PROPERTY IS POWER! The illusion of progress: Why Black homeownership still lags nearly 60 years after the Fair Housing Act

by Dr. Anthony Kellum

 In 2025, the Black homeownership rate in America stands at approximately 44–46 percent. That’s only 3 to 5 percentage points higher than it was in 1968, the year the Fair Housing Act was signed into law. Let that sink in. Fifty-seven years have passed, and yet, despite legislation intended to outlaw housing discrimination, Black Americans remain largely shut out of the American Dream of homeownership. Meanwhile, White homeownership has soared to over 70 percent, exposing a persistent and deeply entrenched racial gap in property ownership.

1968: A Landmark Law with Little Muscle

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was signed one week after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was meant to be a turning point, a legislative acknowledgment that housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin was morally and legally unacceptable. But while the act promised equality, it lacked real teeth.

There were no strong enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance. There were no substantial penalties for violators. And there was little federal or local will to monitor systemic racism embedded in banking, real estate and lending institutions.

1968–2025: A Dream Deferred

In the decades that followed, Black Americans continued to face:

• Redlining, where banks and the government refused to back mortgages in Black neighborhoods.
• Predatory lending, which targeted Black borrowers with high-interest subprime loans even when they qualified for better terms.
• Discriminatory zoning and appraisal practices, which suppressed Black wealth creation by devaluing homes in majority-Black communities.
• Economic exclusion, as Black families earned less, inherited less, and had fewer opportunities to build generational wealth.

All of this added up to what we see today: a Black homeownership rate that has barely moved in almost six decades.

The Homeownership Gap: Not Just a Statistic, But a Structural Crisis

The Black-White homeownership gap in America is no accident; it is the outcome of intentional policy decisions, institutional racism, and deeply embedded structural barriers that have persisted across generations. In 1968, when the Fair Housing Act was signed, the Black homeownership rate hovered around 41–43 percent. Today, in 2025, it sits at just 44–46 percent. Meanwhile, White homeownership has surged past 70 percent, creating a staggering 25+ point gap, a gap that has actually widened since the passage of the very law that was supposed to close it. How is this possible? Because racism evolves. It didn’t vanish with a signature, it became more subtle, more algorithmic, more embedded in pricing structures, zoning laws, and lending decisions. Discrimination adapted to modern systems and continued to lock us out.

This matters. Homeownership isn’t just about shelter, it’s about equity that builds generational wealth, stability that anchors families and communities, and peace that provides security and a future to plan for. The gap in ownership is not just an economic divide, it is a visible, measurable manifestation of systemic racial oppression. And every delay in ownership is a delay in freedom.

Where do we go from here? The time for symbolic gestures is over. We need strong enforcement of fair housing laws, targeted investment in Black communities, financial literacy programs that start early and go deep, and access to fair lending products FHA, VA, Conventional, Non-QM that actually serve the needs of our people. Most importantly, we need a cultural shift that understands that Property is Power!

Final Word: Hope + Action

We are not powerless. We are not behind because we’re incapable, we’re behind because the system was never built for us to win. The very systems that locked us out can be challenged, exposed, and dismantled. But we can’t fight them with hope alone. We need strategy, we need action, and we need economic discipline. It starts in our own households; get informed, get organized, fix your credit, and start saving. Talk to your children about owning land, building equity and creating legacy. Make ownership a non-negotiable value in your family. This is not optional, we fight by becoming economically unshakable. We are the answer we’ve been waiting for. Let’s build. Let’s buy. Let’s own. Because when we own, we rise.

(Dr. Anthony O. Kellum —CEO of Kellum Mortgage, LLC

Homeownership Advocate, Speaker, Author

NMLS # 1267030 NMLS #1567030

O: 313-263-6388 W: www.KelluMortgage.com.)

(Property is Power! is a movement to promote home and community ownership. Studies indicate homeownership leads to higher graduation rates, family wealth, and community involvement.)

 

 

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