Washington state has sparked a furor with its new home loan program that offers a whopping $150,000 in assistance — but only if you’re the right race.
The Covenant Homeownership Program, launched July 1, aims to combat racial discrimination by helping first-time homebuyers obtain a 0 percent interest loan for down payments and closing costs.
But there is a problem: to be eligible for this benefit, you have to belong to a specific minority group.
Applicants must have an income at or below the local median income and belong to selected minority categories, such as blacks, Hispanics or Native Americans, excluding whites and other groups.
The program also excludes other groups that have faced historical discrimination in housing, such as Jews, since their website states that “data is limited when it comes to documenting the lasting impacts of historical discrimination.”
The Covenant Homeownership Program, launched July 1, aims to combat racial discrimination by helping first-time homebuyers obtain a 0 percent interest loan for down payments and closing costs.
Applicants must have a local median income or below, as well as belong to selected minority categories, such as black, Hispanic or Native American (excluding whites).
The program, born out of the State Homeownership Act of 2023, is aimed at people with “deep roots” in Washington.
That means being related to someone who lived there before the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
“The Covenant program’s initial eligibility criteria are intentionally and very narrowly designed,” the Covenant Homeownership Program writes on its website. “While many racial, ethnic, and religious groups in Washington were subject to unfair and egregious housing discrimination, the Covenant program takes into account not only this history, but also its current impacts.”
‘Some of the discriminated groups continue to show much lower homeownership rates compared to the general white population. These are mentioned in the initial eligibility criteria. However, for other groups (such as Jewish residents), data is limited when it comes to documenting the lasting impacts of historical discrimination.’
The state’s Housing Finance Commission, which is tasked with this racial juggling act, claims it is simply trying to reverse “racial disparities in homeownership.”
But critics call it reverse discrimination.
“What the hell? It’s affirmative action to get housing that most people can’t afford yet,” wrote one user on X.
The state’s Housing Finance Commission, which is tasked with this racial juggling act, claims it’s just trying to reverse “racial disparities in homeownership,” but critics call it reverse discrimination.
Another angry user commented: ‘New home buying assistance program for everyone except white people.’
“Thanks, @WaHouseGOP. You never stop screwing us.”
Proponents of the program argue that it is a necessary step to right historical wrongs.
But the site explains that the program does not “represent a formal reparations effort.”
‘The Compact Homeownership Act is a small effort to remedy past and ongoing discrimination and its impacts on access to credit and homeownership for BIPOC and other historically marginalized communities in Washington State. It does not represent a formal reparations effort.’
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