he social and economic benefits of stable homeownership, particularly the potential for wealth-building among low- and moderate-income families, are well documented.1 Homeownership continues to be out of reach for many of these households, however, particularly in the wake of the economic crisis. (See “Paths to Homeownership for Low-Income and Minority Households”) Although home prices have fallen in many localities and interest rates are at record-low levels, stringent lending standards and significant drops in household incomes have prevented many interested low-income buyers from becoming homeowners. The Center for Housing Policy reports that from 2008 to 2010, renters earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income saw their household incomes decrease by 4 percent even as housing costs went up 4 percent. As a result, the number of severely cost-burdened renter households — those paying more than half of their income towards housing costs — rose by 2.8 percent during this period.2 Meanwhile, the foreclosure crisis has heightened awareness of the risks of homeownership for low-income and minority families and the need for solutions that help attain as well as sustain homeownership. Faced with these challenges, a growing number of communities are turning to shared equity homeownership.