Today’s skyrocketing home prices, coupled with the uneven economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, continue to push America’s haves and have-nots further and further apart. And sadly, the pandemic has only made it worse — especially for minority communities. As we come out of the fog of the pandemic, these groups face a particular challenge in pursuing the American dream of homeownership: the lack of intergenerational wealth to assist them with a down payment.

Current homeownership rates reflect a deep and increasing inequality between black and white families that are eerily similar to what we saw at the height of the civil rights debate and the enactment of the Fair Housing Act in 1968. Without government-provided down payment assistance, the path to homeownership would be even steeper for many borrowers. While some can rely on family members to help with their down payment, such gifts are not widely available to all borrowers, especially those who lack access to intergenerational wealth, which includes a great many minorities.