Explore
The Black Home Initiative is part of a five metropolitan area special initiative being facilitated by the Center for Community Investment (CCI) . The 3C or Connecting Community and Capital initiative is a 3 year effort that seeks to address the racial inequities at the core of the housing system and strengthen local community investment ecosystems using the CCI Capital Absorption Framework.
Capital Absorption Framework
Where can I learn more about the systemic issues behind Black Home Initiative?
JUMP TO
The following books, articles, and podcasts describe the intentional ways that housing laws have been used as key tools for segregation, preventing many Black households from owning a home and benefiting from the wealth creation opportunities this asset can provide.
online resources
Redlining and Wealth Loss: Measuring the Historical Impacts of Racist Housing Practices in King County
Read King County Wastewater Treatment Division’s report on the impact of race-based restrictive real estate practices on homeownership rates and intergenerational wealth for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in King County.
“How We Built the Ghettos”, by Jamelle Bouie, published in The Daily Beast
Read what this noted policy and public opinion journalist describes as “a brief introduction to America’s long history of racist housing policy.”
Covenant Homeownership Program: History of Racism in Housing - A Commitment to Make it Right
In spring 2023, thanks to the advocacy and leadership of the Housing Development Consortium, the Black Home Initiative, Rep. Jamila Taylor, Sen. John Lovick, and Rep. Frank Chopp, the Washington State Legislature passed the Covenant Homeownership Act with bipartisan support. This landmark legislation makes us the first state to face and address the role of government institutions in housing-related racial discrimination.
Online resource from the UW Seattle Civic Rights & Labor History Project presenting the lasting impact of our region’s redlining, redlining maps, and restrictive covenants.
Closed Doors: The Crisis of Supply of Affordable Homeownership in Washington State
Online data and downloadable report from Homestead Community Land Trust documenting our state’s affordable homeownership crisis and its disproportionate impact on lower-income households, including those historically excluded from homeownership by discrimination.
SUPPORTING DATA
NAREB | State of Housing in Black America (SHIBA)
The SHIBA Report is published annually by NAREB and is very comprehensive. It provides a detailed view into the real numbers and facts that impact and impede Black families from realizing the dream of homeownership.
NAREB | 2023 State of Black Homeownership in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA, MSA
Each year, NAREB produces a State of Housing in Black America that examines in detail the performance of Blacks in attempting to access mortgage credit and the progress of Blacks toward increasing Black homeownership. This report is NAREB’s first detailed examination of a single metropolitan area, that details the successes and challenges of Blacks in that MSA with the same detail as performed in the national SHIBA report.
Improving Homeownership Rates for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in Washington State
Recommendations from the Homeownership Disparities Work Group under the guidance of the WA State Dept. of Commerce completed in 2022.
Analysis of Systemic Disparities in Achievable Housing Options – City of Tacoma
In November 2020, the Tacoma City Council passed Resolution 40697 that specifically authorized a study to examine the disparities of homeownership as a housing outcome for Black residents of Tacoma and provide budget and policy recommendations that leverage the results to increase Black homeownership in the City.
What Does ‘Home’ Mean? | We Belong Here Podcast, S3: Episode 2
Listen as Black Home Initiative core team members engage in a conversation about their personal journeys toward homeownership and the barriers that exist for Black homeowners today.
podcasts
The Disturbing History of the Suburbs | Adam Ruins Everything, S1: Episode 43
This 6-minute podcast video episode, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and 1619 Project creator Nicole Hannah-Jones, offers a clear overview of the racist history of government-enacted redlining. It also details the profound, far-reaching, and persistent damage it inflicts on BIPOC households and communities, including: barriers to home loans and fair interest rates, devaluation of properties, and reduced ability to build wealth and pass it on to the next generation.
books
Race for Profit – written by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Race for Profit, How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership (published by The University of North Carolina Press, 2019), has received numerous awards and honors, including finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in History and the 2019 National Book Award.
The Color of Law – written by Richard Rothstein
The Color of Law, A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, published by Liveright in May 2017, won the 2018 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism. Listen to (or read a transcript of) NPR’s 8-minute interview with Richard Rothstein on All Things Considered.
Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law – written by Richard Rothstein & Leah Rothstein
“Now what? It’s asked by many when facing brutal truths of racial discrimination and segregation. Just Action answers, offering hope. It defies the darkness of segregation’s legacy by provoking our imaginations and providing examples of efforts that confront its impacts. This book will change minds, inspire public will and revive communities.”— Rev. Natosha Reid Rice, Vice President, Habitat for Humanity International; Chair, The Redress Movement; and Minister for Public Life, All Saints Episcopal Church (Atlanta)
HOMEOWNERSHIP
Where do I find out how I can buy a home?
Start your homebuying journey by contacting The Washington Homeownership Resource Center (WHRC) at 1-877-894-4663. WHRC is dedicated to educating and empowering current and future homeowners in Washington State.
Through the WHRC hotline, website, and online portal, they provide their clients with personalized information and referral to vetted homeownership supports, including: homebuyer assistance programs, pre-purchase education and counseling, mortgage and property tax foreclosure intervention counseling, reverse mortgage counseling, owner-occupied repair assistance, other post-purchase education and assistance, legal aid, and credit counseling.
Tri-Sector Approach to Better Support Homebuyers
Read the New Impact report about the existing Black homebuyer experience and recommendations.
The Black Homebuyer Journey
Homebuyer Stories
Read real “lived experience” stories of 4 recent Black homebuyers