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Delegate Coe urges action on redlining, touts recent first‑time homebuyer grant as step toward equity
Summary
During the Feb. 10 House morning hour, Delegate Coe framed redlining as an ongoing injustice that depresses Black homeownership and urged lawmakers to expand policies that increase first‑time homeownership, citing a recently passed grant program.
RICHMOND — During the Feb. 10 morning hour in the Virginia House of Delegates, Delegate Coe (Fredericksburg) used a point of personal privilege to call for state action to address the lasting effects of redlining and encourage policies that expand homeownership opportunities for Black and brown families.
“Government policies and discriminatory lending practices barred Black Americans from home ownership, ensuring that neighborhoods remain segregated and economic opportunities stayed out of reach,” Delegate Coe said on the floor. He added that although redlining was formally banned in the 1970s, “its effects did not simply just fade away.”
Coe cited statistics on the House floor, saying Black homeownership in the Commonwealth stood at about 48 percent compared with 73 percent for white families. He linked a recently passed House measure — a first‑time homebuyers grant program approved last week — as a step toward narrowing those gaps.
“It's about ensuring that Black and brown families who were denied access to wealth building opportunities for so long can finally own a piece of what they helped build,” Coe said, arguing that elected officials with lived experience of these disparities are needed in the legislature to shape policy.
On the floor Coe also urged colleagues to support broader investments in cancer research centers and other public goods during a separate personal‑privilege announcement that referenced VCU Massey Cancer Center fundraising; he framed both issues as examples of setting public priorities that help families thrive long term.
No formal motion or vote followed Coe’s remarks; they were presented as a personal privilege and a call to policy action. The House’s schedule continued with third‑reading business and ceremonial introductions.
Speakers and attributions
- Delegate Coe, Delegate (Fredericksburg) — made the redlining and homeownership remarks and cited the homeownership statistics and the first‑time homebuyers grant.
Context and next steps
Coe said the House had approved a first‑time homebuyers grant program the prior week. He urged colleagues to “take bold steps to right these wrongs” by passing policies that expand homeownership opportunities. No committee referral or specific bill number was offered during the remarks on Feb. 10; further legislative action would require bill introduction or committee consideration.
The House reconvened Feb. 11 at noon.
