The president of the Mortgage Bankers Association is worried that new regulations and ongoing enforcement efforts are restricting access to affordable conventional credit for minorities.
“I am extremely concerned about access to affordable housing finance credit outside of the FHA program,” MBA president and chief executive David Stevens said Wednesday.
Speaking at a Center for American Progress forum, Stevens noted that the most recent Home Mortgage Disclosure Act figures show 80% of Latinos and African-American borrowers depend on mortgage financing via the Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs or the Rural Housing Service.
Access to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans has been limited because of
He stressed that federal regulators need to be careful as they finalize the qualified mortgage proposal and other Dodd-Frank Act residential remortgage rules.
“Otherwise, we will have disparate impact by policy and not by lending behavior,” Stevens said. This, Stevens predicted, would leave FHA serving communities of color while other mortgage products are only available in wealthy communities.
