In the News

By the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s count, only 30% of mortgage lending falls under CRA obligations, and as more types of lending expand online, CEO Jesse Van Tol worries that fewer small business loans will go to low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs.

D.C. had the highest intensity of gentrification in the country between 2000 and 2013, according to a study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition; one of those neighborhoods is Columbia Heights.

About 40% of the District’s lower-income neighborhoods experienced gentrification between 2000 and 2013, according to a National Community Reinvestment Coalition study released earlier this year, giving it the greatest “intensity of gentrification” of any city in the country.

In a study of U.S. census data, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that Atlanta was among the cities experiencing the highest black population loss and white population gain.

The economic opportunity for black Pittsburghers is diminishing. According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Pittsburgh is the eighth most gentrifying city in the U.S.

A report recently published by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition shows which Atlanta neighborhoods have been gentrified and, consequently, which groups of people were ultimately forced out of their homes.

And “unfavorable,” lower-income residents are often black or Latino. A March study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that since 2000, 12,000 black Philadelphians alone moved out of gentrifying neighborhoods, reflecting Philadelphia’s notably high level of black displacement in particular. Across the country, the study found black and Latino resident displacement to be a hallmark of gentrification.

In a letter written and submitted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), the coalition of housing, consumer protection and community development organizations urged the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to drop the idea of a “one-ratio” metric from new CRA rules expected to be proposed by the agencies this fall.

The council’s move comes six months after a study indicated displacement of residents is high in major U.S. cities such as Atlanta. In that study, by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Atlanta ranked seventh for the highest number of displaced black residents.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s “affordable housing goals ensure that all credit-worthy people have access to quality mortgages,” Jesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, said in a statement. “Their affordable housing obligations should be strengthened, not weakened, before ending the government’s conservatorship.”

In a letter written and submitted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), the coalition of housing, consumer protection and community development organizations urged the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to drop the idea of a “one-ratio” metric from new CRA rules expected to be proposed by the agencies this fall.

While the administration says affordable housing goals would be replaced with a more “efficient, transparent, and accountable mechanism,” like a fee that would go to HUD to promote affordable housing, consumer and civil rights groups are suspicious. “Essentially they are trying to shrink the government footprint in the market and introduce private guarantors that won’t have the same obligations as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” said Jesse Van Tol, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

In a letter from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and 27 other organizations, the coalition urged the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to not twist a desire for greater clarity and consistency into a dollar volume metric that would not be meaningful for local communities.

The National Urban League, Center for Responsible Lending, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, National Fair Housing Alliance, UnidosUS, National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. released the following joint statement.

“Essentially they are trying to shrink the government footprint in the market and introduce private guarantors that won’t have the same obligations as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” said Jesse Van Tol, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.