The creation of homeownership: How new deal changes in banking regulation simultaneously made homeownership accessible to whites and out of reach for blacks

The Federal Government, in creating the section 203(b) mortgage insurance program during the New Deal, transformed homeownership in America into the main way that middle-class households build wealth. In the first three decades of the program's existence, however, this wealth-building opportunity was not shared with African-Americans. This Note reveals a pervasive, previously ignored regulatory system at both the state and federal level that gave the section 203(b) program a monopoly in offering the kinds of loans that first-time homebuyers; needed. These statutes meant that even nongovernmental entities could not offer most African-Americans the opportunity to become homeowners.