View or download a PDF of the letter here.

Dear Senator Schumer, 

We are writing you as a broad group of housing advocacy, financial services, and housing provider  organizations in support of homeownership and the need for the highest possible amount of homeownership  funding in the Build Back Better Budget Reconciliation Bill. 

We recognize that homeownership is a critical piece for growing and maintaining a sustainable middle class  and for building family wealth. But Black homeownership remains 29.6 percentage points below white  homeownership rates and has dropped to levels from before the passage of the Fair Housing Act. Hispanic  homeownership rates are 26.7 percentage points below white rates.  

The housing market needs substantial investment to increase affordable housing supply and to improve access  to homeownership for underserved markets. The Build Back Better Act has important tools for reversing the  decline in affordability and availability of homeownership, including: 

• First-generation down-payment assistance 
• Investment in HOME and the Housing Investment Fund 
• The Neighborhood Home Investment Act 
• Support for Fair Housing enforcement 
• Support for housing counseling 

We also want to state that we are strongly in favor of investing in the rental and homeless portions of the  Budget Reconciliation Bill and do not favor sacrificing one part of the marketplace for another. All these  areas are suffering from underinvestment in public funds and need to be supported. 

Our intention is to emphasize the importance of homeownership for the economy, for the financial security of  millions of American households, for sustainable job creation, and for addressing the racial and ethnic wealth  gap. We ask that you support full funding for homeownership in the Budget Reconciliation Bill.