The Joint Task Force on Addressing Racial Disparities in Home Ownership was created by the legislature in 2021 through HB 2007 and the final report was adopted on October 14, 2022. The committee was co-chaired by Representative Ricki Ruiz (D-Gresham) and Senator James Manning Jr (D-Eugene). The adopted report includes an increase of more than a quarter billion in funding, legislation, eliminate barriers and discrimination issues that reduces homeownership among people of color in Oregon.

The bill was seemingly to address disparities, even though disparities are well covered in laws.

• The Unites States Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, discrimination at work, in housing, public places, discrimination based on race, color, national origin, disability, gender orientation/identity, and equal pay.
• ORS Chapter 659A. Unlawful discrimination in Employment, Public Accommodations, Real Property Transactions, Administrative & Civil Enforcement.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Was this really about disparities? The Task Force adopted 11 recommendations, $264,200,000 funding that is mostly recurring, plus increases taxes on second homes and adds new programs including government purchase of parcels and homes through selected organizations. The 11 recommendations are:

1. Support the budget request for Oregon Housing and Community Services.
2. Individual Development Accounts to support OHCS request $35 million biennial funding. Offset by eliminating the Mortgage Interest Deduction on second homes.
3. Allocate $10 million for down payment assistance to be distributed through cultural and tribal organizations, and $25 million for Flex Lending Program borrowers primarily for those without tax ID numbers.
4. Allocate $4 million to tribal homeownership, $4.8 million to homeownership centers and culturally responsive organizations, and $200,000 for training for housing counselors.
5. Allocate funding to OHCS to inventory and develop pre-purchase counseling and educational materials in five languages.
6. Develop appraiser training and education requirements.
7. Add $5 million for positions at the Fair Housing Council of Oregon, Bureau of Labor and Industries, and Department of Justice.
8. Work group on tax credits to address investor ownership and encourage the return of existing homes to the homeownership market.
9. Allocate $30 million for a pilot providing 100 percent funding of the home purchase price within the Flex Lending Program in partnership with financial institutions.
10. Allocate $100 million per biennium to subsize 500 homes less than $200,000 and pre-development costs. Create a new $30 million fund to purchase 200 parcels per biennium at zero percent interest. Allocate $20 million to OHCS to invest in community-based, innovative models to increase homeownership for communities of color.
11. Subsidize interest rates on certain 15-year or 20-year mortgages to fast track the equity gained for eligible borrowers.

Will these recommendations resolve inequities without creating new inequities? To be constitutionally sound, “equal treatment under the law,” it isn’t equal ownership, but equal opportunity. To rob taxpayers to grow government programs in the name of equity won’t solve a homeless crisis that has been touted as Oregon’s number one issue.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-11-14 14:38:04

Last Update: 2022-11-15 13:10:59