While ideologies promoting homeownership permeate American history, evidence of its benefits and costs has been reported only recently and much work remains in this area, particularly in relation to low-income populations. This paper describes the author's efforts to contribute empirical work to research on the connection between homeownership and financial security in a low-income population. It describes a project that used a qualitative approach to better explore and understand Habitat for Humanity (HFH) partner family perceptions of financial security. Financial security was chosen as the focus of the project for the following reasons: (1) a national economic crisis since previous research on perceptions of financial security at select HFH affiliates was conducted that may influence findings; (2) interest in the topic among staff at the Chatham County affiliate as possible data to report on grant applications to funders; (3) the author's interest in the topic's possible connections to recent foreclosure proceedings started at the affiliate; and (4) promotion by the head office of Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) of homeownership as a means of wealth accumulation and financial security for low-income partner families, based on research in the general population (Habitat for Humanity International, 2010a), when experts suggest in recent research that, in fact, there is a gradient such that higher-income families experience greater benefits from owning a home than their lower-income counterparts. This paper: (1) summarizes relevant literature about the financial benefits of homeownership to low-income populations generally and specific to Habitat for Humanity homeowners; (2) describes the methodology for a project with a local Habitat for Humanity affiliate to obtain partner family feedback about their perceptions of their own financial security and related behaviors over time, such as helping out a close relative in financial need, covering an unexpected bill, or using public assistance programs; (3) summarizes partner family responses; (4) describes common themes discussed by partner families; and (5) suggests implications for this affiliate in the future.
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  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Rohe, William
Degree
  • Master of City and Regional Planning
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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  • 34 p.
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  • Open access

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