Home ownership is good for communities.

Lucy Delgadillo, associate professor in the Family, Consumer and Human Development Department at Utah State University, counts some of the ways:

- In research comparing homeowners and renters, people who own homes are more likely to participate in civic affairs.

- There is a psychological benefit. "(Homeowners) do have higher self-esteem," Delgadillo said, and owning one's home contributes to a sense of belonging to the community.

"They feel they have accomplished the American Dream."

- Some research suggests homeowners acquire new skills. "They have to perform more do-it-yourself home repairs, and those skills are passed on to the children," Delgadillo said.

- And there is a positive impact on "social capital," or the ability to form community networks. For example, homeowners are more likely to organize neighborhood watch groups.

"People have found that neighborhoods in which the majority are homeowners, also the crime rates go down, school drop-outs go down and teenager pregnancies go down," Delgadillo said.

Such benefits apply to people who own any type of townhouse, manufactured home or single-family "stick built" home.

However, those benefits apply less to those who own mobile homes.

In terms of ownership preference, the bias is still toward the proverbial single-family home with a white picket fence, she adds.

Delgadillo says communities have adopted various strategies to help people become homeowners.

Zoning regulations and covenants can be modified to encourage a mix of some smaller homes alongside predominantly larger homes. "You can build smaller units at higher density so prices will be lower," she said.

Individual development accounts - typically administered by a nonprofit organization like United Way - can provide matching money to help people go to school, create a small business or purchase a home.

Some programs focus on down-payment assistance. "The number one barrier for a lot of low-income and middle-income families has been the down payment," Delgadillo said.

Some employers have found it worthwhile to help their workers with down payments or closing costs as a means of reducing turnover.

"For employers, a highly mobile population is not to their own benefit," she said. "People will leave if they don't find a place to live."

Clearly, based on finances and life circumstances, some people shouldn't buy a home, Delgadillo says. But that doesn't diminish the broad community benefits of people owning homes.

"I'm definitely for home ownership," she said.

Business Editor Tom Mast can be reached at tom.mast@trib.com, or call 307-266-0574.

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