Buying While Black: Barriers to Black Homeownership

The “Buying While Black” research project explored the financial barriers and discriminatory treatment Black Canadians face, with a focus on the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area. It also examined whether certain policies or programs create additional barriers for Black households. The project offers recommendations to better understand these issues and improve access to homeownership for Black Canadians.

Download the final report (PDF)

Project scope and outcomes

Assessing the barriers to home ownership for Black Canadians

Homeownership is often inaccessible for racialized groups. Data from the 2016 Census shows that Black households are least likely to own a home in Canada, especially in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area.

This study investigated the barriers to homeownership that Black households face in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area.

This research included:

• surveys
• in-depth interviews
• a literature review
• an analysis of census data and government policies affecting homeownership

The research showed that Black homebuyers face 3 key barriers:

1. Financial barriers restrict access to housing options, limit neighbourhood choices and affect the quality of homes people can afford. These challenges are worsened by discriminatory lending practices, historical inequities and systemic barriers.

2. Many first-generation Black homebuyers face challenges related to financial and home-buying literacy. These include limited knowledge of the homebuying process, fewer connections in the real estate industry and systemic barriers to financial education. Without reliable guidance, some are pushed toward expensive financing options in the secondary market, making homeownership more costly and difficult to sustain.

3. Racial discrimination in the home-buying process takes several forms. Black homebuyers often face strict financial scrutiny by lenders and many are systematically steered toward racialized neighborhoods. Their homes are also persistently undervalued during appraisals, which erodes potential wealth accumulation. Unfair rejection of offers without explanation further limits access to homeownership, deepening racial and economic disparities.

Recommended action

This research outlines recommendation to boost Black homeownership in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area. These are for government, professional organizations, the private sector, nonprofit organizations and community groups:

• Increase recruitment of Black professionals across the real estate profession and raise awareness of anti-Black racism within the homebuying process.
• Collect more disaggregated race-based mortgage loan data in real estate and make this information more publicly accessible.
• Legislate financial institutions to meet the credit needs of low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods.
• Revise credit scoring metrics to remove discriminatory impacts on Black homebuyers. This includes increasing access to affordable loans and providing financial tools to save for homeownership, such as matched savings programs and tax credits.
• Raise awareness of homeownership support programs and create more Black-led homeownership counselling programs.
• Provide more educational resources to Black homebuyers.
• Invest in a Black housing ecosystem that includes a Black homeownership Fund and funding programs that support Black-led development firms and Black-led, Black-serving organizations building housing.
• Improve lending practices and credit policies to provide more equitable access to funding for small-scale developers.
• Support Black-led housing organizations that seek to build up the Black housing economy.

Download the final report (PDF)