THE SOCIAL BENEFITS OF HOMEOWNERSHIP - EMPIRICAL-EVIDENCE FROM NATIONAL-SURVEYS

Claims that homeownership is beneficial to both owners and society hav e not been examined empirically. This article explores evidence from t he General Social Survey and the National Survey of Families and House holds, supplemented by data from the American National Election Studie s and several small but highly relevant researches, to determine wheth er owners and renters differ in a variety of ways. Strong differences in demographics were found. Small differences were found in some respe cts: Owners tended to be higher in life satisfaction and self-esteem a nd more likely to be members of community improvement groups. On a wid e variety of social issues-from political partisanship to ethnocentric views-owners and renters were essentially alike. Thus, it appears tha t the claims for some social and-individual benefits from homeownershi p are supported, but only weakly. Recognizing that the exploratory ana lyses presented are not definitive, several strategies for more defini tive future research are recommended.