San Diego First-Time Homebuyers Sue for Equal Treatment Under the Law

Whites need not apply.

But now they can.

In the face of a lawsuit by the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, the San Diego Housing Commission is no longer limiting its financial assistance program for first-time home buyers to blacks and other minorities.

The case was formally settled last month.

Californians for Equal Rights, which has recently won similar victories against noxious race exclusive government programs in the Golden State, was represented by the libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento.

Pacific Legal Foundation lawyer Jack Brown told the California Globe that the “most important principle in the lawsuit was vindicating equality under the law and ensuring that our client’s members don’t face racial discrimination in the provision of government benefits. While we at PLF don’t believe that grant and loan programs like this one are an effective way of controlling housing costs (we favor policies that eliminate barriers to building new housing), we firmly believe that if the government is going to provide these benefits, it must do so equally, without regard to race.”

The noxious racially exclusive housing program was launched in June 2023 with a $7.5 million grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation and a $184,000 donation from the National Fair Housing Alliance.  (The latter group apparently wants fair housing for everybody but white people!)

The program provided minorities either a $20,000 grant towards the purchase of a home and closing costs or a $20,00 deferred loan for the down payment and $20,00 for closing costs.

The program was hailed by local politicians and nobody seemed to notice or care that denying the assistance to whites was violating multiple civil rights laws.

“Middle-income residents are often overlooked, but this program invests in creating more access for first-time homebuyers of color,” said San Diego City Council President Pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe.  “I’m excited that this significant opportunity will help eliminate the racial wealth gap and work toward an equitable future of homeownership.”

San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno said that, “As we all have seen, housing prices have surged in recent years to levels that have frozen out many families from being able to purchase a home.  However, with this $7.5 million grant, we are moving the right direction by providing 5,000 families of color the opportunity to buy their first home, which to most people seems unattainable right now.”

But Californians for Equal Rights soon caught wind of the program. The group  filed a lawsuit against the San Diego Housing Commission, the San Diego Housing Authority and the City of San Diego on March 12, 2024 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.

Californians for Equal Rights said that one of its  members wanted to buy a first-time home with assistance from the program but could not because he lacked sufficient melanin.

“One or more of CFER’s members is ready, willing, and able to apply for the [program]nd would be eligible for the program’s benefits were race not a factor.  CFER Member “A” wishes to buy a home in San Diego. He self-identifies as white. Member A has not owned a home within the past three years. Member A is part of a household of one and has an income between $77,200 and $122,650. Member A is ready, willing, and able to apply for a grant or loan provided under the Program. “

The lawsuit said that the program violated Constitutional protections.

“CFER brings this action to vindicate its members’ rights to equal protection and end the City’s racial discrimination. The Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause requires the government to treat its citizens as individuals, not as members of a racial group. The Program’s race-based measures violate that constitutional command. “

Last July, CFER and the Pacific Legal Foundation dropped the City of San Diego and the San Diego Housing Authority as defendants so they could get an injunction against the San Diego Housing Commission to stop the discrimination.

“The relief our clients sought in the lawsuit was to enjoin the Housing Commission from continuing to enforce the race-based aspects of the program and stop it from providing benefits on the basis of race,” explained Pacific Legal Foundation lawyer  Jack Brown. “Because the program was a creation of the Housing Commission and we could get an injunction with just the Commission as a defendant, we made the call that continuing to include the City and Housing Authority was unnecessary, and we were fine with voluntarily dismissing them because they were superfluous.”

As part of settlement talks last year, the Commission agreed to stop excluding whites from the program.  “The Commission barred race [as] a condition of eligibility for the program in November,” said Brown. “That came after we had some back-and-forth discussions with the Commission’s attorneys regarding potential settlement, and repeal of the race-based aspect of the program was a necessary precondition for settlement.”

Under the settlement,  the Commission is also paying money to the CFER member whose privacy rights were violated during the litigation. Sounds like the Commission did something scuzzy but Brown declined to provide details.

He would only say that, “we believe that privacy was not maintained during aspects of the litigation. The issue was resolved to the satisfaction of CFER and that of the member whose privacy we believe was violated with the payment of a sum of money to that member. We are glad that the matter has been resolved to our satisfaction and that of our clients and we appreciate the continued respect of CFER members’ privacy.”

CFER executive director Wenyuan Wu told the California Globe that she hopes the settlement proves a cautionary note to other government agencies inclined to have similar race exclusive programs.  “We hope that the hard-fought settlement sends a strong message to all public agencies in California: no one can not place the rotten ideology of race, identity politics and preferential treatment above the law, if and when they do, they must be prepared to face legal consequences.”

Similarly, CFER president Fran Xu said by email that the “government should help all first-time homebuyers based on individual and family needs. Now that the program is permanently repealed thanks to our lawsuit, the Housing Commission can focus on using its resources and taxpayer funds in legal, constitutional manners to help all qualifying San Diego homebuyers, regardless of skin color.”

The San Diego Housing Commission communications office did not reply to a request for comment.