Ready to Buy Your First Home?
The Greenline Home Program aims to tackle the legacy of redlining to empower and uplift economically marginalized communities.
What is it?
A $35,000 grant for down payment or closing cost assistance towards the purchase of a home.
Who Can Apply?
- First-time homebuyers living in Los Angeles County.
- Residents with low to moderate income
- Residents living in high-/highest-need areas
Details
- $35,000 grant for down payment and/or closing cost assistance towards the purchase of a home.
- Applicant must be a first-time homebuyer (have not owned or had interest in a property within the past 3 years)
- Priority will be given low-to-moderate income County resident in “high-highest” need and “high-need” census tracts
- Property must be single-family residence, condo, or townhouse
- Buyer must occupy the home for 3 years after closing date
- A two (2) year lien will be attached to the property in the amount of the grant
- Applicant must complete 8-hour HUD approved first time homebuyer education class
Redlining: Housing Practices Rooted in Discrimination
Homeownership has historically been one of the most effective means for wealth building and financial well-being. Yet, centuries of structural racism and discrimination in housing and mortgage markets, “redlining”, have made the role of homeownership as a wealth-building tool a benefit almost entirely available to white households. Racial disparities in housing wealth account for a substantial share of the wealth divide, creating a cumulative wealth disparity that continues to prevent people of color from obtaining and retaining their own homes and accessing safe, affordable housing. Segregation, unequal access to credit and homeownership, continuous devaluation of homes in communities of color, and persistent obstruction to accumulate wealth through homeownership have left lingering effects for BIPOC communities.
Today, these obstacles and housing disparities have worsened since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Barriers to homeownership in the form of insufficient income and household wealth to afford down payment and closing costs, inaccessible or poor credit, lack of knowledge about buying a home and sustaining homeownership, regulatory burdens, and housing discrimination remain hinderances for low-to moderate-income and BIPOC families.
