Americans and Houses

The first paragraph of Upton's article struck a chord with me:

"Americans are obsessed with houses- their own and everyone else's. We judge ourselves and our neighbors by where and how we live. We categorize the poorest members of contemporary society not as hungry, badly dressed, or unemployed, but as 'homeless'. For those people who are able to own homes (never the majority), a house is a largest rite of passage as important as marriage or a first child. This has been true for many generations. In the past, it was not uncommon for home-owners to inscribe construction dates on their houses, marking them as mileposts on the road to success. Some included the initials of both husband and wife, to identify the house as a bench-mark in the generations-long process of an entire family line."

I find so much truth in everything that Upton has said. How American is it of us to make the ownership of a home a "rite of passage". There has been such a great significance placed on home ownership, even in economically hard times. All young Americans dream of owning a home someday- I know I did and still do. The home is a symbol of freedom from parents- independence- and a sign of wealth. In America, the great assumption is that the larger the home, the greater wealth of the family living there. I agree with Upton that Americans have categorized people by their home ownership, and yes, a home's style/contents/architecture/etc. says a lot about the people living in it. But, I almost don't want to give it all that much significance. America has a very high home ownership percentage compared to most countries, but that doesn't mean that we can afford it. Reflecting back to the economic crisis of 2008, a huge problem was caused by the housing industry which sold homes to people who couldn't even afford them, and the banks who gave loans to those people. Maybe if Americans didn't place so much importance and value on owning a home, then financial troubles could be avoided. For most Americans, a home is the most expensive thing that they will ever own... It should be a privilege and not a right.