Diversity and equality

The agency sought feedback on potential changes to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. But a coalition of industry and advocacy groups want a longer comment period to afford “a greater opportunity for thoughtful public participation.”

Seeking to reverse a decades-long disparity in homeownership, the Urban League of Greater Madison has launched a $5 million initiative to help more Black Madisonians own their own homes.

While Black homeownership just rose to its highest level in 16 years, it's still the lowest of any racial demographic and 29 percentage points behind white people.

The Federal Reserve Racial and Economic Equity Act would direct the Fed to consider racial inequality in employment, income and access to affordable credit when making monetary policy and in its regulation and supervision of banks.

For 32 years, the Bay Area city of Sausalito has used strict zoning restrictions to protect its scrappy industrial waterfront, banning both housing and offices in the 225-acre Marinship district, which stretches for about a mile north of downtown.

Black homeownership grew for the fourth quarter in a row, hitting its largest percentage since 2004 despite disproportionate impacts of the coronavirus.

The Trump administration's executive order to terminate and replace federal enforcement of anti-discrimination policies at the local level, citing the burden it put on municipalities, enraged advocates of equitable housing practices.

The chairman of the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts is distancing himself from the organization after a Quicken Loans executive's wife filed a defamation lawsuit against him for vulgar group texts.

Remarks that the head of the mortgage broker association made about a Quicken Loan executive's wife in a video text exchange led to a defamation lawsuit, and housing-finance companies are taking sides.

The consumer agency alleges Townstone Financial's CEO and president made statements on a radio show discouraging applicants living in Black neighborhoods from seeking home loans.

He co-founded California Rural Legal Assistance, Public Advocates and the Greenlining Institute.

A man who started a mortgage brokers group issued a statement indicating he regretted saying "lewd" personal things about a Quicken Loans executive’s spouse while sparring over a professional matter.

The existing framework should not be revised until a consensus has been achieved among stakeholders, including civil rights experts, according to Quicken.

A bevy of housing advocates spoke against President Trump's threat to remove the Affirmatively Further Fair Housing Rule, a regulation that aims to end racial segregation.

The gap between Black and white homeownership rates is extremely wide in some areas, and it could get worse if the industry fails to proactively address local and national inequities.

For potential higher-end homebuyers, the pandemic was merely a pause, but for those seeking affordable properties — often people of color — it created yet another barrier.

How the mortgage and housing industries react to the current civil rights moment could shape policies and bridge the homeownership divide for the Black community.

As protesters continue to take to the streets to express outrage over racial injustice and inequality, banks — for the first time — will commemorate the date that marks the end of slavery in the U.S.

The agency flagged faulty risk management and other issues at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines and Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco in exams conducted last year.