Making the Community Reinvestment Act More Effective

Testimony Before Before Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision

By Sarah Rosen Wartell, Janneke Ratcliffe, David M. Abromowitz | July 20, 2010

• Print
• Email
• Text-size: A A A
• Share:

SOURCE:Center for American Progress

CAP Action's Sarah Rosen Wartell testifies before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Read the full testimony (CAP Action)

You invited comments on a number of important issues that, if addressed well, could help to make the Community Reinvestment Act a more effective tool to help meet the credit, community development, and banking service needs of our communities, including low-and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operation of the financial institutions that provide credit to these communities. Many others will testify today, and at the other hearings to follow, with specific proposals for how to tackle these issues—many of which we would endorse. But we at the Action Fund and our affiliate, the Center for American Progress, have focused our work on related issues:

• Understanding the origins of the housing bubble and foreclosure crisis
• Assessing the still mounting devastation of our communities in the aftermath
• Reimaging in specific a new, responsible, stable, and sustainable housing finance system
• Developing policy to help our communities shift from carbon dependence to a new low-carbon economic development model.

As a result, we thought that our best contribution would be to put the CRA regulatory reform process in a larger context.

CAP Action's Sarah Rosen Wartell testifies before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Read the full testimony (CAP Action)