Small Multifamily Homes and Wealth Building

The small multifamily housing market – the local stock of duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes – offers a powerful opportunity to help close our region’s stark racial disparities in homeownership and wealth. 2-4 unit homes present affordable entries to homeownership and the potential for greater, faster wealth building than single-family homes. However, purchasing and owning a 2-4 unit home also comes with unique challenges that are especially difficult for households without access to generational wealth. As such, ownership of these properties among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color households remains low, despite the strong demand for this opportunity that has been voiced by many BIPOC community members.

Understanding the current landscape of the 2-4 unit housing market is critical for removing barriers and creating equitable access to ownership. This brief examines the current conditions of the 2-4 unit housing market in the Twin Cities to inform the approach of housing partners throughout the region who are working to expand the small multifamily housing stock and support BIPOC homeownership. This data is also helping shape the strategies of the Family Housing Fund’s Building Equity in Small Multifamily Ownership initiative.