Affordable housing

Builders in Oakland are on course to create more new housing units than San Francisco this year, a notable role reversal for a city that has long produced far less residential development than its wealthier and more bustling neighbor across the bay.

Banks currently can help their CRA performance with mortgages to anyone in a distressed neighborhood, but Joseph Otting said officials crafting a reform plan are considering limiting that to lower-income borrowers.

The head of the Senate Banking Committee invited the housing secretary to Idaho to discuss low-income housing shortages.

Seattle is poised to get a new $1 billion development steps from Amazon's sprawling urban campus as part of a major land sale by the city.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development approved a settlement in favor of the California Reinvestment Coalition against CIT Group's OneWest Bank, which Steven Mnuchin ran before he became Treasury secretary.

The. U.S. housing market is splitting along racial lines, with black homeownership dropping to the lowest level since at least 1970 — just two years after the Fair Housing Act was passed.

In an unwelcome turn for a city suffering from a homelessness crisis, federal housing officials said they have denied Los Angeles $80 million in funds, citing long-standing failures by local leaders to ensure that properties built with government money are accessible to those who use wheelchairs or have other disabilities.

The ruling deals a blow to efforts by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to restrict nonprofit housing funds from operating on a national scale.

The chamber passed a bill that would clarify how certain loans backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs are securitized, and legislation encouraging first-time homebuyers to participate in counseling programs.

After the government-sponsored enterprise patch expires, "near prime" loans over the 43% debt-to-income ratio should be qualified mortgages if they have compensating factors, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.