Speaking Saturday at the Essence Festival (an event celebrating black culture), presidential hopeful Kamala Harris promised to invest $100 billion in housing assistance for black families as part of an effort to increase minority homeownership and close the racial wealth gap.
“A typical black family has just $10 of wealth for every $100 held by a white family,” said Harris. “So we must right that wrong and, after generations of discrimination, give black families a real shot at homeownership – historically one of the most powerful drivers of wealth in our country.”
So let’s give people free money…
In other words, Harris is buying votes.
Her immature plan focuses on red-lined communities, which are areas the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation has urged investors to avoid, and seeks to increase credit access for black families by altering crediting reporting standards to include utility and cell phone payments.
“My new policy will remove unfair barriers black Americans face when they go to qualify for a home loan,” tweeted Harris.
To qualify for housing assistance, applicants must have lived in a red-lined community for 10 years and must earn less than $50,000 per year ($75,000 in high cost areas). The federal grant would cover up to 20% of the loan value plus closing costs and could not be applied to homes that cost more than $300,000.
According to Harris, the plan would help 4 million families and shrink the wealth gap between blacks and whites by 31%.
Author’s Note: As a black candidate, Harris’s campaign has a sharp focus on the race card.
In June during the debate in Miami, Harris attacked frontrunner Joe Biden over his opposition to using federally mandated busing to racially integrate schools in the 1970s.
A week later, polls showed Biden down 5 points and Harris up 6 points.
Now, Harris is offering black families money just because they are black. If this isn’t the very definition of racist, I don’t know what is. Harris claims she is fighting discrimination in the United States, but is offering money only to blacks. Just imagine what would happen if a Republican candidate offered housing assistance exclusively to white families.
Editor’s note: I know these are just campaign promises, and she cannot possibly put them into action, but Harris has just put an opening bid on the Black vote. Will any of the other candidates bid higher?