VP Harris Calls for $25,000 Down Payment Grants for First-Time Home Buyers from Families that Don’t Own Homes

Harris: “So, a lot of federal contracts go to small businesses, but what we know is often who gets the — who even has the information about how to apply for a federal contract is a matter of who you know, not necessarily the — the skill of your work, how well you do your work, certainly has nothing to do with anything other than often just a lack of information and access to those relationships. So, from day one, when the president I came in, we said we are going to increase, by 50 percent, federal contracts going to minority-owned businesses, and we are on track to get that done by the end of next year.
(Applause)
And I mention that to say that the work that we have been doing is about creating incentives for folks to apply, but also holding the federal government to account for measuring how we are doing this work and being intentional about it, and I think that’s so very important. And that’s where, look, who’s in the position of power matters. Because, one, if you don’t have any level of awareness or interest in these disparities, you’re not gonna get anything done on them. And then when you become aware, if you actually intend to get something done, you have to hold yourself and the system to account. And I will say, that is part of the method of our approach to a lot of this work. Our work includes, for example — like, let’s have metrics and let’s say, for example, we know the — the history of black home ownership, we know the history of — of bias and laws that prevented equal access to that opportunity. We have now proposed that, if you are the child of parents who — or you were raised in a family where folks who raised you were not homeowners, when you want to go buy a home, you will be entitled to a $25,000 grant toward down payment for a home. Again, acknowledging the realities of it all. If your parents owned a home and then you as their child say, ‘I want to go buy,’ then your parents will likely have the opportunity and ability to say, ‘Honey, you don’t have to go take out that big loan. I’m gonna take some equity out of my home to help you with that down payment.’ And that’s how intergenerational wealth works. But if you start with nothing, how are we going to give people those opportunities. And so it’s about acknowledgement, and then pushing through the actual policies that are not just about lip service, but actually making a difference.”