The primary purpose of the Black Home Initiative (BHI) is to increase the number of BIPOC households who successfully secure homeownership. Our initial emphasis is on Black households; within five years, the goal is to make the opportunity to own a home, and the potential benefits of that asset, available to 1,500 new low- and moderate-income Black homeowners. As this work is carried out, the initiative will concurrently focus on the essential work of clearly defining, and transforming, the systems that have impeded access to homeownership for Black households in the greater Seattle region. The ultimate impact we aspire to is the reduction of inequity and an increase in intergenerational household wealth.

Led by community, Civic Commons is targeting an ambitious goal that goes beyond individual projects to the systems level. Our role is to convene cross-sector partners to act on local priorities ranging from homebuyer preparation to construction financing to policy reform.

It is important to note that Civic Commons' role does not include directly dispersing funds for affordable housing development nor screening potential homebuyers. Rather, we aim to increase the overall resource pool that will make homeownership attainable for more BIPOC individuals and families. If you are a prospective homebuyer seeking information or assistance, a good place to start is the Washington Homeownership Resource Center.

Rising costs have made purchasing a home a challenge for many folks in our region, but historical structural and persistent institutional racism and exclusion mean this goal is even less attainable for Black households. Across Greater Seattle, the homeownership rate among Black households is 26% — roughly half the rate among white households (51%). In Washington state, the typical home owned by a Black homeowner is valued at $417,557, which is 13.8% less than the value of a typical home owned by a white homeowner.

To bridge these gaps, we must remove all the barriers embedded in the systems that affect homeownership and prevent Black families from fully realizing the generational wealth potential of personal real estate. We believe an initial focus on Black households allows us to first address the greatest need within BIPOC communities, gaining the deepest and broadest understanding of existing barriers to homeownership. We can use these learnings as a starting point in our engagement with other BIPOC communities, contextualizing and more fully developing the 3C model so that it best serves other households and communities.

The initial focus will be on households made up of descendants of enslaved African People.

No — just as entrepreneurship and educational attainment are not the only paths to growing wealth, nor do they guarantee it. Eliminating longstanding systemic and institutional barriers in asset building and wealth creation among our area’s Black households requires a large-scale and multifaceted approach. Housing is one of many critical areas in such an effort, and homeownership is one of the key elements within housing. It is important to acknowledge that access to owning a home has been long denied to, or stripped from, Black households.

Proactively addressing historical racist practices embedded throughout the systems and institutions that control access to homeownership and creating attainable pathways to it is our piece of this work. We denounce past disastrous practice that have relied on inappropriate mortgage and housing products. We know that success depends on our active engagement within a broad, networked effort targeting the entire landscape of asset building and wealth creation in the greater Seattle region. We commend and support others who are working to create and inspire the level of commitment from all sectors to eliminate the unjust disparities in our region.

Displacement of Black households in the Seattle area has forced many to move south. In these areas, there is also a greater likelihood that land availability, housing costs, and future high-capacity transit development will help create many more homeownership opportunities.

The focus is on low- and moderate-income households. This is defined as households with annual incomes between 50% and 120% of our area’s median income (AMI). Currently, of the Black households within this income range in King and Pierce counties, only 35% are homeowners.

In simple terms, we have a supply problem that is made worse by many factors. This initiative will seek to significantly increase the supply by first creating funding mechanisms aligned with the needs of developers (such as predevelopment and construction financing). Another focus will be on obtaining as much land as is feasible; this may include surplus, underutilized, and faith-owned land as well as land made available through acquisition and assemblage around new high-capacity transit areas. To serve a range of incomes, different housing types and methods of sale (such as townhomes, condos, land trusts, and co-ops) will be essential strategies.

Loans will be originated by a variety of sources, including financial institutions and credit unions who are willing to engage with the 3C Initiative and create new pathways for successful homeownership. A combination of various down payment resources will also be essential.

Initial funding for the project’s launch has been provided as part of the Equity Initiative of JPMorgan Chase with support from other local funders. This funding is intended to be the impetus for philanthropy, public- and corporate-sector investment, and a scale commensurate with the need.

This initiative has a three-year commitment from the Center for Community Investment (CCI) and JPMorgan Chase. We know that overcoming the policy constraints, creating new funding programs and practices, and moving new housing through the development pipeline into reality may take at least that long. We expect that after the groundwork is laid in these initial three years, the work will need to be carried on for years after.

This work is guided by a core team of eight community leaders from King and Pierce counties. The core team members are:

Andrea Caupain Sanderson, Byrd Barr Place

Anna Boone, Zillow

Darryl Smith, HomeSight

Dinah Wilson, City of Kent

Felicia Medlen, City of Tacoma

Gordon McHenry, United Way of King County

Gregory Davis, Rainier Beach Action Coalition

Michelle Merriweather, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle

A broader group of approximately 24 additional stakeholders will serve on key advisory groups. The core team and advisory groups are supported by Civic Commons staff, along with Project Manager Marty Kooistra and Civic Commons’ Civic Architect Michael Brown overseeing the initiative.

Civic Commons was selected because its work focuses on achieving systemic impact by blending belonging and shared prosperity, guided by data from Civic Commons’ Scorecard for Shared Prosperity and its network-weaving efforts.

There are many ways to support this work! Read about them in our “How to get involved” section.