Fair housing activists decry Senate bill they say allows banks to racially discriminate
A complex banking bill currently making its way through the Senate is praised by proponents as a common sense revision of Dodd-Frank era banking regulations, that would help small banks and lenders thrive. But activists for fair housing practices are increasingly sounding alarms warning the bill opens the door for many financial institutions to hide racially discriminatory practices in mortgage lending.
Amid provisions to roll back many of the Dodd-Frank banking rules implemented in response to the 2008 economic crisis, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (S.2155) which has been nicknamed the Bank Lobbyist Act by its opponents contains language that would exempt roughly 85 percent of the nations banks and credit unions from soon-to-be-enacted obligations to report mortgage lending data. Compliance with these expanded reporting regulations were a part of the Obama-era changes to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), a decades-old law intended to monitor and compel equitable lending to qualified borrowers.
Im flabbergasted, exclaimed Greg D. Squires, a professor of sociology and public policy and public administration at George Washington University. HMDA has been has been used effectively by the banking industry, regulators, academics, journalists and fair housing advocacy groups to document instances of housing discrimination. This [if passed into law] dramatically weakens efforts to combat discriminatory lending that may be occurring in the housing market.
https://thinkprogress.org/fair-housing-activists-decry-senate-bill-they-say-allows-banks-to-racially-discriminate-f1391ae6d79c/