The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has named Bernard K. Jarvis as its Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer.

Jarvis will direct the financial and administrative affairs of the organization, working closely with Joint Center President and CEO Ralph B. Everett to upgrade the organization’s capabilities and secure its future as the nation’s premier research and policy organization focused on the concerns of African Americans and other people of color.

Prior to joining U.S. Trust, Jarvis was the chief financial officer at the Summit Charitable Foundation and the Summit Fund of Washington. Jarvis has also served as vice president for finance and administration at Clark Atlanta University, as well as assistant vice president for financial management at Howard University in Washington, D.C.  

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By Wilhelmina Leigh and Danielle Huff
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Homeownership is an integral part of the American dream. Yet for most African Americans, it is an unrealized dream.

In 2006, fewer than half (48.4 percent) of African American households owned homes.  In comparison, 75.8 percent of white households were homeowners.

While homeownership rates among African Americans have increased significantly since 1940, they continue to trail those of non-Hispanic whites by a large margin. The homeownership rate for African Americans in 2000 (46.3 percent) was equivalent to the homeownership rate for whites in 1940 (45.6 percent)!

The subprime mortgage market has been a topic of intense discussion this year. This has been especially true since the August stock market drop and the increased decline in the housing market, both of which were related to the explosive growth of the subprime mortgage market in recent years. This issue is of special concern to African Americans because African Americans are more likely than members of other racial/ethnic groups to have subprime mortgages.  

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies recently published two briefs addressing the issues of homeownership and subprime lending among African Americans. The first brief, African Americans and Homeownership: Separate and Unequal, 1940 to 2006, gives an overview of homeownership rates and trends among racial/ethnic subpopulations. The brief also lists examples of homeownership-building initiatives offered by governmental and nongovernmental organizations.  

The second brief, African Americans and Homeownership: The Subprime Lending Experience, 1995-2007, provides a primer on subprime lending and its effect on African Americans.  Additionally, it offers recommendations for further increasing homeownership rates and for taking steps to prevent another subprime mortgage market meltdown from happening again.

What do you think? What more can be done to increase homeownership rates among African Americans? Do you think the white-black gap in homeownership rates can ever be closed completely? What further recommendations would you offer to ameliorate the negative effects of subprime lending on African Americans? What steps can or should be taken by elected officials to help protect African Americans and other groups from being targeted for subprime loans? Should government officials even be involved?