Hsu discusses expanding minority homeownership

Bank Regulatory OCC Diversity Underserved Consumer Finance

On April 19, acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu delivered remarks before the Black Homeownership Collaborative’s Fair Housing Month Virtual Forum. In his remarks, Hsu described initiatives to expand fair access and homeownership opportunities for minorities, low- and moderate-income areas, and communities of color. Regarding home valuations, Hsu quoted a PAVE Program report (covered by InfoBytes here) that cited research finding that “12.5 percent of appraisals for home purchases in majority-Black neighborhoods and 15.4 percent in majority-Latino neighborhoods resulted in a value below the contract price—or what a buyer was willing to pay—compared with only 7.4 percent of appraisals in predominantly White neighborhoods.” Second, Hsu mentioned the OCC’s Project REACh (covered by InfoBytes here), which was launched in 2020 and promotes greater access to capital and credit for minority and underserved populations. Hsu compared Project REACh and the Black Homeownership Collaborative by claiming they both “recognize[] that there is power in bringing a range of stakeholders together to collaborate and solve problems.” Finally, Hsu noted that the federal banking agencies are modernizing and strengthening the CRA regulations to expand financial access and inclusion to low- and moderate-income communities, and noted that he expects an interagency CRA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to come soon.