Author: Pogge, Jean
Summary
The report discussed how the passage of the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) in 1975 marked a significant neighborhood victory in the fight against redlining by regulated financial institutions. This legislation requires banks and savings and loan associations to annually disclose the number, dollar amount and type of residential loans made and bought. Disclosure of residential lending by census tract provides an invaluable tool with which to monitor lending activity in neighborhoods, develop community-based reinvestment plans and discuss reinvestment performance with lenders. It has resulted in the establishment of a data base that has been consistently helpful to regulators, financial institutions, and communities as a quantitative measure of both individual lender’s reinvestment performance and of neighborhood credit flows. The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act was enacted in 1975 with a five-year life. In 1980, Congress voted to extend it for another five years. Since the necessity for Congress to renew HMDA again in 1985 presents another opportunity to examine the value of the legislation, it is a good time to review recent experience with HMDA data and look at its impact on credit availability in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
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The Impact of HMDA on Credit Availability in Chicago Neighborhoods
