HUD’s Office of Policy Development & Research (PD&R) recently published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) titled Advancing HUD’s Learning Agenda through Cooperative Agreements with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions. Through this funding opportunity, PD&R seeks to fund quality research that contributes to knowledge on housing and community development and to support minority-serving institutions to conduct housing and community development research important to the communities and students the institutions serve. Applicants for funding must submit a research project proposal that addresses one of the specific research questions featured in the NOFO. The research questions are broadly organized under seven topic areas: (1) Community Development and Place-Based Initiatives, (2) Disaster Recovery, (3) Fair Housing, (4) Homelessness, (5) Homeownership, Asset Building, and Economic Opportunity, (6) Housing and Health, and (7) American Indian, Alaska Native, and/or Native Hawaiian Housing Needs.

This short white paper is designed to provide a high-level overview of the current state of research within the topic area of Homeownership, Asset Building, and Economic Opportunity; references to foundational studies related to Homeownership, Asset Building, and Economic Opportunity; and the general context for the selected research questions that are included in this NOFO. This paper is designed to provide potential applicants with a common grounding in the topic as they consider this new funding opportunity.

For more information on the NOFO and links to the other short papers, please visit the Minority-Serving Institutions Funding Opportunities page on HUD User.