Network Launches 'Fair Mortgage' Campaign

The Opportunity Finance Network, a new $4 billion network of 167 financial institutions across the United States, has unveiled a campaign that includes the first phase of a multibillion-dollar "Fair Mortgage" strategy to combat predatory lending.Other aspects of the campaign include plans for $100 million in financing to preserve the affordability of housing units in manufactured home parks for low- and moderate-income homeowners; a relief-and-recovery fund for communities and businesses hit by natural disasters or acts of terrorism; and the launch of a National Opportunity Investor Council to be headed by former Federal Reserve Governor Edward Gramlich. The network, which supersedes the 20-year-old National Community Capital Association, said its launch marks "a major shift" beyond traditional community development strategies rooted in government funding toward engaging private capital in "opportunity markets." Mark Pinsky, president and chief executive officer of the network, said the Fair Mortgage strategy is a partnership between the network and mainstream mortgage lenders. "After a pilot launch in 2006, we expect to originate $1 billion or more per year of Fair Mortgages by 2010, growing from there," he said. The network can be found online at http://www.opportunityfinance.net.