State's Covenant Homeownership program aims to close wealth gaps; presenters cite early results and legal risks

The Seattle City Council's Housing, Arts and Civil Rights Committee heard a briefing March 25 on Washington State's Covenant Homeownership program, a race-conscious special-purpose credit program designed to remedy harms from historic racially restrictive covenants and other state policies.

The program, run by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, was created under legislation signed in May 2023 and funded by new real-estate recording fees first collected in January 2024. Lisa DeBROCK, the commission's homeownership director, told the committee the program provides a zero-interest down-payment assistance loan of up to 20% of a home's purchase price, capped at $150,000 plus customary closing costs, repayable on sale. She said the program launched in July 2024 and "has thus far helped 1,259 families throughout the state with their purchase of their first home," adding that 76 of those closings were in…