The Homeownership Covenant Act: Addressing Racial Barriers

Monday, March 31, 2025

1:00 PM – 1:45 PM MT

Location: Mile High Ballroom 3

CM: .75

Division Endorsement: Women and Planning Division

Moderator and Speaker(s)

PI

Paul Inghram, FAICP

Director of Growth Management
Puget Sound Regional Council
Seattle, Washington

Speaker(s)

SA

Shanti Abedin

Rockville, MD
LC

Logan Camporeale
Laura Hodgson (she/her/hers)

Senior Planner
WA State Department of Commerce
Puyallup, Washington

Racist housing discrimination has a long history in the United States. In 2021, Washington State passed HB 1220, requiring cities and counties to address racially disparate impacts in their housing plans. In 2023, it followed by passing the Homeownership Covenant Act — with bipartisan support — to address past practices of racial restrictions and segregation.

To aid the work of addressing housing discrimination, the University of Washington and Eastern Washington University are identifying and mapping racist covenants. Even though these racist covenants are no longer legally enforceable, their impacts continue to reverberate through the zoning, land use patterns, and segregation seen today. Examine the national context of housing discrimination; explore the techniques being used to identify, map, and inventory past and current discriminatory actions; and discuss strategies being used by Washington State and local jurisdictions to remove today’s racial barriers.

Learning Objectives:

Learn how racial barriers continue to affect families and about national efforts to eliminate them.
Learn about the research underway at the University of Washington and Eastern Washington University to identify racist covenants and how their impacts still reverberate in local plans.
Learn how the city of Spokane, Washington, is using information about raciest covenants to meet state requirements to address racially disparate impacts and exclusive zoning.