Home ownership and access to opportunity

Home ownership and access to opportunity are foundations of the American ethos. While little research has explicitly examined a relationship between home ownership and opportunity, considerable empirical work has examined how home ownership impacts important elements of local opportunity structures as well as individual subjective perceptions of those structures. Available evidence suggests that home ownership may affect the opportunity structure by enhancing neighbourhood stability and civic involvement in local voluntary and political affairs. Home ownership may also impact perceptions of opportunity by increasing financial resources, enhancing psychological and physical health, and influencing the behaviour of youth. There is a great need for additional research that directly assesses the impacts of home ownership on local objective opportunity structures and the perception of those structures.