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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nSenate Democrats this week unveiled a $3.5 trillion social infrastructure framework<\/a> which would include down payment assistance, but little else to address challenges low-income and minority borrowers face in the housing market.<\/p>\n The framework would set aside $332 billion for affordable housing. Senate Democrats hope to pass the legislation through an abbreviated budgetary process known as reconciliation, in tandem with the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, which passed the Senate<\/a> on Tuesday. Biden has said he will only sign the bipartisan effort if the $3.5 trillion package, which includes much of his agenda, also passes.<\/p>\n But so far, the proposal contains few ambitious new programs to tackle problems in the housing market. Besides down payment assistance, there’s no proposal to close the racial homeownership gap<\/a>. Nothing in the proposal would salvage the country\u2019s aging housing stock, or train a fleet of buildings tradespeople to retrofit inefficient homes. There’s no program make low-dollar mortgages make sense for those who finance them, and no funding to create a homeownership voucher.<\/p>\n Most programs in the $3.5 trillion framework are geared toward renters, not homeowners. The biggest exception is down payment assistance, which President Joe Biden campaigned on<\/a>, and which housing affordability proponents have argued would help more access homeownership<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Senate\u2019s version is light on details, but a legislative proposal already exists in the House of Representatives. In July, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, proposed a $100 billion down payment assistance bill to provide up to $25,000 to first-time homebuyers.<\/p>\n Start an HW+ Membership<\/a><\/span><\/u> now for less than $1 a day.<\/p>\n Your HW+ Membership includes:<\/p>\n Become a member today<\/a><\/p>\n Already a member? log in<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n The post Down payment assistance part of $3.5T infrastructure plan<\/a> appeared first on HousingWire<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"hw](\"https:\/\/www.housingwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/2020_HWLogo.jpeg\")
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