Homeownership has long been a central pillar of financial security for American families. However, the foreclosure crisis led many families and policymakers to revisit their beliefs about the role of homeownership in providing financial security and residential stability. Ten years later, home prices have rebounded and the foreclosure backlog has largely cleared. Yet important questions remain about whether the experiences of the last 10 years have changed anything fundamental about the role of homeownership in the lives of Americans.

To better understand these issues, Fannie Mae and the Joint Center for Housing Studies recently hosted a symposium which examined the evolving relationship between tenure choice, financial security, and residential stability. Video from the symposium is now posted on our website.  (Watch the first panel below.)

The papers presented at the symposium, and the panel discussions which followed, engaged an interdisciplinary group of researchers on a range of questions about households’ experiences with homeownership and other tenure options. What barriers currently limit access to homeownership and other similar tenure options? How have financing options evolved over the past decade and what emerging trends deserve more attention? How will older households manage their home equity, and what role will it play in their decisions about how and where to live? What are the consequences of homeownership, renting, and alternative forms of tenure for long-term outcomes? And, what are the implications of these and other questions for policy?

Papers from the symposium will be published this fall, and a some will also be published in a 2020 issue of the journal Cityscape.

Watch the other symposium panels.