In the latest demonstration that Donald Trump’s bigotry stretches far beyond his hateful rhetoric, a new housing plan from the administration will make it difficult for those in the minority community to buy homes.
According to The Washington Post, “The Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the country’s housing finance system would make mortgages more expensive for minority borrowers and aspiring homeowners in the South, the Midwest and rural communities, according to fair housing and lending groups.”
The report notes that the proposal – which was revealed last week by the Department of Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development – “could further reduce access to credit for low-income communities.”
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“This plan would interject new entities that would cream the market by seeking to serve the most lucrative regions and borrowers,†such as New York and San Francisco, where home values have skyrocketed, said Nikitra Bailey, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending. “The very communities that need greater access to mortgage credit — communities of color, specifically — would have great difficulty securing credit.â€
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But the Trump administration has proposed replacing the affordable housing goals with a more “efficient, transparent and accountable mechanism,†such as a new fee that would be transferred to HUD to promote affordable housing activities. Many consumer and civil rights groups argue that the plan would not directly increase homeownership among low-income families.
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In addition, housing advocates say, the administration’s plan would lead to a bifurcated market that would block first-time home buyers and low-income borrowers, many of whom are people of color, from lower-cost conventional loans. Borrowers who cannot afford 20 percent down payments and have less-than-pristine credit scores would be channeled into more-expensive loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, whose insurance premiums last for the life of the loan.
Trump wears his bigotry like a badge of honor
Donald Trump frequently calls himself the “least racist” person on the planet while bragging about the low unemployment rate handed to him by former president Barack Obama, but his words and his policies tell the story.
As PolitiFact pointed out, Trump is at odds with historians when he claims that he’s done more on a policy level to help the African-American community than previous presidents.
When it comes to his tone and rhetoric, it’s even more obvious where the president stands – from birtherism to Charlottesville to inspiring a hate-driven mass shooting in El Paso.
Donald Trump only won 8 percent of the African-American vote in 2016. In 2020, not only is that number likely to be lower as a result of this president’s dismal record, but black turnout – which was down slightly in 2016 – will likely be higher.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
