This February and all year, we honor Black history as we build equitable housing for future generations of Black homeowners.
U.S. history is fraught with racial disparities and housing discrimination. Dating back to the 1930s, the government-backed Home Owners’ Loan Corporation enacted the practice of redlining (defined by Merriam Webster as “to withhold home-loan funds or insurance from neighborhoods considered poor economic risks”). Redlining, coupled with racially restrictive covenants and urban renewal projects that decimated Black neighborhoods, created the racial homeownership gap. To learn more about the history of housing discrimination in the U.S., read Habitat International’s overview here.
Nearly a century later, families are still working to close the racial homeownership gap, and this work is done in part through coalition building between public, private, and nonprofit organizations and fair housing advocates. In recognition of Black History Month, we’re spotlighting one of our key advocacy partners, the Black Homeownership Initiative (BHI). The BHI has set a goal of achieving 1,500 new Black homeowners in South Seattle, South King County, and North Pierce County within the next five years.
The BHI has already made huge strides towards addressing historical housing discrimination. This important work began in 2021 when a group that included multiple Habitat affiliates urged Washington State’s Department of Commerce to create a study on the racial homeownership gap, with the goal that this study would also look at ways to address it. The group was formalized in 2022 as the Black Home Initiative (BHI), a network of non-profits, private companies, national, state, and local government agencies, and associations striving to increase Black homeownership in the region.
The BHI utilizes a multi-pronged approach to address the racial homeownership gap. Habitat SKKC’s work within the BHI network addresses issues like policy change, credit lending, and sustaining existing homeownership.
Ryan Donohue, Chief Advocacy Officer at Habitat SKKC, highlights, “Passing the Covenant Homeownership Act in 2023 was one of the most impactful achievements we and the BHI network have been able to accomplish so far.”
A coalition that included the Black Home Initiative alongside the Housing Development Consortium, Rep. Jamila Taylor, Sen. John Lovick, and Speaker Emeritus Frank Chopp helped pass the Covenant Homeownership Act with bipartisan support. The resulting program offers a downpayment of up to 20% of the cost of the home, or $150,000, plus closing costs for people who were historically discriminated against in Washington State.
Historically, most of the city of Seattle and the Puget Sound area had racial covenants written into their land that restricted people of color from being able to own land or property on it. The laws were prevalent and enforced by Washington State until they were struck down entirely in the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The Covenant Home Ownership Act acknowledges the state’s culpability in these actions. Now, the affected families or their descendants can qualify for the Covenant Home Ownership’s significantly enhanced down payment assistance.
The start of the state legislative session on January 13 marked the continuation of our work with the BHI on more bills that will serve to expand access to homeownership for BIPOC communities. Two bills that we support are HB 1096 (lot splitting) and HB 1299/SB 5184 (parking reform). HB 1096 increases housing options through the practice of lot splitting; it will help keep homeowners within their communities while simultaneously allowing more affordable homes to be built there. Bills HB 1299 and SB 5184 ease parking minimums for affordable housing developments.
To amplify our efforts to increase Black homeownership opportunities, we recently launched a Debt Barrier Removal Program (DBRP). Excessive debt is often an obstacle to Black homebuyers. Our DBRP aims to remove that obstacle by paying off those debts and enabling buyers to secure financing from traditional lenders. Currently, Black homebuyer applicants are only 6% of total applications, and of those, 10% are denied loans. Although Habitat SKKC has achieved a higher ratio of Black homeowners at 34%, we recognize that additional efforts are needed to support those who have been affected by historical redlining and systemic credit policies.
It will take all of us at Habitat SKKC to help the BHI empower 1,500 new Black homeowners. We have ambitious goals, but they are achievable when we collaborate as part of a larger community dedicated to expanding access to affordable homeownership.