Multifamily Homeownership: Pathways to Addressing the California Housing Crisis

The California housing crisis continues to make life difficult for both renters and those seeking a path to homeownership. Because homeownership represents the primary way Americans build wealth, this represents an urgent problem – and, due to the ongoing racial wealth and income gaps, this crisis falls particularly heavily on families of color. In California, the white homeownership rate of 63.1%, exceeds that of Asian, Indigenous, Latino or Black Californians. The Black homeownership rate, for example, is just 35.6%. Without affordable paths to homeownership, this racial wealth gap will persist, and very likely worsen.  

Multifamily homeownership – MHO for short — can be part of the solution to this problem. Approached thoughtfully, and with due recognition for both the opportunities and challenges involved, this form of homeownership has the potential to help our state reduce barriers to homeownership for working families by creating more affordable homes for purchase. 

For that to happen, we need to have a clear picture of what we’re talking about. Right now, we lack such a clear picture. 

Too often, U.S. housing policy imagines only two categories of housing: single-family homeownership and multifamily rentals. But the actual picture is much more complicated, and multifamily homeownership is a reality for millions of Americans. This form of homeownership gets relatively little attention or discussion in housing circles, which means the role it can play in solving the California housing crisis has been largely ignored. That’s no longer viable. MHO can play a significant role in solving our state’s housing crisis, but only if both its potential and its pitfalls are understood and addressed. This initial assessment of MHO in California and the U.S. seeks to establish a baseline from which we can improve our understanding of this area and develop policies that can take us to a future in which every resident has a comfortable, secure and affordable home, and homeownership is within reach of all who want it.