Task Forces & Working Groups
NHC convenes and actively engages its members, stakeholders and others in order to improve coordination of diverse agendas and to build consensus on key housing issues.
NHC establishes issue-specific task forces and working groups that allow members to work together on solutions. Groups are often formed quickly in response to emerging issues.
Black Homeownership Working Group
Research has shown that black homeownership is lower today than it was when the Fair Housing Act was signed over 50 years ago. Black homeowners were disproportionately hurt by the 2009 financial crisis, despite experiencing the slowest growth in homeownership out of any racial group leading up to the crash. NHC assembled a Black Homeownership Working Group to engage a group of diverse members to develop policies and strategies to help close the black homeownership gap. While discrimination is clearly embedded into the foundation of the black homeownership gap, we also must be cognizant of the fact that historic changes in law and regulation have failed to provide a meaningful and sustainable impact on the homeownership rate. Our objective is to examine the problem holistically and develop a research-based, data-driven approach to address it. The Working Group includes representatives from other nonprofits, financial institutions, federal regulators, housing advocates and real estate associations.
The first meeting of the Working Group was held on April 17, 2019 and has since evolved into a Black Homeownership Collaborative, which officially launched an initiative to help create 3 million net new Black homeowners by 2030.
CRA Task Force
There’s a historic opportunity to modernize the CRA and improve the lives of millions of Americans. On May 20, the OCC issued its final CRA rule just six weeks after the end of the comment period on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) and amid the worst health and economic crisis of our lifetimes. Our formal comment letter on the CRA NPR stated, “we have no idea how severely the pandemic will impact our economy, the financial system and communities throughout the nation. Committing resources to regulatory initiatives that do not directly support our national response to the COVID-19 pandemic is a dangerous distraction.”
In October 2021, the Federal Reserve issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR). On behalf of our task force, NHC submitted comments on the ANPR in February 2021. The task force believes that CRA modernization must adopt these key four principles:
- Increase investment in communities that are currently underserved;
- Benefit more LMI people, particularly people of color, who live in those communities;
- Ensure that CRA lending and investment does not lead to displacement of the very people
it is meant to help; and - Make both bank performance and government enforcement more transparent, consistent
and clear.
NHC’s CRA Task Force will work with the Federal Reserve Board, OCC and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to develop effective CRA modernization that we hope will ultimately be adopted by all bank regulators.
Housing Finance Reform Working Group
On May 21, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced an NPR establishing a new regulatory capital framework for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The proposed rule is a re-proposal of the NPR published in June 2018 under former FHFA Director Mel Watt and would require the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to retain 4% of their assets in capital, which would have amounted to roughly $240 billion last year, once they are released from conservatorship.
NHC’s Housing Finance Working Group will work on preparing detailed recommendations in response to the NPR.
In September 2019, NHC’s Housing Finance Reform Working Group published a white paper outlining key objectives to help guide the administration as they consider the future of the housing finance system and the federal government’s role in that system.
Racial Equity Working Group
The Racial Equity Working Group gathers professionals across organizations to concentrate efforts to improve racial equity and justice for Black Americans, and Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Latino Americans, and Native American national origins in the area of housing.
The working group is leading efforts around four core areas:
- Data Collection and Analysis
- Tracking Legislation and Initiatives
- Improving Existing Programs
- Building Solidarity and Allyship
If you are interested in joining any of these Working Groups, please contact Charles Lowery at charles.lowery@nhc.org.