On Our Radar

Greenlining, February 16, 2022, California Communities of Color Fall Further Behind in Mortgage Access The Greenlining Institute report, Home Lending to Communities of Color in California 2020, is an analysis of federal home mortgage data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The report, released in February 2022 shows that Black, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islander […]

The Washington Post, February 17, 2022, Lack of credit has been a huge obstacle to Black home buyers. Now some lenders are trying to fix that. Last year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a key bank regulator, began convening leaders from a range of industries to find ways to bring in

CNN, February 21, 2022, DOJ’s interest in housing discrimination lawsuit underscores the bias many Black homeowners have faced for decades The difference in Black homeownership and White homeownership is measured in thousands of dollars, according to a Redfin analysis last year. Homes in Black neighborhoods are undervalued by about $46,000 per home. Devaluation – the

Tampa Bay Times, February 21, 2022, Rents reach ‘insane’ levels across US with no end in sight In the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, median rent rose an astounding 19.3 percent from December 2020 to December 2021, according to a Realtor.com analysis of properties with two or fewer bedrooms. And nowhere was the jump bigger than in

NPR, February 18, 2022, First-time homebuyers are getting squeezed out by investors Record-high home prices and low inventory were already making things hard for first-time homebuyers. But new numbers show that investors are driving even more people away from homeownership. “Investors are coming in and pushing out the first-time buyers,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist

The New York Times, February 18, 2022, Bad Credit? No Savings? Unconventional (Maybe Risky) Ways to Buy a Home A wide mix of partnership models offer potential home buyers deals that lie somewhere between ownership and renting. One or more parties (besides the mortgage company) has a stake in your home. For the person buying

Brookings, February 18, 2022, The pandemic showed why social and structural determinants of health matter. Now it’s time for policymakers to act. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionately devastating impact on Black and Latino communities—both from an economic and a health perspective. Last year, Black and Latino individuals experienced 2.9 and 3-year declines in

The New York Times, February 16, 2022, Blackstone expands further into rental housing in the United States. The private equity firm Blackstone, the largest owner of commercial real estate in the world, is expanding its portfolio of rental housing and commercial real estate in the United States. The firm announced on Wednesday that it would

Reuters, February 15, 2022, Biden’s Fed nominees in limbo after Republican vote boycott US Senate action on President Joe Biden’s five nominees to the Federal Reserve stalled Tuesday after Republicans boycotted a key vote over objections to Sarah Bloom Raskin, the White House’s pick to be the central bank’s Wall Street regulator. Senate Banking Committee

ABC News, February 15, 2022, Can the VA pull off its ‘monumental’ bid to end veteran homelessness? While the number of homeless vets has dropped by more than half over the last decade, an estimated 20,000 ex-service members are still without permanent housing on any given night, according to figures released this month by the Department of Housing and

The Washington Post, February 13, 2022, ‘Survival mode’: Inflation falls hardest on low-income Americans While inflation is rising everywhere, price hikes are particularly devastating to lower-income households with already tight budgets. Nearly all their expenses go to necessities — food, energy, housing — which have seen some of the largest increases at different points over

Washington Post, February 10, 2022, More cities seek to redress widespread 20th-century destruction of Black neighborhoods More than 50 years ago, Santa Monica, Calif., used eminent domain to build the Interstate 10 highway, slicing an east-west swath to the Pacific Ocean that destroyed homes, businesses and churches and displaced more than 600 mostly Black families in

NPR, February 11, 2022, California sues Tesla over alleged rampant discrimination against Black employees California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing is suing Elon Musk’s company Tesla over racism and harassment toward Black employees at Tesla’s plant in Fremont, Calif., according to a lawsuit filed by the state this week. The company has called the

American Banker, February 10, 2022, U.S. consumers stand to save billions from banks’ overdraft reforms In one of the first efforts to tally the impact of recent overdraft fee reforms, a new analysis finds that changes under way at just five banks could save consumers more than $2 billion annually. The Pew Charitable Trusts reviewed

ABC News, February 11, 2022, New York City looks to lower greenhouse gas emissions by improving public housing There are more than 1.2 million public housing units across the country, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Many of these buildings have aging heating and cooling equipment that is largely inefficient, resulting in