Racial disparities in unemployment benefits among U.S. mortgage borrowers during COVID-19

Abstract

This article describes racial and ethnic differences in mortgage payment difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic and examines whether disparities exist in the benefits of the unemployment insurance (UI) program. The sample consisted of 80,797 jobless mortgage borrowers who received or waited for UI benefits between August 2020 and May 2022. Considering individual- and state-level variables in multilevel logistic regressions, we examined rates of mortgage delay in the last month and payment concerns about the next month by racial and ethnic group. Minority borrowers were more likely to have a difficulty in paying mortgage than White borrowers. UI recipients—regardless of race and ethnicity—were less likely to experience mortgage difficulties, but the positive unemployment benefit was reduced disproportionately among Blacks. Blacks were also at a higher risk of mortgage difficulties compounded by other pandemic-induced hardships—loss of household, lack of food, and mental illness—even after the receipt of UI. Findings on the intersection between race and ethnicity and UI suggest that pandemic policy interventions should be race conscious and consider the longstanding and systematic barriers experienced by minority mortgage borrowers.