2024 election: During June summit, White House describes Biden’s record

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The White House held a June event earlier this month, giving WHYY News the opportunity to speak with several White House officials about their priorities for black Americans.

It’s a tall order for an administration that is losing favor among a demographic that has traditionally favored Democrats. Despite the loss of support among black voters, the White House is convinced that the lives of black Americans have improved during President Joe Biden’s first term.

Here’s what the Biden administration pointed out:

Economy and taxes

According to a report published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), nearly 1 in 5 Black Pennsylvanians were unemployed at the end of 2020. At the time, this was the highest unemployment rate for Black workers of any US state. However, by the end of 2023, black unemployment in the Keystone State had fallen to 5.7%, a record low and below the national average of 6.1%.

“At a very high level, I think this president is extremely proud of his economic record and what it has meant for black Americans in particular,” Daniel Hornung, deputy director of the National Economic Council, told reporters at the White House. “We know that more than two and a half million African Americans have jobs now than when he came into office. If you look at some household wealth statistics, things like wealth among black Americans is up 60% compared to 2019 after accounting for inflation.

The income gap between black households and the overall median has also narrowed, with the state average unemployment in 2023 estimated at 4.2% and at the end of the year around 3.6%.

Hornung also said that if the president is re-elected, he plans to implement a tax system that is fairer when the Trump-era tax system ends next year.

“This president has been clear that, for people making under $400,000, their taxes will not go up, but he will raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on big corporations,” Hornung said, adding that the administration would extend the middle-class tax break to provide further tax relief for workers and families in the form of things like the enhanced child tax credit and the earned income tax credit.

HOUSING

The White House is also touting new statistics when it comes to black homeownership nationwide.

In Philadelphia, black residents make up the largest residential group, yet earn roughly half of non-Hispanic white households.

As home prices skyrocket and interest rates continue to rise, Natalie Mendenhall, with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, agrees that black residents have been hit the hardest.

“It’s something that this administration went into, in addition to trying to figure out how to keep families in their homes that were affected by the pandemic and some of the people that lost their income,” said Mendenhal, who claims that the administration has increased the number of homes purchased by black residents. “Despite those housing conditions, we’ve been able to help a quarter of a million African Americans buy their own home, and we’re proud of that,” she said.

Home sales in Philly fell nearly 40% last year compared to the year before.

The White House reports that it is working to keep residents in their homes through mortgage assistance and first-time homebuyer programs.

According to Pew Research, a total of 15,617 homes sold last year, nearly 10,000 fewer than 2022, which was a banner year for home sales in Philadelphia.

“We helped 160,000 black homeowners stay in their homes during the pandemic,” Mendenhall said, adding that the administration is working to increase affordable housing to help renters as well.

The Pew Charitable Trust’s State of the City report shows that among the nation’s 10 most populous cities, Philadelphia has the highest percentage of low-income cost-burdened households. The problem is particularly acute for renters with incomes below $30,000 a year; 88% are cost-burdened, with 68% cost-heavy, meaning they spend at least 50% of their income on housing.

The city’s supply of low-cost units is insufficient to meet the needs of such a large group of families—there are nearly twice as many low-income renter families as housing units they can afford.

“Our 2025 Budget recommends that we build an extra two million homes across the country for both renters and home owners. In addition, we want to make sure that we’re providing, as I mentioned, rental assistance to all low- and moderate-income people,” Mendenhall said.

Administration leaders said they are making changes to homeowner qualifications for HUD mortgage lending and HUD FHA mortgage lending to lower mortgage rates.

They plan to reevaluate HUD mortgage financing to lower costs for potential homeowners and have counselors across the country canvassing neighborhoods to educate first-time homeowners about resources to restore credit and apply for programs to help buy homes.

They will also host parties to help get more people involved and interested in learning more. “We actually had house parties with the DJ and the food and everything and just introducing people to the process of buying a home,” Mendenhall said.

When it comes to the people who build these houses, most of that work is done by white developers. Jim Burnett, with Philly’s Black Squirrel Collective, a company that provides funding to help black and brown developers build property in the city, reports that 95% of developers in Philadelphia are white.

Mendenhall said they are aware of these statistics and are working to improve them.

“We’ve brought together black developers because one of the things we know is that we’re investing these billions of dollars that the president has been able to get for Americans, we want to make sure that some of these resources go to black communities and black businesses. “, Mendenhall said. “So we’ve brought together black developers across the country to teach them how to access HUD programs so they can be a part of this business growth.”