Elizabeth Bridgewater, Executive Director, Windham & Windsor Housing Trust
Every April, communities and housing organizations across this country recognize Fair Housing Month, commemorating the 1968 passage of the landmark civil rights law which outlawed discriminatory housing practices. Yet, despite nearly six decades of fair housing efforts and advocacy, people of color continue to face challenges in realizing the American dream of homeownership.
Our country has a deep history of systemic racial discrimination in the housing industry. This discrimination, once both legal and widely accepted, has created entrenched patterns of segregation in our communities and very effectively excluded whole populations of color from accumulating wealth through homeownership, something that white families have benefited from across multiple generations.
The fact is, Vermont remains one of the least diverse states in the nation and has one of the highest homeownership gaps between BIPOC and white residents in the country. The policies and practices that created this inequity were intentional. This calls for an equally intentional response.
Here in Vermont, there are some positive things happening to address this disparity and change the experience for BIPOC homebuyers.
- A BIPOC Financial Empowerment Program piloted here in Brattleboro has received funding from the M&T Charitable Foundation and has expanded into the state to provide Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) with the knowledge, tools, resources and coaching to support your financial wellbeing. The program offers free trauma-informed and culturally relevant financial education through monthly workshops on various financial topics, a supportive affinity group setting and 1:1 coaching to help you achieve your goals.
- This month, our colleagues at the Champlain Housing Trust announced the statewide expansion of their Homeownership Equity Program, a special purpose credit program, offering down payment assistance to BIPOC Shared Equity buyers. As a Shared Equity Provider, WWHT will have access to this funding for BIPOC home buyers in our community.
- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is opening Lift Up a new Special Purpose Credit Program designated for BIPOC homebuyers. The program provides $50,000 in down-payment and closing-cost assistance towards the purchase of their first home. The program is available through member banks of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.
- The Vermont Housing Finance Agency is continuing their First-Generation Homebuyer program which is a $15,000 grant towards a home purchase targeting populations that have been historically excluded from homeownership.
Home is where the heart is, and home is where the wealth is, too. By empowering prospective BIPOC homebuyers with financial counseling and homebuyer education resources, access to capital and credit, and a more equitable playing field in the public policy arenas, we are building greater homeownership opportunities – and wealth – for people of color for generations to come.
