Homeownership and Community Involvement: Results From the 2019 Metro Atlanta Speaks Survey

ABSTRACT

While the relationship between homeownership and community involvement is mixed and unclear, this study aims to contribute to this debate by further examining the relationship between these two. Using data from the 2019 Metro Atlanta Speaks survey, we find that homeowners and residents with longer community tenure have higher odds of being involved in the community compared with renters in the metro Atlanta region of the U.S. state of Georgia. Among various community activities examined, homeowners are associated with higher odds of participating in parent–teacher association meetings, neighborhood association meetings, and public meetings held by local governments. Because housing needs of and challenges faced by residents are different, a balanced and comprehensive housing policy ensuring safe, decent, and affordable housing options—rental housing and homeownership opportunities—is crucial in stabilizing homeownership rates and in keeping residents in their communities longer.

KEYWORDS:

• community involvement
• community events
• housing policy
• homeownership
• Metro Atlanta speaks

Acknowledgments

This article benefited from very helpful comments by three anonymous reviewers and the editor. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A National Association of Realtors (2017) survey found that 84% of Americans believe that purchasing a home is a good financial decision—the highest number since 2007. A recent study by Voya Financial indicates that 85% of Americans want to own home rather than renting (Guerin, 2018).

2. For instance, President Clinton released the National Homeownership Strategy in 1995 with the goal to boost homeownership to an all-time high by the end of the century (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1995). Likewise, President Bush signed the American Dream Down Payment Initiative in 2003 to support first-time home buyers (The White House, 2003). President Obama’s Recovery Act in 2010 offered a tax credit of up to $8,000 for first time home-buyers, with the goal to stabilize homeownership rates (The White House, 2010).

3. For instance, the median household income for a typical homeowner in the United States is $72,500 a year, compared with a median household income of $37,500 for a typical renter in 2018 (Zillow Group, 2018).

4. Since homeowners are less mobile than renters, excessive focus on homeownership rates may increase unemployment rates, slow innovation and productivity, and increase political and economic inequality as homeowners favor restrictive zoning policies and other prohomeowner policies that disadvantage renters (Blanchflower & Oswald, 2013; Hall & Yoder, 2019).

5. For instance, nearly 9 of 10 mostly black- or African American-dominated ZIP Codes in metro Atlanta still have home values below the point they were at 12 years ago. This situation is even worse in South DeKalb, a mostly black- or African American-dominated area where home values are still 25% below what they were then (Badger, 2016). A recent study by Governing magazine ranked Atlanta the fifth most gentrifying city in the United States, with more than 46% of its census tracts, many of which are black- or African American-dominated, being gentrified in the city (Lartey, 2018; Maciag, 2015).

6. For instance, in 2018, 31% of blacks or African Americans had a bachelor’s degree or more, compared with 41% of whites, and the median household income for blacks or African Americans in metro Atlanta was $45,000, compared with $70,000 for whites (Atlanta Regional Commission, 2019b; Keenan, 2019b). Wage inequities may also explain this homeownership gap across racial groups in Atlanta. For instance, in 2016, black or African American workers earned $0.59 for every dollar earned by nonblack or non-African American workers (Atlanta Regional Commission, 2018a).

7. In 2019, the share of black or African American population in the city of Atlanta was 52%, compared with a 40% white share of the population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020).

8. The 13 counties included in the Metro Atlanta Speaks survey are Butts, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding, and Rockdale (Atlanta Regional Commission, 2019a).

9. The survey instruments, results and interactive dashboard, and main highlights of the 2019 Metro Atlanta Speaks Survey are available at https://atlantaregional.org/atlanta-region/regional-data-resources/metro-atlanta-speaks-survey-report/

10. Regarding individual counties, the 2019 MAS survey collected 250 responses from Butts County, 524 responses from DeKalb County, 676 resposnes from Fulton County, and 400 responses from the other counties. Oversampling was done in DeKalb and Fulton counties to find valid and statistically significant survey results (400 responses) for the City of Atlanta (Atlanta Regional Commission, 2019a).

11. For example, whereas many suburbs in the northern part are white-dominated, many suburbs in the southern part are black- or African American-dominated. Many high-paying jobs are clustered in the northern part of the region, whereas the vast majority of economically distressed areas are in the south of I-20. Home value appreciation rates are, in general, higher in the northern part compared with the southern part of the region (Badger, 2016; Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, 2000).

12. Broadly speaking, housing is coprovided by the market (private housing) and the welfare system (public housing or government-subsidized homeoweship scheme). Because residents associated with these homeownership types may have different sociodemographic characteristics, we expect that community involvement may also be varied based on homeownership types. However, since the 2019 Metro Atlanta Speaks survey did not ask about homeownership types, we are unable to empirically investigate whether homeownership types influence residents’ community involvement differently.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ramesh Ghimire

Ramesh Ghimire is a Spatial Economics Research Scientist at the Atlanta Regional Commission in Atlanta, Georgia, and an adjunct faculty member at Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.