Indepth analysis of persistant problems in the field of community development. Woodstock's research reports contribute to the body of knowledge used by policymakers and community development practitioners.
This alert examines two proposed changes to the
regulation of the Community Reinvestment Act: A regulation
calling for the collection and disclosure of small business loan
application and origination data for banks and savings and loans by
census tract. Second, a proposal calling for the use of some objective
measures as key indicators of a bank's responsiveness to credit and
capital needs. Woodstock Institute found that on both these central
changes, the revised proposal is a substantial retreat from earlier
progress.
The Community Reinvestment Act has brought solid
benefits to a critical part of the Chicago economy -- the multifamily
housing market. Good quality rental housing is essential to the
well-being of low- and moderate-income families in Chicago, and is a
sign of neighborhood stability particularly in neighborhoods where a
high percentage of the housing stock is multifamily.
Finds that lending for home purchases throughout
the Chicago area has increased dramatically in recent years, with loan
volume up by 50 percent from 1990 to 1994. Loans to low- and
moderate-income individuals increased at even higher rates than overall
loans, increasingby 85 percent over the same period.
Between 1990 and 1996 there was a large increase
in the number of lower-income home buyers in the Chicago region. This
good news is tempered by the facts of where these households were able
to purchase homes. Most of them bought in Chicago and suburban Cook
County. Unless lower-income buyers have a choice of homes throughout
the six-county region, they will not gain the full benefits of
homeownership.
This report provides a new analysis of the payday
lending industry and its customers. Using data obtained from the
Illinois Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) and various other
sources, it finds major faults in the key defenses that the industry
has used against stronger consumer regulation.
