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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 2017)
Page 2 The Skanner MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE EDITION September 27, 2017 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor Opinion What You Should Know About the Community Reinvestment Act Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Christopher G. Cox Christen McCurdy News Editor Publisher/ Managing Editor, realsavvy.com Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Melanie Sevcenko Reporter Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 2017 MERIT AWARD WINNER The Skanner Newspaper, es- tablished in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published every Wednesday by IMM Publi- cations Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 info@theskanner.com www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. ©2017 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS Updated daily. S ince it was passed in 1977, the Community Re- investment Act (CRA) has enabled thousands of low- and moderate-income families—many in minori- ty communities—to become homeowners. In the current political climate, however, many observers, who have played a role in monitoring how effectively the CRA is enforced, wonder whether it will continue to offer broad access to affordable mortgage financing. James Perry, the chief execu- tive officer of the Winston-Sa- lem, N.C. branch of the Urban League, has nearly 15 years of experience in the area of fair housing, primarily with the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, where he served for 10 years as exec- utive director. “The CRA has been an extremely valuable tool for providing access to mortgage financing for dis- advantaged individuals, par- ticularly African Americans and Latinos,” Perry said. “Un- fortunately, it appears the act might be imperiled based on the rhetoric we hear from many in the current Admin- istration, as well as in Con- gress.” Under the CRA, the federal government monitors how well banks and other lend- ing institutions do in meet- ing the credit needs of the entire community, with the goal of making certain that neighborhoods which can be categorized as low- and mod- erate-income are not over- looked. Under provisions of the CRA, a bank’s application for new branches, relocation of existing branches, mergers and acquisitions, and other corporate activities are close- ly evaluated. Institutions that do not have a good record of CRA compli- ance can have these business activities constrained by of- ficials with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which monitors CRA com- pliance. OCC uses a four-tier ranking system to measure compliance: outstanding, sat- isfactory, needs to improve and substantial noncompli- ance. Chris Rockey, community development market manag- er for the Greater Maryland for PNC Bank, said that CRA was enacted as a direct re- sponse to “redlining,” which was an unethical practice “ Unfortunate- ly, it appears the act might be imperiled based on the rhetoric we hear from many in the current Ad- ministration, as well as in Congress whereby banks and other lending institutions made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for residents of poor inner-city neighbor- hoods to borrow money, get a mortgage, take out insurance or access other financial ser- vices. Redlining did not take into consideration an individ- ual’s qualifications and cred- itworthiness. The practice of redlining disproportionately affected Black borrowers. “Too often, inner-city prob- lems have been viewed in si- los, rather than strategically,” Rockey said. “You can’t con- sider such factors as access to affordable housing, elim- ination of blight, high levels of commercial vacancy, safe- ty and availability of public transportation, individually and in isolation. Effective CRA programs look at the to- tality of how these issues im- pact a community and how they can all be addressed si- multaneously.” Rockey discussed one such strategic program in Balti- more where PNC partnered with other institutions, in- cluding a competitor bank, to raise $10 million in capital to invest in a community de- velopment project. Rockey referred to working with oth- er competitor banks on such projects to as “co-opetition.” Both Rockey and Perry agree that the CRA has, to some extent, been unfairly blamed for the housing crisis of 2008 and the subsequent loss of billions of dollars in home equity. “The rhetoric that the CRA was largely responsible for the housing crisis comes mostly from the ‘right,’” said Perry. “Actually the CRA re- quires lenders to make credit available in disadvantaged communities at the same rate as in majority communities.” “There is more than enough blame to go around for what caused the housing crisis,” Rockey explained. “There were many factors involved, including predatory lend- ing, by unscrupulous banks and lending institutions and investors propping up sub- prime mortgages without a truthful and honest examina- tion of what they represent- ed.” Perry and Rockey are also in agreement that the way CRA compliance is currently mea- sured does not fully recog- nize the rapidly changing na- ture of the banking industry. “The CRA predates the In- ternet,” Perry said, “and looks at such things as where a bank locates its retail branches and how many of those branches are in African-American and Latino communities.” “Where a bank has branch- es is still relevant to its obli- gations under the CRA,” said Rockey. “But as banking has become increasingly mobile, with more and more banking transactions being handled on smart phones and other digital devices, we are hope- ful that new measures of CRA compliance would be consid- ered. Perry and Rockey, although viewing the CRA from some- what different perspectives, both support what is has ac- complished for urban com- munities, as well as what it has the potential to continue to accomplish. “In terms of community de- velopment the CRA is a way for a bank to do well by doing good,” Rockey said.
