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From
the President: Fair Finance Movement Finds Supporters in France
 While Woodstock
Institute is deeply
engaged in national and local efforts to implement financial reforms,
we also have occasion to explore financial issues with colleagues around
the globe. Most recently, I was
invited to participate in conversations surrounding community
reinvestment issues in France. As a result
of a meeting held in Paris
on January 30, French bankers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
economists, and other decision makers are considering pursuing laws
similar to the United States’ Home Mortgage Disclosure Act
(HMDA) and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).
Read
more...
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Despite
government interventions, foreclosures continue to climb in Chicago
region
New foreclosure filings in the Chicago six county region rose 21
percent from 2008 to 2009 despite federal, state, and local programs
designed to curb
the foreclosure crisis, says a
new
Woodstock Institute
report. During the fourth
quarter of
2009, the region saw 24,053 new
foreclosure filings—the highest quarterly number observed
since 2005. Read
more...
 Read
the report
Related:
Tracking
the Progress of
Federal Loan Modifications: December
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Tax
preparers operate with little oversight as refund loan protections go
unenforced
A
coalition of community reinvestment and consumer organizations asked
the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of
the Currency (OCC), charged with overseeing consumer protections for
national banks, to immediately implement its longstanding, but
unenforced, disclosure requirements, advertising standards, and capital
requirements for refund
anticipation
loans. The consumer
organizations sent a joint
letter
on February 4, 2010. Read
more...
Read
the letter
Related: From
the President: RAL borrowers need more protection
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Tax
filers in African-American communities 3.5 times more likely to use
high-cost loans to get refunds
Refund
anticipation loans (RALs), which allow borrowers to receive their
expected tax refunds in one to three days, cost Illinoisans more than
$114 million in 2006, according to a new
report. Tax filers in
African-American communities were 3.5 times more likely to
use
RALs than were tax filers in other communities. Over 23 percent of tax
filers in African-American communities used RALs to access their refund
early, while only 6.8 percent of all tax filers statewide used RALs. Read
more...
Read
the report
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Energy-efficient
mobile home proposal would create jobs
Woodstock
Institute recently called on policymakers to approve funds to replace
substandard mobile homes with
energy-efficient manufactured homes. These new efficiency standards and
additional funding would build on successful
but limited local efforts to
replace mobile homes—often the housing option of last resort
for many low-wealth people. Read
more...
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Looking
for information on the foreclosure crisis in the Chicago metro area?
Visit
the Regional Home Ownership Preservation Initiative's website at www.regionalhopi.org.
The RHOPI site is a one-stop shop for foreclosure information in the
Chicago region, such as success stories of local efforts to forge
solutions to the foreclosure problem, events, resources for homeowners
and renters in trouble because of foreclosure, regional and national
research, and data and indicators.
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In
this issue
Recent Work
Government
Interventions Have a Limited Impact on Chicago Area Foreclosure
Activity in 2009
February
2010
Diverted
Opportunity: Refund Anticipation Loans Drain Wealth from Low Wealth Tax
Filers and Communities of Color
January
2010
Collaborators
or Competitors? Exploring the Relationships between Community
Development Financial Institutions and Conventional Lenders in Small
Business Finance
November
2009
[+]
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Save
the Date
NCRC
2010 National Conference
March 10-13, 2010
Washington Court Hotel
Washington, D.C.
25th
Annual Community Reinvestment Reception
March
25, 2010
4-6 pm
Harris Bank
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