Strategies to Minimize Displacement: Down Payment and Closing Cost Assistance Programs
Introduction
Brownfields—or properties with environmental contamination or potentially contaminated land—are disproportionately located in or near communities of color and low-income communities. Residents near these properties may face heightened health hazards and economic disinvestment until the site undergoes assessment and cleanup, which can be costly and lengthy. Safely reusing a brownfield site is an opportunity to improve community health, spur economic investment, and bring in new amenities. However, brownfield redevelopment can also exacerbate affordability and displacement concerns. As rent and property taxes rise and it becomes more expensive to live in a community, lower-income residents and small businesses may be displaced. Strong, early community engagement in the brownfields reuse process presents an opportunity for the community to have a meaningful role and input on how to minimize displacement throughout the planning, cleanup, and reuse process. Community leaders, stakeholders, and practitioners can be proactive and implement strategies to minimize the risk of displacement. These strategies take time, resources, and political will to implement, and they are most effective if put into place before displacement is already occurring.
Tool: Down Payment and Closing Cost Assistance Programs
Homeownership is an important tool for families to build generational wealth in the United States. Supporting homeownership in communities experiencing brownfield redevelopment is critical to helping long-term residents remain in their communities, maintain community connectivity, and benefit from the economic impacts likely to accrue from neighborhood revitalization. Unfortunately, the high upfront costs of home buying, such as the necessary down payment and closing costs, are barriers to entry for many first-time or first-generation homebuyers. This is especially true for younger people and people of color who have been historically excluded from homeownership opportunities. Down payment assistance (DPA) programs can support first-time homebuyers who qualify for assistance by providing grants, loans or other incentives to defray the expense of down payment and closing costs. Federal, state, and local governments typically fund public DPA programs. Other organizations in the private or nonprofit sectors often leverage DPA programs to further assist first-time homebuyers in the process of buying a home.