Community Development Innovation Review

February 2009
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The Community Reinvestment Act: Past Successes and Future Opportunities

Author(s):

More than 30 years ago, before passage of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), relatively few banks made meaningful numbers of loans to people with low and moderate incomes. Whether because of racial discrimination or fear of credit weaknesses, many banks “redlined” entire areas of American cities as places where they would not lend. Accordingly, most inner cities were islands of urban blight whose residents had limited access to capital. The prospects were scant for breaking the cycle of urban decay, except through direct government investment.

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Other articles in this issue

Expanding the CRA to All Financial Institutions

A Banker’s Quick Reference Guide to CRA

The Community Reinvestment Act: Good Goals, Flawed Concept

A Principle-Based Redesign of HMDA and CRA Data

Community Reinvestment Emerging from the Housing Crisis

Putting Race Explicitly into the CRA

The CRA as a Means to Provide Public Goods

The Community Reinvestment Act: 30 Years of Wealth Building and What We Must Do to Finish the Job

CRA 2.0: Communities 2.0

What Lessons Does the CRA Offer the Insurance Industry?

A Framework for Revisiting the CRA

CRA Lending During the Subprime Meltdown

A More Modern CRA for Consumers

A Tradable Obligation Approach to the Community Reinvestment Act

The Community Reinvestment Act at 30 Years

It’s the Rating, Stupid: A Banker’s Perspective on the CRA

The Community Reinvestment Act: Outstanding, and Needs to Improve

The CRA within a Changing Financial Landscape

The 30th Anniversary of the CRA: Restructuring the CRA to Address the Mortgage Finance Revolution

The Community Reinvestment Act and the Recent Mortgage Crisis