Backers challenging WA race-based housing program confident despite legal blow

(The Center Square) – The plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Washington state’s down-payment assistance program for people who faced racial housing discrimination aren’t giving up hope, even after being dealt a legal blow.

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against the state’s Covenant Homeownership Program but offered the organizations fighting the program two weeks to refile their case and try again.

U.S. District Court Judge John Chun gave the plaintiffs’ attorneys until July 8 to submit additional information for the complaint, which will otherwise be dismissed.

As reported by The Center Square, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, or FAIR, a national New York-based nonprofit, brought the case against the head of the Washington State Housing Finance Commission concerning the Covenant Home Ownership Program.

“The Covenant Homeownership Program was created through passage of the Covenant Homeownership Act by the Washington State Legislature in 2023 to serve the needs of first-time homebuyers whose families were deliberately shut out of homeownership in the name of segregation,” Margret Graham, communications director for the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, emailed The Center Square on Friday.

The program offers first-time homebuyers a zero-interest rate loan for downpayment and closing cost assistance to address discrimination and racial disparity in homeownership.

Down payment and closing cost assistance are open to those who lived in or had a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent living in Washington before 1968 and who meet one of the following government-defined racial identities: “Black, Hispanic, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, Korean and Asian Indian.”

Pacific Legal Foundation is representing FAIR in the litigation, which argues the program is racist and discriminatory, excluding many Asian-Americans and Jews, as well as other groups who were also subject to housing discrimination laws of the past.

PLF attorney Andrew Quinio told The Center Square the case is not over.

“The judge gave us until July 8th to file an amended complaint,” Quinio said, explaining that the judge determined one of the members in their complaint didn't have individual standing to pursue a lawsuit against Washington and the Washington Housing and Finance Commission. “What the judge said specifically was that while the member meets the income and residency requirements of the challenged program, the member did not show that they qualified for a primary mortgage that one must have in conjunction with the benefits of the program.”

He noted the judge said that the member in question would have to demonstrate that they qualify for the mortgage.

“Now we disagree with the judge's determination of what this member had to show in order to be in a position to bring a lawsuit, but we are considering our options and seeing if we'll move forward with the amended complaint by July 8th,” Quinio noted.

According to Graham, the Washington State Housing Commission was pleased with the court’s decision.

“The program is aimed at prospective Washington homebuyers whose families were excluded by policies in place before the passage of the federal Fair Housing Act in 1968 that barred them from financing and/or buying a home due to their skin color or ethnicity,” she said in her email to The Center Square.

She continued: “This program is the result of rigorous research. As required by the legislation, an independent national firm studied past housing discrimination in Washington state, how it affected families and its continued impacts today, as well as policies that could ameliorate these impacts.”

Quinio contends the program is discriminatory and in violation of the Constitution, specifically the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

“It discriminates unlawfully on the basis of race. If this program really intended to assist those who can't afford a home and those that were victims of discrimination, then that should be a criteria,” he explained. “The applicants should have to show that they were victims of discrimination, but that's not a criteria at all. The victimization is presumed based on race and skin color.”

Quinio said that despite other media reports that the judge threw out the case this week, that is not what happened; he and his clients are still confident in their case.

“The judge didn't reach a decision on the central question of the constitutionality of this home buyer assistance program, so that's a question that we are still looking forward to litigating and having determined by the court,” he said.

Washington lawmakers also recently expanded eligibility for the program.

“It raised the income level so that now more people who benefit from the racial preference can apply for this thing,” Quinio said. “It just doubled down essentially on the racial preferences and racial classifications. If this program was really intended to assist those who can't afford a home and those that were victims of discrimination, then that should be a criteria, but that's not a criteria at all.”