Across Southern California, homeownership rates aren't equal.
In the Los Angeles Metro Area, which encompasses Los Angeles and Orange Counties, about 58% of white households own homes. About a 34% of Black households own homes, and 39% of Latino households own homes.
In the Ventura Metro area, 70% of white households own homes versus about half of Black and Latino households.
In the Riverside-San Bernardino Metro area, about 72% of white households own homes, versus about 43% of Black households and 57% of Latino households.
Experts said part of the reason for the homeownership gap is racist policies that date back decades.
Racially restrictive covenants were restrictions written into contracts, typically a deed to a house, that made it impossible for a person of color to buy the house. Redlining classified communities of color as "hazardous" for mortgage lenders. Housing acts in the 1950s and 1960s displaced hundreds of thousands of families of color.
Also, people of color tend to get approved for loans at a lower rate, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from 2018 and 2019.
In the Los Angeles Metro Area, about 64% of white potential homebuyers who applied for a loan were approved, but about 56% of Black potential homebuyers were approved and about 59% of Latinos were approved.
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