June is National Homeownership Month - Greater Baton Rouge Association of REALTORS®

June is National Homeownership Month, when we promote the benefits of homeownership and recommit to creating opportunities for future homeowners.

REALTORS® strive to ensure all Americans have the opportunity to achieve homeownership, the centerpiece of the American Dream and the pathway to economic well-being and intergenerational wealth-building.

NAR applauds the White House for marking National Homeownership Month with a new proclamation affirming the importance of expanding access to safe, affordable housing.

Hot or Not? Unpacking Today’s Housing Market

On Tuesday, June 21, Dr. Jessica Lautz, NAR’s vice president of demographics and behavioral insights, offered an exclusive Homeownership Month briefing for Members of Congress and staff. The latest trends and original data on the current state of the housing market is included with the session recording below and supporting materials.

Watch the webinar recording

Download Dr. Jessica Lautz’ presentation (PDF: 1.39 MB)

NAR’s Commitment to Expanding Homeownership

During Homeownership Month, NAR is sharing how REALTORS® help the millions of Americans who aspire to join the nation’s 83 million property owners.

Homeownership builds financial security. With 65.5% of Americans owning homes, the net worth of a typical homeowner is nearly 40 times the net worth of a non-owner.

The total value of owner-occupied housing rose by $8.2 trillion in the last decade, and the number of middle-income homeowners increased by nearly one million. The typical homeowner has accumulated more than $200,000 in housing wealth due to price appreciation.

However, a historic 50-year record shortage of affordable homes available for purchase has severely limited access to the residential real estate market.

Enabling more households to achieve sustainable homeownership earlier in life, and maintain that ownership throughout life, is crucial to narrowing the racial homeownership and housing wealth gaps.

What NAR Is Doing

NAR is working closely with the Biden administration, Congress, and our industry partners on solutions to increase homeownership opportunities in America.

Our work over the past year with the Biden administration on comprehensive policy proposals is building consensus that decisive action is needed.

The White House included a historic funding request for affordable housing in its fiscal year 2023 budget, released in March. This shows how seriously the White House views the supply crisis – further highlighted by the release of the President’s Housing Supply Action Plan in May.
NAR’s Vice President of Policy Advocacy Bryan Greene joined Gene Sperling, American Rescue Plan Coordinator and Senior Advisor to the President, and Erika Poethig, Special Assistant to the President for Housing and Urban Policy, for an April event with Third Way on increasing housing availability, affordability, and accessibility for all.
NAR held a Policy Forum on May 20 focused on reforms that can open the door to more homeowners. The event, co-hosted with the Urban Institute, included a discussion with James Wylie from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on expanding access to underserved markets through sustainable and equitable access to credit.
President Biden issued a Proclamation to mark National Homeownership Month 2022, saying in part: “… we recognize the importance of housing for all Americans. Whether owning, renting, or aspiring to do either, we renew our commitment to lowering costs and expanding access to safe, affordable homes that all Americans need and deserve. Together, we can ensure that every American has a safe place to call home.”

In early May, thousands of REALTORS® descended on Washington, D.C., and hand-delivered to Congress a comprehensive list of actions they can take to improve access to homeownership, including cosponsoring the following legislation:

Housing Supply and Affordability Act (S. 902, H.R. 2126): Creates a Local Housing Policy Grant program for cities, states, tribes, and regional associations to enact pro-housing policies at the local level.
Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA) (S. 98, H.R. 2143): Offers tax credits to attract private investment for building and rehabilitating owner-occupied homes, creating a pathway to neighborhood stability through sustainable homeownership. The NHIA would expand homeownership opportunities and provide a powerful incentive to build and rehabilitate 500,000 homes for low- and moderate-income homeowners over the next decade. The NHIA is intended to fill the gap in areas where it is often more expensive to develop or rehabilitate than appraisal values will support.
GREATER Revitalization of Shopping Centers Act (H.R. 5041): Creates a grant within the Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program to incentivize public and private investment in abandoned and underutilized shopping malls. The Section 108 Program provides communities with a source of low-cost, long-term financing for economic and community development projects, which has proven effective in drawing additional investments into projects. This legislation would provide an additional grant of up to $5 million to communities with qualifying shopping centers to repurpose them for a range of uses, including the development of affordable housing.
Revitalizing Downtowns Act (S. 2511, H.R. 4759): Creates a Qualified Office Conversion Tax Credit to convert unused office buildings into residential, commercial, and mixed-use properties.
Housing Fairness Act (S. 769, H.R. 68): Reauthorizes and increases funding for HUD fair housing testing and enforcement programs.

With our industry partners, NAR is pursuing bold goals to substantially narrow racial and ethnic homeownership gaps:

NAR is a founding member of the Black Homeownership Collaborative and supports the 3by30 initiative, with the goal of adding three million net new Black homeowners by 2030. The initiative’s seven-point plan includes policy solutions such as down payment assistance, alternative credit, and special purpose credit programs.
NAR advocates with our partners for greater affordable housing options – such as when NAR CEO Bob Goldberg stood with other housing leaders on the steps of the U.S Capitol last fall in support of affordable housing.

View more details on NAR’s policy priorities.

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