Discrimination in Purchasing a Home due to Being White

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I am going to relate several instances where I tried to purchase a home and I was discriminated against due to being White. When I relate the stories to you please remember that in each case I discussed the requirements for the home purchase program involved with a Black or Hispanic person managing the program. While they denied me access to home purchasing programs they gave immediate access and assistance to Blacks and Hispanics.

My first incident happened in Connecticut when I lived there from 1980 to 1982. I found a really nice two-family two-story home in Norwich, Connecticut. The great feature about this home is the original inside staircase was still there as most two-family two-story homes have the inside staircase removed.

I contacted the organization that dealt with FHA Veteran loans. I went to the office and talked with the Black man who managed the program for the State of Connecticut. I asked him what the requirements were to quality for the program to obtain an FHA Vet loan. He said the following were the requirements:

(1) You must have served on Active Duty in any Branch of the Armed Services and you must have served for at least 180 days or more on Active Duty and have obtained an Honorable Discharge Certificate.

(2) You must have a total family income of less than $25,000 per year.

He said those were the only two requirements. Wow I was excited!

I told the man that I served for 8 years on Active Duty, which is classified as “180 days or more on Active Duty” and I have my DD-214 Honorable Discharge Certificate and our total family income for the year was under $25,000.

Immediately the man said: YOU DON’T QUALIFY FOR THE PROGRAM.

I asked him three times what the requirements to qualify for the program and three times he stated the above two items to qualify for the FHA Vet home loan program. After the third time of telling him I have the Active Duty service requirement AND the Honorable Discharge Certificate AND a family income under $235,000  he told me again YOU DON’T QUALITY FOR THE PROGRAM I got in his face and told him the following:

I SEE HOW IT IS! THE ONLY REASON I DON’T QUALIFY IS BECAUSE I’M WHITE AND YOUR ARE DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ME! IF I WERE BLACK OR HISPANIC YOU WOULD APPROVE ME TO PURCHASE A HOME IMMEDIATELY! THANKS FOR NOTHING JERK! THANKS FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ME!

I stormed out of his office and wasn’t able to purchase a home in Connecticut.

In 1982 I returned to living in Oakland, California where I was born and grew up. I have been a resident of Oakland since birth. I found a fantastic two-story home on Fruitvale Avenue just down the road from where my Mother and Brother lived. I wanted the home and the price at that time was around $25,000.

Oakland had a home purchasing assistance program called Oakland Bond Money and while normal Bank and Mortgage Company interest rates were running around 15 percent interest the Oakland Bond Money program was around 8 percent interest.

I went to the office that handles the Oakland Bond Money Program. I asked them what the requirements were to qualify for their program. The Hispanic person I spoke to said the following were the requirements:

(1) You must be a Resident of Oakland.

(2) Your family income must be under $20,000 per year.

So I told this person that I have lived in Oakland since the day I was born so I am a Resident of Oakland from birth and our total family income was around $13,000 per year.

The Hispanic person immediately told me:  YOU DON’T QUALIFY FOR THE PROGRAM! When asked why I don’t quality they said YOU ARE NOT A RESIDENT OF OAKLAND! I reminded them that I was born in Oakland and that is on my Birth Certificate. I reminded them I have lived in Oakland all my life. I reminded them my family income is under the $20,000 limit.

Again the person told me that YOU DON’T QUALIFY FOR THE PROGRAM! At this point I stood up, got in their face, and told them:  THE ONLY REASON I DON’T QUALIFY IS BECAUSE I’M WHITE AND YOUR PROGRAM IS RACIST IN THAT IT ONLY SERVED THE BLACKS AND HISPANICS IN OAKLAND! THANKS FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ME JERKS! And then I stormed out of their office.

Now do you still believe that White people are not discriminated against?

Please don't even think of accusing me of being the racist person in these situations. I am telling you the truth of what really happened to me. I would be telling you these incidents even if it was a White person managing the program and they had denied me the loan even though I qualified. I would still call that White person who discriminated against me a racist and call them out for their discrimination.