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.
Whitni Thomas and Jessica Brown, new economics foundation
Malcolm Bush and Geoff Smith, Woodstock Institute
This report seeks to reinvigorate the debate on bank disclosure in the UK and to create a better understanding of why it should be demanded of banks. This analysis is carried out through detailed case studies comparing Charter One Bank in Chicago in the US – where banks have disclosed local lending practices since 1975- with its parent company Royal Bank of Scotland in Manchester – to review the level of information available and the impact that this has.
To do this we evaluate the available information on small-business lending, bank branch availability and basic bank account opening in underserved areas of Manchester. Our analysis indicates that data on these factors is generally difficult to obtain, inconsistent, and in many cases incomplete.
Marva Williams, Principal Investigator
Sarah Duda and Tom Feltner, Co-Authors
This report details the partnership process and lessons learned from a two-year technical assistance program designed to help community organizations partner with mainstream credit unions with the goal of enrolling new lower-income members or expanding an existing partnership. The case studies describing these partnerships identify four strategic areas through which partnerships can be strengthened and the common barriers to developing a successful partnership can be overcome.
This report shows that foreclosures have a significant negative effect
on neighborhood property values. Although foreclosures have long been
considered a problem associated with FHA loan programs, recent research
has shown that the explosion in foreclosures that began in the 1990s
was primarily driven by the growth of high-risk, conventional subprime
lending.
This report provides a method for estimating the loan
terms and conditions, default conditions, automobile characteristics, and
borrower demographics of title loans in Illinois
based on Cook County
court cases filed against borrowers in default during 2005. It identifies key
information on the title loan industry necessary to inform the public debate on
how to best apply nationally recognized small loan consumer protections to the Illinois
title loan industry.
An analysis of 2007 foreclosure filings shows that 35 percent, or over 4,800 foreclosure filings, were on 2- to 6-units multifamily properties. Communities with the highest concentrations of foreclosures on 2- to 6-unit properties include West Garfield Park, East Garfield Park, Austin, Humboldt Park on the West Side and New City, Englewood, and West Englewood on the South Side.
