NCLC, Justice in Aging, How to Prevent Tax Liens and Tax Foreclosures from Depleting Wealth from Older Homeowners, Especially in Communities of Color (Sept. 2022)

Discriminatory tax assessment and appeal practices, especially during the Jim Crow era, contributed to the persistent homeownership gap. Black-owned properties were routinely and intentionally over assessed, resulting in the loss of those properties for owners who could not afford the taxes. The disparities persist today. Black and Latino/a residents face an unequal property assessment and appeals process that results in higher tax burdens, and a greater risk of tax foreclosure.

Older, low-income homeowners, many of whom are Black, Latino/a or immigrants, face a myriad of other threats and financial pressures that jeopardize their ability to preserve a lifetime of equity they have built up in their homes. 

Many have difficulty affording the costs of maintaining their homes on low, fixed-incomes, including paying for taxes and municipal services. As a result, these older homeowners are disproportionately subject to tax lien foreclosure, which can result in a devastating loss of homes and the accumulated equity in those homes.