SYSTEMIC RACISM: Feds commit $10 million to help 200 Black families in GTA buy their first home

 

The Canadian government is committing $10 million in federal funding to help 200 Black families in the Greater Toronto Area purchase their first home.

The new funding will help 200 Black families purchase their first home in the GTA within the next four years under the Shared Equity Mortgage Provider fund. It will help the homebuyers reduce their monthly mortgage without increasing the amount they pay toward the down payment.

Hussen said that the program is designed to ensure that these homes remain affordable across multiple owners and multiple generations, while also “building strength and generational wealth through their home.”

Dahabo Ahmed-Omer, the executive director at The BlackNorth Initiative, said the new funding is essential to support Black families in the GTA. She said many people are not aware of how deeply racialized the path to homeownership is.

Ahmed-Omer said that in higher income brackets where housing is mainly owned, 73 per cent of homeowners are white, while in lower income brackets where housing is mainly rented, 69 per cent of residents belong to racialized minorities.

Recent federal government studies have shown that Black Canadians have one of the lowest home ownership rates in the country. Statistics Canada data shows that 48 per cent of the Black population lived in a home that was owned by a household member in 2018. In comparison, the national home ownership rate of the population was 73 per cent.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/feds-commit-10-million-to-help-200-black-families-in-gta-buy-their-first-home-1.5786938