Under the Lens

The Racial Wealth Gap—Moving to Systemic Solutions

As important as homeownership, business ownership, and higher education are, we must go beyond simply promoting more of each if we want to close the racial wealth gap. In this series, Shelterforce widens the lens on the racial wealth gap and what needs to be done about it.

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Race & Place

Doing “The Right Thing” Won’t Close the Racial Wealth Gap

Solutions to address racial wealth inequality have often focused on behavioral changes and individual choices, minimizing efforts to dismantle structural barriers to wealth accumulation for Black Americans.

Equity

Rethinking the Racial Wealth Gap With Anne Price

A lot of conversations about the racial wealth gap focuses too much on homeownership as the only solution. It’s much more complex. Shelterforce’s Miriam Axel-Lute talks with Anne Price, president of the Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

Financial System

Wealth Building Won’t Work While Wealth Extraction Continues

Typical approaches to closing the racial wealth gap focus on ways to help Black households build wealth. But for that to stick, we must also stop siphoning their wealth away.

Racial Wealth Gap

The Debt Trap: How Court Debt Widens the Racial Wealth Gap

Debt related to justice-system involvement falls most heavily on overpoliced communities, extracting wealth and preventing the building of more.

A smart phone and a ballpoint pen rest on top of a very expensive medical invoice indicating a patient's share of the bill. The bill is stamped past due.
Health

The Long Road to Recovery From Medical Debt

Disproportionate amounts of medical debt contribute to the racial wealth gap. What can be done?

Racial Wealth Gap

The Role Student Debt Plays in the Racial Wealth Gap

What explains the large disparity in Black and white student debt, and what can we do to address the student debt crisis and close the racial wealth gap?

Bank corporate finance building seen from below. The sign "bank" visible close. Sky reflecting in the glass facade. More Facade pictures below
Financial System

The Post-Protest Pledges: Banks’ Racial Equity Initiatives

It’s been almost two years since the racial justice reckoning galvanized big banks to promise billions of dollars to increase racial equity and close the wealth gap. What are those dollars going toward, and how big a change do they represent?

CDFIs

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Expanding Access to Capital for BIPOC Developers

The dual financial system affects not only Black and Brown consumers, but Black- and Brown-led firms. In the past two years, CDFIs have focused on shifting access to capital for developers.

Homeownership

A Home’s True Worth—Getting Beyond Appraisal Bias

Homes owned by people of color are appraised for less than identical homes owned by white families. Nationwide, that’s led to more than $150 billion in lost equity. How can we stop appraisal bias?

Race & Place

Blaming Redlining Is Too Easy

Expanding access to the housing market is unlikely to do much to close the racial wealth gap. Here’s why.

Homeownership

Property Tax Relief Programs Don’t Reach Many Homeowners of Color

Property tax relief programs can be essential for helping older and lower-income homeowners keep their homes. But access to them isn’t universal, or equitable.

Federal Policy

The Racial Wealth Gap Begins With Our Tax Code

Dorothy A. Brown’s The Whiteness of Wealth breaks down the deleterious effect our tax code has had on Black lives. Crown, 2021, 288 pp., $27 (hardcover); $17 (softcover).

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