WATCH: Whistleblower: WA’s Community Reinvestment Program riddled with self-dealing

(The Center Square) – A whistleblower has raised serious allegations against Washington state’s Community Reinvestment Program, which, among other things, aims to support homeownership for minorities by providing grants and funding to programs that assist low-income households.

Independent journalist and “unDivided” podcast host Brandi Kruse on Monday published an article based on a months-long investigation into information obtained by real estate agent Corey Orvold, which points to the program becoming a fund for personal enrichment of those charged with distributing the funds.

The Community Reinvestment Program was created by majority-party Democrats in 2022 and initially given a $200 million in taxpayer funds to lift up communities “disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs” and housing discrimination of the past. It is similar to the race-based Covenant Homeownership Program, which The Center Square has written about.

“The program [CRP] received another $50 million in funds for 2025-2027, despite a roughly $15 billion [state] budget shortfall that resulted in Gov. Bob Ferguson signing the largest tax increase in state history into law,” Kruse’s article notes. “Evidence shows the money is being used to enrich those with direct ties to the BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] nonprofits that now control its purse strings.”

Orvold, who is half Black and half white, learned of the program through her work with the Tacoma Urban League, an organization she has been serving with for more than eight years.

“It was a joint project to try to help empower Black community members into homeownership. And we partnered with the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, [which] administers a down payment assistance program,” Orvold told The Center Square.

Orvold said that earlier this year, she had a potential client she was trying to help access the loan program through the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, but kept meeting obstacles.

“I received an email back from an Urban League staff member that said it was only open to preferred vendors, and I was not one of them,” Orvold said. “For the first 30 days, it was only open to certain individuals. I was like, ‘I don't think that's really legal.’ I started to realize that certain people were the ones that the business was being shoveled to. It really came down to about four or five loan officers. And as far as the real estate brokers, you had to work with one of their preferred people.”

As Orvold started digging into public records, she grew suspicious that some administrators of the program funds may have been providing loans or debt relief using taxpayer money to their own close circle, including family members.

As noted in Kruse’s article, “Records show a woman named Aysia Williams closed on a Tacoma home for $424,950 on March 25, 2025. Thanks to multiple state programs that gift funds to people based on skin color, the actual amount of her home loan was only $89,960.”

According to Kruse and documents emailed to The Center Square from Orvold, this is what Williams received:

$99,668 in funds from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, which administers the newly created Covenant Homeownership Program, a reparations program designed to help first-time home buyers of color with down payments$100,000 in Community Reinvestment Program funds from United Housing Resources$100,000 in Community Reinvestment Program funds through the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle$50,000 in Community Reinvestment Program funds through Byrd Barr Place, a Seattle-based nonprofit that says it works to decrease economic barriers and inequities

“Aysia’s mom, Angela Williams, happens to be the Director of Financial Empowerment at the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle – one of the organizations that awarded her six figures in down payment assistance,” Kruse’s article notes.

Orvold said she reached out to the state Department of Commerce, which oversees the CRP, with her concerns that only certain individuals were being considered for the first 30 days of funds being made available.

“In my conversation with Angela Snow from the Department of Commerce, when I brought this up, she said the Urban League had been told that that's illegal, they can't do that,” Orvold said. “And they said [they would] pause the program, to make sure that everybody that was currently under contract to purchase a home was served first.”

Orvold said the program had never reopened, and when she reached out again, she was informed that all the funds had been disbursed and there was no money left.

“On March 3, we were told they were out of funds. However, I saw individuals that went under contract at the end of March, April, May, June, and the end of June,” Orvold continued. “And so, it’s like they never had an intention of making it widely available for the community. In my opinion, they were just keeping it for a select few.”

Orvold sent The Center Square more than 30 emails containing documents and communications she exchanged with Urban League leadership, officials from the Department of Commerce, the state Attorney General’s Office, and others, dating back to early 2025.

She shared that her inquiries were met with accusations that she was mentally unstable, and attempts were made to have her real estate license revoked.

Orvold eventually resigned her position with the Tacoma Urban League, stating that leaders had indicated there were potential conflicts of interest related to CRP funds.

She said she wanted no part of any organization that was doing that, let alone admitting it.

“I spoke to the AG face-to-face on August 2nd, and I told him what was going on. And when I emailed the office, I gave links. That was August 2nd, and I didn't hear back from anybody at the AG's office until October 10th,” Orvold said, noting that she suspects that after Kruse reached out to the AGO this month, that nudged the office to have an investigator reach out.

The Center Square emailed the AGO about the investigation and received the following response from AGO spokesperson Mike Faulk: “Our office has a longstanding policy of neither confirming nor denying potential investigatory matters.”

The Center Square also reached out to the Department of Commerce and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, but did not receive a response by the deadline.

As Kruse notes in her article, the Urban League denies any wrongdoing.

“In an email, it declined to provide a list of all staff members, board members, or family members who have benefited directly from CRP funds, citing ‘privacy and confidentiality,’ the article states.

King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn told The Center Square that lawmakers must address concerns about CRP and similar programs.

“A key reform must include a requirement that related nonprofits, and their employees, family, and board members must not be eligible for the programs they are charged with distributing,” he said. “In addition, no layering of these various programs should be permitted.”

Orvold said there are more questionable issues with the program and its leadership. She told The Center Square she plans to continue “peeling layers off the onion.”

“To have these people that, in my mind, are benefiting from mismanaged money, say that I'm unethical and contact my job, to try to get my real estate license taken away from me, and threaten me with legal action, it's just asinine,” she said. “It's absolutely asinine. I'm going to continue to be vocal. I'm going to continue to speak out. This is not only my tax money, but you're hurting my community.”