Fair Housing, Predatory Lending, and Just Where Does the NYTimes Come Down on the Community Revinvestment Act (CRA)

After our event yesterday on Responsible Homeownership featuring FDIC Chair Sheila Bair and researchers from the Center for Community Capital at UNC, I was approached by Nandinee Kutty. She had recently prepared a talk and powerpoint presentation for the 2nd Annual Fair Housing Conference organized by the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center. Her material is worth sharing because not only does it reveiew the brutal history of housing discrimination and the policy efforts to overcome it, but he helps refute some of the myths that are being perpetuated by those interested in undermining any regulaon of financial markets. This seems particularly anachronistic today but it is a battle that apparently still needs to be waged.

For example, the New York Times published an editorial in October called “Misplaced Blame” that took Republicans to task for erroneously claiming the Community Reinvestment Act caused the rash of foreclosures which began in 2007. It was a good piece. I welcomed an informed voice of reason weighing in on this debate. It is what editorial pages should do. Unfortunately, someone over at the NYTimes (hopefully not the same person who wrote the editorial) decided this misguided opinion was deserved another airing and published an opinion piece written by a Manhattan Institute “scholar.” This is not something editorial pages should do. I’m all for dialogue and public debate but I think it is also important to put some debates behind us.