Left: New Habitat homeowners Jenny Luzu Riaga and Jose Luis lay blocks--and a solid foundation--in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Middle: Children, like these in Denver, Colo., can enjoy greater stability in a home their parents own. Right: Neal and Michelle Hughley built their Habitat house in Plains, Ga., in 2000.

Why Own a Home? (continued)

Families in the United States also get an economic asset when they own a home--an asset that is likely to appreciate, or at least stay even with inflation. Economists may debate whether the stock market has out-performed housing, or vice versa, over the past decade. For people with low incomes, the point is moot:They do not invest in stocks. And, with high rents, they do not save. In fact, one reason many low-income families cannot buy homes is not the monthly cost--many can pay that.The down payment is the hurdle. And as long as the tenant family pays 50 percent of its income for an apartment, the family will not be able to save. Middle-income families buying heir first home can sometimes draw on parents and grandparents for down payments. Low-income first time borrowers, who have no family wealth behind them, have no such recourse. For the Habitat homeowner, that house will become the family savings account (as it is for middle-income families).The family gains not just shelter, but an asset--one that they can draw on in hard times, and one that can appreciate to help pay for a child's education later on. For the past 60 years, in the United States, homeownership has been the principal source of wealth creation for low- and moderate-income families.

	The rental family moves more frequently, into and out of school districts ... Neighborhoods with higher rates of homeownership tend to be more stable.

This house-as-asset can propel a family into the middle class. In much of the world, like Mexico, where homeownership rates are high, policy-makers are trying to create a housing finance system that recognizes a home as more than shelter, but as an economic asset which can be bought and sold, used as collateral and bequeathed.

Beyond the economic rationale, empirical evidence suggests that homeownership contributes to a person's self-esteem and psychological well-being. Renters have little control over their housing:They cannot remodel, repaint, reconfigure their space. Owners, though, do have control over their immediate environment; and that sense of control can be empowering. Not surprisingly, new owners of all income levels make the space theirs.

As for children, research in the United States suggests that children in owner-occupied homes (controlling for income) do better in school than children in rental housing. Some of the reasons hark back to stability:The rental family moves more frequently, into and out of school districts. Attendance is spottier; parent participation, weaker.A child in his or her home may be more likely to enjoy a quiet place to study.

Neighborhoods too, at least from United States data, benefit. Neighborhoods with higher rates of homeownership tend to be more stable, with higher rates of political participation. People take an interest in their schools, their politicians, their city services. They vote.They join "neighborhood watch" groups.They clean up their yards, mow their grass, sweep their sidewalk.

This vested interest in the neighborhood is not just good for the body politick--it's also good for the people themselves. People who vote, who clean their yards, who watch out for their neighbors feel connected to a larger community; and those ties are surely good.T.S. Eliot wrote: "What life have you without community?" In a complex, fast-paced world people desperately need to belong: Some find community in their religious places of worship, some in their jobs, some in their families. Homeowners can find that community in their neighborhoods.

And that's what Habitat does in thousands of locations worldwide--builds houses, hope, lives and communities.

Nicolas P. Retsinas is director for Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies and board member for Habitat for Humanity International.