Blue State Launches Race-Based Forgivable Home Loan Program, Igniting Legal Firestorm

Washington’s Democrat governor signed a bill expanding a home loan program that prioritizes minority groups for forgivable loans, raising legal and constitutional questions from critics.

Key Facts:

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed HB 1696 into law, modifying the Covenant Homeownership Program.
The program gives down payment and closing cost assistance to “black, indigenous, and people of color” (BIPOC) communities.
Eligibility now extends to households earning up to 120% of the area’s median income, with full loan forgiveness after five years for those under 80% AMI.
Applicants only need to prove residency in Washington before 1968 and identification as part of a minority group to qualify.
Critics, including a U.S. senator, have called the bill “lawlessness” and questioned its legality under anti-discrimination laws.

The Rest of The Story:

The Covenant Homeownership Program was first passed in 2023 to address perceived racial disparities in homeownership rooted in historical discrimination, particularly practices like redlining.

HB 1696 modifies the program by broadening income eligibility and offering full loan forgiveness after five years to lower-income borrowers.

Rep. Jamila Taylor, the bill’s sponsor, argued that because minorities were historically excluded from homeownership, they inherently qualify for these benefits if they lived in the state before 1968.

Meanwhile, Governor Ferguson celebrated the law as a way to narrow the racial gap in homeownership, despite acknowledging the challenges tied to its implementation.

Under the program, a simple identification with a minority group and proof of residency before 1968 is enough to claim eligibility, regardless of whether an applicant personally experienced discrimination.

The Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause prohibits this

It’s not even a close question

This is lawlessness https://t.co/ykeX0RPICm

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) April 24, 2025

Commentary:

This law is almost guaranteed to be struck down in court.

Race-based government programs have been repeatedly ruled unconstitutional, and this is no different.

In America, you cannot legally discriminate based on race — not against Black Americans, not against White Americans, not against anyone.

Yet here we are, with Washington state attempting to justify racial discrimination by wrapping it in the language of “equity” and “historical redress.”

The idea that every minority who lived in Washington before 1968 was automatically “affected” is absurd and legally flimsy.

It ignores individual circumstances and instead judges solely by skin color, a standard long rejected by our Constitution and courts.

This program reeks of virtue signaling.

It’s a flashy attempt to look progressive without addressing the real structural issues that affect all low-income Americans, regardless of race.

Instead of making housing affordable across the board, Washington’s leaders chose to divide people based on ancestry and race, effectively punishing citizens who don’t fit their preferred categories.

Furthermore, the fact that taxpayer dollars are being spent on a program that openly discriminates by race is outrageous.

At a time when affordability and housing availability are problems for all working families, it is insulting and irresponsible to prioritize political grandstanding over real, inclusive solutions.

The Bottom Line:

Washington’s race-based homeownership program is almost certainly illegal and ripe for court challenges.

Rather than helping everyone facing housing barriers, the state has chosen divisive racial favoritism.

In doing so, it wastes taxpayer money and fuels resentment, all while failing to solve the broader housing crisis it claims to address.

Blue State Launches Race-Based Forgivable Home Loan Program, Igniting Legal Firestorm

Key Facts:

The Rest of The Story:

Commentary:

The Bottom Line:

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