Ending Redlining through a Community-Centered Reform of the Community Reinvestment Act - by Josh Silver (Paperback)

About the Book

This book takes a hard look at the effectiveness of the Community Reinvestment Act and clearly lays out what needs to be done to improve outcomes.

Book Synopsis

The United States Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) in 1977 with the objective of ending redlining, the decades-old practice of neighborhood discrimination by banks against African Americans and others based on race and income. The race-based rejection of loans to creditworthy residents of redlined neighborhoods delayed the American dream of homeownership and small business ownership for generations. Senator William Proxmire, the main Congressional sponsor of CRA, along with advocacy organizations, believed that segregated neighborhoods would not successfully revitalize themselves if banks continued to refuse to make loans in them. Therefore, the CRA was devised to make banks accountable for serving the needs of entire communities.

Based on a comprehensive analysis of half a century of CRA-related legislation and banking regulation, this book takes a hard look at the effectiveness of the CRA and clearly lays out what needs to be done to CRA and its regulation to improve outcomes. The author addresses whether CRA is an effective response to racial injustice, whether CRA has effectively empowered communities, whether the federal agencies have developed regulations that conform with and further the statutory objectives of CRA, and whether the law appropriately addresses and rectifies market failures in our economy.

With decades of experience in the CRA and fair lending field, Josh Silver spent most of his time as Vice President of Research and Policy and as a Senior Fellow with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition but also worked for Manna, Inc., a local nonprofit housing development organization based in the District of Columbia, and for the Urban Institute, a think tank also based in Washington, DC.

Review Quotes

"Josh Silver is the nation's preeminent expert on the CRA, including its regulatory and legislative evolution over the last forty-five years. He documents both the strengths and serious limitations of the law, and makes bold recommendations for how to make it more effective and to bring it in line with contemporary financial markets."

-Dan Immergluck, professor of urban studies at Georgia State University and author of Red-Hot City: Housing, Race, and Exclusion in Twenty-First Century Atlanta

"Ending Redlining is a vital resource in helping to strengthen the CRA in tangible ways to revitalize neighborhoods, combat discrimination, and spur growth among all segments of the economy."

-Stephen Cross, director of compliance and consumer affairs, FDIC, 1999-2001, and deputy comptroller forcompliance management, OCC, 1991-1999

"Whether you work for a lender, a community organization, or as a fair lending consultant, you need to read Josh Silver's new and comprehensive book about the CRA, a law that works best if it is used as a bottom-up model of community development."

-Marva Williams, PhD, senior consultant, CDFI Friendly America

"This important book provides a comprehensive and honest look at how well the CRA has lived up to its promise of'ending redlining.' Without the reforms Silver advocates, including that banks be evaluated on their efforts to promote integrated communities, the CRA cannot fulfill this promise. Silver helps us understand the law's history and impact thus far, while helping us to imagine a more effective future for the CRA."

-Leah Rothstein, co-author of Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law

"Josh Silver shows how community benefits agreements and updating CRA are win-wins for our communities and the sustainability of the financial institutions residing there."

-Scott McKee, senior vice president, director of corporate social responsibility, First Merchants Bank