Homeowning, social outcomes, tenure choice, and U.S. housing policy. Cityscape: A

For nearly two centuries, American policymakers have extolled the virtues of homeown-ership.1 These policymakers have suggested that homeowning produces both better citi-zens and better communities, and therefore a better society. Yet only recently have researchers attempted to determine whether tenure per se influ-ences outcomes, and if so, the size of that influence. If homeowning produces positive social benefits, it makes sense to give people an incentive to become homeowners. That said, from a policy standpoint, it only makes sense to provide incentives to those who otherwise would not become homeowners; giving homeowning subsidies to those who would be owners even in the absence of such subsidies leads to neither economically efficient nor socially desirable outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to look briefly at links between policies and outcomes. It will begin by reviewing briefly the literature on the influence of tenure choice on various so-cial outcomes. It will follow this with a brief discussion of tenure choice itself: a descrip-tion of why people choose to be owners or renters. Finally, it will look at policies that are designed to enhance the ability of people to become homeowners. The views expresse