Colleges could compete for grants to map past housing discrimination

Colleges could compete for grants to study, digitize, and map historic housing discrimination records. Projects would cover at least one local government area or Washington, D.C., and housing discrimination records originating after 1850. Congress would need to provide funding. Colleges federally designated as minority-serving institutions could receive preference. Projects could last up to five years.

The federal housing department would publish data from grant-funded projects in a free national database. A college could require the department to wait until 180 days after submission before adding its data. Local governments paid with project grants to digitize records would have to make those records available free.

Congress would authorize funding for research grants and the costs of running the program. The proposal would authorize $5 million each year for grants and $750,000 each year for program costs. These amounts would authorize future spending; Congress would still need to provide the money. Both amounts cover fiscal years 2027 through 2036. Money provided for program costs would remain available until spent.