OPINION:
When our Founding Fathers drafted the Declaration of Independence, they wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The last phrase was a variation of the British triad: life, liberty and property. The Founding Fathers had it right - the pursuit of happiness incorporates private property ownership.
We are engaged in a conversation about the merits of homeownership and how much our government should support it. While the conversation is appropriate, the lack of material information in the debate is astonishing. I acknowledge that the cost of the excesses of the past decade cannot be ignored or minimized. That said, they should not be amplified to the extent that we forget or ignore the true value of homeownership to our great nation.
Everyone needs shelter. In an accomplished economy such as ours, government support of that goal should not be questioned. Homeownership is not for everyone. We should not encourage people to buy homes they cannot afford. The mortgage market is a mess. We need a better system that ensures financing is available and affordable, promoting sustainable homeownership rather than greed.
Homeownership is better for people over the long term. Even after the housing correction, the average net worth of the average American homeowner is $175,000, compared to just $4,000 for the average American renter. Homeowners can draw upon that net worth when they age, reducing the need for government assistance. Homeownership supports communities. People who own homes are invested in their neighborhoods. Crime is lower in neighborhoods where homeownership is high, and children of homeowners do better in school. Homeownership also creates jobs. Housing accounts for 19 percent of our gross domestic product. Every home purchased pumps $60,000 into the local and national economies, supporting 80 workers. Homeowners support our government. They pay more than 80 percent of all federal income tax - that’s after credits and deductions. Any attempt to raise the tax burden on homeowners is unfair.
The people of the United States have believed for 234 years that property ownership is a core value for this country. For centuries, people have fought for the right to own land, and even today, people still come to America to fulfill that dream. To say that America should no longer invest in homeownership, to say that we should stop encouraging people to own a home because the system failed them is to forget who we are as a nation. In the dark days of the Great Depression, our nation could have abandoned homeownership for all of the same reasons that are being discussed today. Instead, we chose to build a better housing system so we could prosper as individuals and as a nation. We owe it to our children and our grandchildren to do the same.
RON PHIPPS
President
National Association of Realtors
Warwick, R.I.
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