New report examines low-income and minority access to mortgage credit after housing bust

A new report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies examines lending patterns during the housing boom and current efforts to create a new mortgage market, in the wake of the housing bust. The report, Getting On the Right Track: Improving Low-Income and Minority Access to Mortgage Creditafter the Housing Bust,explores how changes to the housing finance system will affect future lending to lower-income and minority borrowers and communities, and what policies and programs will be needed to promote sustainable homeownership opportunities in these areas over time.

“Accomplishing these goals will not be easy or quick,” says William Apgar, senior scholar at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, former FHA Commissioner, and a primary author of the report.  “Low-income and minority communities were among the hardest hit by the mortgage market meltdown. Since policymakers have failed to address longstanding issues — including persistent racial and ethnic discrimination and growing inequality in the distribution of income and wealth—these same households and neighborhoods may not fully benefit from the emerging housing recovery.“