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Most Blacks Locked Out of Market as California Median Home Cost Soars Past $800,000

“California desperately needs more housing to meet the needs of diverse middle-class and low-income Californians,” Dave Walsh, president of CAR, said during a virtual news conference on May 20. “With a historic budget surplus, now is the time to address the racial divide in homeownership and fix California’s severe housing shortage.”

Published

5 years ago

May 26, 2021

Mia Lane

Photo Credits: Wiktor Karkocha

Yes The California Association of Realtors (CAR), the California Building Industry Association (CBIA), and Habitat for Humanity California have joined together to urge lawmakers to make additional investments in this year’s state budget toencourage developers to build more homes across California.

This is the only way, they insist, to solve two of the state’smost stubborn problems: a critical housing shortage and ageneral lack of affordable housing.

Those three organizations, along with a coalition of homebuilders, racial justice activists and homeownership advocates, are also calling for investments in the budget to address the racial gap in homeownership by increasing the housing supply at every income level.

Black and Latinx households are priced out of the market disproportionately, a CAR representative said. The median sales price of a home in California surged past a record $813,980 in April, and housing production stalled for the second consecutive year in 2020.

As home prices in California continue to set record highs, and only 1 in 4 Californians is able to afford a home priced at the median cost, investments in new housing supply would address severe disparities in homeownership and reverse decades of exclusionary housing policies, CBIA, CAR., and Habitat for Humanity California said in a joint statement.

In February, CAR reported that housing affordability for the average Black household in California is 50% less than that of their white counterparts. Fewer than 1 in 5 Black California households were able to buy a $659,380 median-priced home in 2020.

“To achieve the housing we need, our state must make the investment in creating housing opportunities for working Californians to access all forms of stable homeownership,” said Michael Gunning, senior vice president of Legislative Affairs for CBIA. “To close the racial homeownership divide, we must address segregation caused by explicit, historic government policies at the local, state, and federal level.”

That figure is compared to 2 in 5 white households in the state who could buy the same dwelling. A minimum annual income of $122,800 was required to make a monthly payment ofover $3,000 on a fixed-rate mortgage.

Homeownership is a key element to building generational wealth and it helps to stabilize communities. Homeownership rates are at their lowest in California since the 1940s. Black and Latinx households are twice as likely to rent properties as whiteCalifornians.

CBIA, CAR, and Habitat for Humanity California say that the record state budget surplus this fiscal year creates a historic opportunity to address California’s housing crisis and invest in more housing inventory across the state.

Of the $9.3 billion allocated to housing in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed revise budget, only $725 million, or less than 8%, goes toward expanding homeownership opportunities with programs such as down payment assistance, CAR points out.

“It is time for California to lead through action in Sacramento to address these painful truths about past housing policies and create a new housing future that works for everyone,” Gunning said. “That can start with the budget investments we’re calling for today.”

The groups are requesting for additional budget investmentsin a number of areas that would create opportunities to expand the housing inventory in the state, including matching grants and tax credits to complement those proposed by the Biden Administration; tax credits for first-time and low– and moderate-income buyers; and incentives to increase construction.

“This is about the future of our state. This is about keeping more Californians from being cost-burdened and falling into homelessness,” Walsh said. “It’s about creating true housing equity for all Californians. Let’s come together to prioritize more ownership housing — it’s the right thing to do to ensure the American dream of homeownership doesn’t slip away for Californians who call the Golden State home.”

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

4 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

5 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

7 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke