“Document every conversation and follow up in a letter or email noting what was discussed in your phone call. This will help you and the next person you talk to when you call back or they call you.”- David M. Dworkin
“I told him: This is a legacy opportunity. If you do this right, no one will touch it for 15 or 20 years. There are many people who believe that he wanted to gut C.R.A. I can’t make that judgment, but I can say that what he has done will gut it.” – David M. Dworkin
“In a letter from April 8, the National Housing Conference responded to proposed changes to CRA rulemaking, stating that ‘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.”
“Banks, regulators and community groups must be singularly focused on responding to this unprecedented crisis, and not on bureaucratic and regulatory diversions that will sidetrack essential resources from the task at hand.” David M. Dworkin
“While some constructive changes have been made to the proposed rule, the fundamental basis of our objections remain intact as the final rule demonstrably guts the purpose and intent of the CRA. In many ways, the rule reduces the clarity and consistency that served as the impetus to modernize CRA in the first place.” – David M. Dworkin
“Housing construction is going to play a critical role in getting people back to work,. It really reframes the whole conversation because it’s not just a housing issue. It’s a jobs issue. There are going to be millions of people who need to go back to work, who are not going to have jobs, and we have a pre-existing shortage of affordable housing.” – David M. Dworkin
“In order to actually get rental assistance enacted into law, the industry, from conservative industry groups to progressive advocates, have got to be on the same page.” – David M. Dworkin
“We want to have a diverse economy. We don’t want to create opportunities for bottom feeders to take advantage of a crisis. We don’t need to enable that by forcing small and independent apartment owners into bankruptcy.” – David M. Dworkin
“Rather than this waterfall of options, we need a clear, concise national approach to mortgage forbearance. Otherwise, it will continue to be confusing to borrowers and more labor intensive for servicers.” – David M. Dworkin
“The numbers are big, but are going to get even bigger. We are only two mortgage payments into this crisis, and already 6% of the people paying mortgages are asking for help. Others can’t pay but haven’t asked for help yet. By May, we will have millions more unemployed and unable to pay.” – David M. Dworkin
