Las Familias se Mueven Adelante: The Potential of Homeownership for Latino Immigrants' College Attainment

A lot has been said about homeownership recently, especially the role that homeownership plays in families moving forward (or, las familias se mueven adelante) on the path to economic mobility. Stable and affordable housing, qualities attributed to homeownership, may have significant and positive impacts on young people’s life outcomes. And there is particular interest on the relationship between homeownership and young people’s educational outcomes, like college attendance and graduation. In other words, improving homeownership may give young people and their families greater stability, which can lead to improved educational outcomes and ultimately upward economic mobility.

I am pleased to report on a forthcoming study in the Children and Youth Services Review by my colleagues, Hyun-a Song, a PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, and Willie Elliott, Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare and Senior Research Fellow here at New America. Their study adds to the discussion on homeownership as one of the first to examine the role of homeownership on college attainment among a sample of Latino immigrant young people from the Children Immigration Longitudinal Survey. Using a sample of 833 Latino immigrants from Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, FL and San Deigo, CA with an average age of 24, Song and Elliott examine both college attendance and graduation. Descriptively speaking, about 34% of Latino immigrants from their sample graduate from college, which stands in contrast to their attendance rate of 80%. More Latino immigrants attend and graduate from college when their parents are employed, have higher levels of education, and have higher incomes. They also attend and graduate from college at higher rates when their parents have savings set aside for them and own their own homes. Song and Elliott report that Latino immigrants are about two times more likely to attend college and one-and-a-half times more likely to graduate from college when their parents own their homes compared to those whose parents do not own their homes. More research is needed to understand the relationship between homeownership and educational outcomes among Latino immigrants. However, based on their findings, the authors recommend more responsible housing policies such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to help Latino immigrant families acquire stable and affordable housing so that their young people may experience improved educational outcomes. To review their findings, stay on the look-out for the published version of the study, which is forthcoming in the next few months.

Homeownership has been an area of interest here at New America for some time. We released a paper just yesterday authored by Jeffrey Lubell from the Center for Housing Policy along with Reid Cramer, Director of the Asset Building Program at New America. This recent paper encouraged the establishment of asset-building incentives (e.g., savings accounts) within U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) subsidized housing programs – tools that could be used to improve the stability and affordability of housing. See below for suggested readings of other New America publications on the topic of homeownership.