NHC submitted its response to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) proposed rescission of the controversial 2020 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulation on Thursday. NHC endorsed OCC’s decision to reverse the 2020 rule, which would have departed from the traditional regulatory framework that was unified across the three CRA regulators and, NHC and other advocates argued, severely harm credit access for marginalized communities.

NHC’s comment letter outlined the four requirements it has maintained a modernized CRA regulation must adhere to. These are increasing investment to underserved communities; benefitting more low- and moderate-income people, especially people of color, living in those communities; ensuring that banks’ CRA investment does not fuel displacement; and making the evaluation process more transparent and predictable.

NHC also emphasized the centrality of CRA in the push to increase racial equity in housing, with NHC President and CEO David Dworkin arguing in a statement that regulators should work to enforce the law more in spirit with its intent when it was passed in 1977. “CRA was passed in direct, explicit response to redlining, a practice that targeted people of color regardless of income or credit risk to deny them the same wealth-building opportunities afforded to White Americans,” he said. “NHC has always maintained that in order to be faithful to that original purpose, a modernized CRA regulation must incent financial institutions to lend not only in low- and moderate-income communities, but in communities of color specifically.”

On Monday, the housing industry collectively submitted responses to the FHFA’s request for input (RFI) on their proposed Equitable Housing Finance Plans. National Housing Conference joined 45 other organizations in responding to the RFI. Responses outlined various strategies for the Enterprises to help close the racial homeownership gap.

Popular topics within the comment letters submitted were reforming loan-level price adjustments, utilizing new technology for credit analysis, encouraging pilot programs, data sharing, homeownership counseling, mortgage servicing, and down payment assistance. The Enterprises must submit their plans to FHFA by December 31, 2021, and the plans will go into effect on January 1, 2022. 

A September poll by the Bipartisan Policy Council and Morning Consult found widespread support for the housing provisions included in proposed Reconciliation packages, with almost every provision above water among both Democrats and Republicans. Republican support wavered only for proposals to add additional housing vouchers and incentivize inclusive zoning by localities.

A report from JP Morgan Chase Institute offers insight into how landlord’s fared during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis shows that cash balances of landlords grew during the pandemic, likely for two reasons. First, although landlords lost rental revenues during the pandemic, they also cut their expenses by more, resulting in higher balances. Second, direct cash support to families from the federal government likely allowed tenants to keep up with their rent payments to a greater degree than they would have otherwise been able to.

A working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research argues that the extent to which credit shocks determine home prices depends on how easy it is to convert rental units to owner-occupied ones. When conversions are easy, landlords respond to decreased mortgage rates by selling rental housing to owner-occupants, increasing the homeownership rate while keeping prices stable. However, when converting rental units is difficult, most often because rental housing is scarce, decreasing mortgage rates lead to housing bubbles as homeowners bid up the price of a limited stock of owner-occupied housing. The authors find that credit availability explains 35-54% of home price increases during the 1997-2006 housing boom, suggesting a high level of difficulty in executing rent-to-own conversions.

The Asbury Park Press covers the consequences of source-of-income discrimination in New Jersey, which is widespread and often free of consequences despite being illegal under state law. “Voucher holders and housing advocates complain that the state is a paper tiger in enforcement of income discrimination, largely waiting for victims unaware of their rights to bring complaints to investigators,” the author writes. “Further, the plodding complaint process often offers no immediate relief for tenants facing discrimination — in a market where available rentals are snatched up within days.”

MBA: CRE and LIBOR transition check-up, 1 – 2 p.m. ET

MBA: MAA quarterly webinar, 3 – 4 p.m. ET

Enterprise: Leading with vision – the method not the magic, 5 – 6:30 p.m. ET

NAHRO: Ethics for management, 1:30 – 4 p.m. ET

NAHB: Developing attainable rental housing, 2 – 3 p.m. ET

MBA: How to be prepared for CFPB’s new AVM guidelines, 3 – 4 p.m. ET

HUD: CoC program competition office hour, 1 – 2 p.m. ET

MBA: Understanding the surge in single-family rentals, 3 – 4 p.m. ET

Novogradac: Reviewing audits of lower-tier LIHTC partnerships, 1 – 3 p.m. ET