It’s Time to End ‘Exclusionary Lending’

Jim Carr argues that policymakers should define and prohibit exclusionary lending practices.

More than 40 years ago, United States courts began striking down what became known as exclusionary zoning — municipal zoning ordinances that required large lots for homes, thereby driving up the cost of housing and excluding low- and moderate-income families and people of color from residing in those communities.

Today, mortgage lenders have put in place excessively restrictive approval standards that have all but shut the doors to conventional mortgage lending to African-Americans and Latinos. This could be termed exclusionary lending, and it’s time for regulators to define and prohibit it.

The above excerpt was originally published in BankThink. Click here to view the full article.

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