He advocates neutrality:
The government should neither encourage nor discourage home-ownership. Significant public interventions require evidence of significant market failure, and confidence that the costs of state action will be less than the costs of those market failures. These conditions are not met in the housing sector, whether we are contemplating pro or anti home-ownership policies.
The case for home-ownership often begins with the view that home-owners are better citizens, who create social benefits by investing more in their communities and their governments. My work with Denise DiPasquale does find that home-owners are more likely to work to solve local problems, to vote and to know the names of local leaders. These effects reflect both home-owners' stake in their community and their tendency to live in one place longer.
