evidence: Homeownership is the main way people build wealth in the United States. Yet in 2018, the Black-white homeownership gap reached 30.5 percentage points, its highest level in 50 years. Black homeownership rates declined the most following the 2008 housing market crisis and only started to recover in 2019, just before the pandemic hit. Though 2022 estimates suggest homeownership rates among Black, Hispanic, and Asian families are increasing, Black Americans remain the only racial group with a homeownership rate below 50 percent. [...] These disparities are the result of exclusionary and discriminatory policies, such as redlining in the financial industry and means testing in public benefits programs, that have historically penalized and discouraged people of color and lower-income households from building savings.