Homeownership Today and Tomorrow:  Building assets while preserving affordability

Permanent affordability vs. building assets has often been considered an either-or proposition. It's not.

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By Miriam Axel-Lute

Federal, state, and local governments spend billions of dollars every year on programs designed to promote wider access to homeownership for low- and moderate-income families, but these programs only help one family, and then their subsidy is lost. Permanently affordable homeownership through shared-equity programs are a more efficient use of public funds. But can low-income families build enough equity in them to transform their circumstances? New research says yes.