{"id":3809,"date":"2016-02-01T09:20:49","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T15:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=3809"},"modified":"2016-02-01T09:20:49","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T15:20:49","slug":"women-homeownership-discrimination-when-everythings-a-nail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/02\/women-homeownership-discrimination-when-everythings-a-nail.html","title":{"rendered":"Women, homeownership, discrimination: when everything’s a nail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

You know the adage: \u00a0if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. \u00a0Also, the recurring\u00a0Ann Althouse theme: \u00a0whenever there are differences between men and women, activists and journalists will find ways to turn that into an injustice perpetrated against women, or a way in which they are superior to men in some way.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example from Sunday\u2019s Chicago Tribune\u00a0\u2014 actually a syndicated feature originally published on January 8, but never mind that \u2014 titled \u201cSingle Women Shut Out<\/a>\u201d online, and \u201cWhy are so many young women living with parents? \u00a0Difficulty in securing loans may be factor,\u201d in the paper.<\/p>\n

According to an analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center, a larger share of young women are living at home with Mom, Dad or other relatives than at any point since the 1940s. That is, 36.4 percent of women ages 18 to 34 resided with family in 2014. (A larger share of young men in that age group \u2014 42.8 percent \u2014 are living at home. But that percentage does not surpass the highest rates on record like the women\u2019s share does.) . . .<\/p>\n

But mortgage industry expert Becky Walzak suspects there\u2019s more at work here than demographics. She says the home loan approval process still looks down on women. Not overtly, she says, but underwriters still perceive women as \u201clesser\u201d than men.<\/p>\n

Based on her deep-dive read of data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, Walzak says women \u201care less able to meet (underwriting) standards then men.\u201d And the process is even harder on black women, who are often the primary applicants on loans to African-Americans.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Women, Walzak, have lower incomes due to time off for childrearing, and consequently have lower down payments. \u00a0They also have higher student loan debt \u2014 $20,000 vs. $14,000, and carry more debt, in general, because \u201cwomen\u2019s spending patterns are often different than men\u2019s.\u201d \u00a0Hence, she calls for \u201csome kind of credit policy or new product that meets their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the source data:<\/p>\n

\"YAs<\/a><\/p>\n

the original Pew study<\/a> was released on November 11, 2015, and, indeed, if you look at the chart, men have lived at home at greater rates than women since tracking began. \u00a0True, women are living at home now at greater rates than in the 1940s, but that doesn\u2019t mean much, given that circumstances have changed so dramatically. \u00a0After all, both men and women living at home were doing so in a context of wholly different societal expectations as well as the continuing impact of the Great Depression. \u00a0Rates dropped dramatically in 1950, when men returned from war and the postwar prosperity and building boom meant they could afford to marry and move out, but edged back up as both men and women attended college in larger numbers* and had greater difficultly establishing financial independence (or even returned back to the social acceptability of living at home after college).<\/p>\n

* According to the Pew study site, the data is taken from census information which classifies students responding to census forms while living in a dormitory as \u201cliving in group housing\u201d rather than \u201cat home,\u201d so only students attending while commuting from home are included as \u201cliving at home,\u201d but it still impacts the numbers.<\/p>\n

And how many of these away-from-home men and women are living in their own homes, vs. in apartments, alone or with roommates? \u00a0Walzak would have you believe women are trapped as renters because of their economic circumstances.<\/p>\n

But \u2014 surprise! \u2014 single women are actually significantly more likely than single men to purchase their own home. \u00a0There\u2019s no government data on the sex of single homebuyers, but according to the 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers<\/a>, as published by the Realtor association,<\/p>\n

Sixty-seven percent of recent buyers were married couples, 15 percent were single females, nine percent were single males, and seven percent were unmarried couples.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The rate at which single women have been buying homes, relative to single men, was somewhat dampened in 2015; in prior years, the differential has been even higher. \u00a0The Realtor association has an entire \u201cField Guide<\/a>\u201d for agents working with single women, including links with further data.<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s going on with \u201cspending patterns\u201d producing more debt? \u00a0Are these single mothers living paycheck to paycheck, or young women filling their closets with clothes? \u00a0There\u2019s no data backing this statement, but, according to this US News article,<\/a> young women, under age 25, and older women, age 55 \u2013 64, are more likely to carry credit card debt than men in their age groups, but their original source<\/a> makes it clear that for other age groups, there were no statistically significant differences.<\/p>\n

So this is an exercise, in the end, in identifying the earth-shattering conclusion that journalists don\u2019t necessarily possess top-notch critical thinking skills. \u00a0But there you go, a little something to start your Monday with.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know the adage: \u00a0if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. \u00a0Also, the recurring\u00a0Ann Althouse theme: \u00a0whenever there are differences between men and women, activists and journalists will find ways to turn that into an injustice perpetrated against women, or a way in which they are superior to men in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":3810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[123,302,303],"class_list":["post-3809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-discrimination","tag-homeownership","tag-single-women"],"yoast_head":"\nWomen, homeownership, discrimination: when everything's a nail<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You know the adage: \u00a0if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. \u00a0Also, the 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