RELEASE: National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance (SLEHCRA) Release St. Louis Metropolitan Area Fair Lending Analysis

St. Louis, MO – Today, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and the St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Coalition (SLEHCRA) released an analysis of home purchase lending in St. Louis and the surrounding area. The report reveals significant racial and income disparities in home purchase lending in St. Louis.

“This report shows clearly shows the lack of mortgage credit in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and predominantly minority neighborhoods in the St. Louis area,” said NCRC’s President and CEO John Taylor. “These neighborhoods are lending deserts. Without the ability to access responsible mortgage credit and become a homeowner, avenues to build wealth are severely curtailed.”

“Until our financial institutions make a full and genuine commitment that creditworthy borrowers, regardless of their skin color, will be able to access responsible credit, the economies in these neighborhoods will continue to deteriorate, and we will continue to have the circumstances you see in St. Louis, Baltimore, and elsewhere.”

“This report simply puts numbers to what we see every day. Majority African American neighborhoods don’t have the same access to credit that white neighborhoods enjoy. We still have a lot of work to do before we close the book on St. Louis’ ugly history of redlining,” said Elisabeth Risch, Co-Chair of SLEHCRA.

Key findings in St. Louis:

· In the City of St. Louis, the racial composition of a neighborhood is a strong predictor of mortgage activity.

· Credit is flowing more to neighborhoods with higher white populations. In hyper-segregated neighborhoods in which the population is 75-98 percent black, less than one percent of homes received a home purchase loan in the 2012-2014 period.

· In the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area, median family income best predicts home loan activity.

· It is difficult for qualified borrower of any race to secure credit in high-poverty, hyper-segregated areas.

Local Fair Lending advocates will be speaking out about the continued lack of credit access at a press conference on Tuesday morning.

The St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance (SLEHCRA) is a coalition of non-profit and community organizations in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

SLEHCRA works to increase investment in minority communities, regardless of income, and in low- and moderate-income communities, regardless of race, by ensuring that banks are meeting their obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act and fair lending laws.

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