Down payment assistance fails to close the racial homeownership gap without addressing present-day bias

Evidence

This is why solutions like the ones proposed by the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates missed the mark. They each had plans to increase black homeownership rates, including providing down payment assistance or allowing homesteading as a path to homeownership for those living in neighborhoods with high vacancy rates for a period of years. But even Senator Elizabeth Warren, who tied down payment assistance to home purchases in historically redlined neighborhoods, ignored present-day racism by white homeowners. Neither she nor any of her fellow hopefuls addressed current-day racism and the catch-22 black homeowners face. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 226

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the redlining thread in the homeownership chapter and to contemporary policy debates about race-neutral solutions. — connects to: Market-dynamics siting outcomes remain racist once housing discrimination is factored in — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 336; Single policy fixes cannot overcome the market’s current racial bias. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax…, 249; White homebuyer preferences undermine progressive homeownership proposals for black Americans — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax…, 481 (+1 more)