Preserve the Equity Rules In The CRA The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) (1977) was created to remedy the fact that, without regulation, banks took deposits from people of color, but wouldn’t make fair, affordable, and community-serving loans in the neighborhoods where those customers lived. Redlining is one example of how these discriminatory practices. This took assets from people in Black and brown segregated neighborhoods to underwrite mortgages and other loans in predominately white segregated communities, creating stark wealth inequality. The median white family now has 10 and 7 times the wealth of the median Black and Latinx family, respectively. The CRA requires banks with branches in low-and-moderate income communities to re-invest capital back into these neighborhoods; investing in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC) is one way banks meet this obligation. Under Trump, however, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) are trying to ram through new rules that’d reverse these critical gains. Turning the CRA from a tool to combat redlining into one that exacerbates it is unacceptable. Rather than retreat from Civil Rights, CRA reform should go further to repair our nation’s historic and ongoing inequities. Submit a letter now on behalf of your organization telling the FDIC and Comptroller of Currency why the Community Reinvestment Act should be strengthened, not gutted. | |