The cult of owning a home

Here's a radical notion: Let's rethink the cult of homeownership in America.

Why, a sensible person might ask, do we need to do this when millions of homeowners faced foreclosure in the last year alone, and an estimated 15 million more own homes worth less than their mortgages? Clearly, one might conclude, the bloom is already off the homeownership rose.

The answer is simple. Even in the middle of this collapse, when people were asked about their expectations for house price appreciation over the next year, the answers shock. Zillow.com reports that at the end of 2008, with prices falling, 70 percent of those surveyed said they did not think their house price would decline over the next six months, and more than a quarter expected it to actually increase.

Many people still rely on outdated measures in deciding whether to buy or rent. For example, they often base the decision to own on how long they will be in a home. But people predictably understate the chance that they will be forced to move because of a job loss, divorce, death of a spouse or disability. Furthermore, the focus of efforts under the federal national stabilization program to deal with foreclosures is to recycle them back into the hands of homeowners or, in the case of small, multi-unit apartment buildings, resident landlord/owners.

Let's assume that the way to get out from underneath the weight of foreclosures is to not let speculators and homeowners at risk of falling behind again roll the dice.

Let's instead consider programs that aggregate ownership of properties, especially two- to four-unit ones, in the hands of nonprofits that can rent them out. These small complexes are estimated to account for up to two in five foreclosures.

It might make more sense to get these properties into the hands of nonprofits that own many properties, so that a single rental vacancy constitutes the loss of only a small fraction of rental income.

It's time we make homeownership just one alternative in a more innovative, affordable and broader housing market.