DENVER (CBS4)– Denver is leveling the playing field when it comes to building generational wealth through homeownership. Twenty days ago, the city launched a new program to give descendants of people who lived in redlined neighborhoods, help with mortgage down payments.
(credit: CBS)
The city has received 28 applications and approved 17 of them. That includes Dontral Starks, a father of five whose family is currently living in a three-bedroom house.
The director of the program said it’s about righting wrongs.
(credit: CBS)
“I am proud of the Metro DPA (Down Payment Assistance) program because it’s going to give me the opportunity to get the down payment for a new house and that will in turn help me to build generational wealth,” said Starks.
“Really acknowledge that redlining, in particular, had a really big impact on that because it was racially-based harm,” said Britta Fisher with the Denver Dept. of Housing Stability.
Redlining is defined as a discriminatory practice in which services, like mortgages or insurance, are withheld from potential customers who reside in neighborhoods classified as liabilities for investment. In the U.S. those neighborhoods have a large population of racial and ethnic minorities as well as low-income residents.
The program is available to households earning up to $150,000 with descendants who lived in those redlined neighborhoods from 1938 until 2000.
LINK: MetroDPA
Source: https://denver.cbslocal.com/2022/05/09/social-equity-housing-denver/
