For the entirety of my life, I have lived in one home that is relatively considered to be located in a suburban area. Up until my early teens did I even know what a mortgage was or how it my parent’s ownership of the house. However, it is the only way in which my parents are able to pay off the loan that was given to them 26 years ago to even purchase our home.

However, I had no idea that it was FDR who initiated the idea of a mortgage to prevent foreclosures and, quite frankly, ended up changed the way Americans lived. It was through the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation, or the HOLC, that “introduced, perfected, and proved in practice with uniform payments spread over the whole life of the debt”. As  years went by, it became increasingly more difficult to purchase a home with their own money. HOLC, however, encouraged more Americans to become home owners by making these homes easier to purchase and later own.

This made me reflect on how many Americans own their homes today. In 2017, 65% of US Americans carry a mortgage. Not only have they grown in size due to factors like inflation and rising costs, it has become increasingly difficult to pay off their mortgages at a quicker rate and own their own home. In addition, since the financial crisis of 2008, home ownership dropped significantly. However, even though mortgages have rise, US home ownership has steadily increased over the last 30 years.  I believe that its number will continue to rise, regardless of any other factors and there will be even more home owners in the future, and it couldn’t have even commenced without FDR putting the HOLC in place.