Monday, April 27, 1998

U.S. home ownership

Another sign that these times are good times in the United States could be found in a couple of reports about home ownership the other day.

One report, issuing from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said almost 66 percent of American households now own homes, very near last summer's record high. Another report, this one coming from the Fannie Mae Foundation, said that about a third fewer blacks and Hispanics than in previous surveys say that they encounter discrimination whenever they try to buy a house.

It has long been believed that owning a home gives families a greater stake in their communities and contributes to social stability and civic responsibility. A high percentage of home ownership is also an indication of prosperity, of course. And when minorities say they are facing fewer roadblocks to buying homes, it's a seeming demonstration of increased racial harmony.

This country remains a far reach from Utopia, perhaps, but critics of its economic and political systems cannot find it easy to point to examples of other kinds of systems that are nearly so self-correcting or that have produced as much material plenty for as large a percentage of their populations.