Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9407010096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER Note: below
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But in doing so it has raised the ire of family traditionalists.
Last week, the authority agreed to allow homosexual and unmarried heterosexual couples to obtain low-income mortgages by substituting the word "family" with "household" in its regulations for borrowers buying single-family homes.
The change was made simply to conform regulations to federal and state law - primarily the federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibits lending institutions from discriminating against an individual or household based on marital status, said Michael Anderson, VHDA spokesman.
Instead it became a point of controversy, viewed by some individuals and organizations as undermining the traditional family unit.
The Family Foundation, a religious-based conservative organization, issued a news release this week calling the change an "assault perpetrated by the [housing authority] on the nuclear family."
"One of our concerns is that it ["households"] would include homosexual couples and heterosexual couples living together without the benefit of getting married," said Marilyn Caro, administrator of the Springfield-based foundation.
"The government ought to be supporting what has for centuries been the building block for society and culture. That is, the family."
Gov. George Allen objected to the change. He had supported the authority's previous requirement that borrowers be related by blood, marriage or adoption.
New regulations define "household" as two or more individuals living together on the premises as a single, nonprofit housekeeping unit.
Wilma Warren, a Roanoker who on Thursday completed an eight-year term on the authority's board of commissioners, said the change was prompted by an unmarried couple from the Charlottesville area who complained about the loan restrictions. The couple, Warren said, met all loan eligibility requirements except one - the "family" requirement.
"I frankly was not aware that with that definition, we were excluding some people from being able to utilize our loan program," Warren said. "But I've always tried to be on the side of inclusion of people. I felt I had to vote for the change.
"We're a lending institution. It never dawned on me that anyone would see that as setting policy for the state."
The Housing Development Authority was created by the General Assembly in 1970. Its public purpose is to help low- to moderate-income Virginians become homeowners.
It was one of two lending agencies that carried the "family" restriction; the other was the Department of Veterans Affairs' home-loan program. Under old guidelines, even a couple engaged to be married could not make an authority loan.
Precisely how many people have sought loans and were told they did not qualify because of the "family" restriction is difficult to determine.
A person who did not meet guidelines "wouldn't have been declined, they wouldn't have even applied," said Mike Hinckler, vice president and branch manager of Mortage Service America Co. in Roanoke.
The authority has projected that the change will result in the financing of 60 additional loans statewide each year, Anderson said.
by CNB