; or (III) in the case of an auction, if the winning bid is not from a community partner, permitting any community partner that bid during that same auction to have a final opportunity to enter a higher bid on the pool. . II Taking the first steps to reverse the legacy of housing discrimination and government negligence 201. Down payment assistance program for communities formerly segregated by law (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) For generations, buying a home has been the primary way working families build wealth. (2) A home is not only a place to live, but also an asset that may appreciate, help fund a new business, finance an education, or cover retirement expenses. A home provides stability and financial predictability, which are important foundations for prosperity and access to opportunity for a family. (3) For decades, the Federal Government subsidized homeownership—for White families. Until the 1960s, the Federal Government systematically denied African Americans and other marginalized groups the ability to obtain mortgage credit, buy homes, and build wealth for their families while subsidizing the American dream for White families. (4) The Federal Government, through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and the Federal Housing Administration, standardized and institutionalized discriminatory policies on the basis of race, national origin, and religion that reflected practices in the private sector and became a model for their widespread adoption across the housing industry. (5) Racist restrictive covenants and zoning ordinances also robbed families of color of the opportunity to live and build opportunity for their families in the community of their choice. (6) In the years before the 2008 financial crisis, lenders targeted borrowers of color with abusive loans while government regulators sat on their hands, further extracting wealth from these same communities. (7) The legacy of housing discrimination and regulatory negligence is a contributor to a large and growing gap in wealth and