Recent Research by the Urban Institute on What Can Close the Gap › CRA lending patterns show that income is not a proxy for race, suggesting the need for better targeting: https:// www.urban.org/urban-wire/communityreinvestment-act-meant-combatredlinings-effects-45-years-later-black › Downpayment assistance targeted to first-generation homeowners could help as many as 5 million households, 34% of them Black, become homeowners. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/ down-payment-assistance-focused-firstgeneration-buyers-could-help-millionsaccess-benefits-homeownership › Special Purpose Credit Programs can encourage lending to people and places that have long faced disparities: https:// www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-placebased-special-purpose-credit-programscan-reduce-racial-homeownership-gap; https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/ how-people-based-special-purposecredit-programs-can-reduce-racialhomeownership-gap › As part of a partnership with the FHLB of San Francisco to spur mortgage innovation and advance Black homeownership, researchers explore the potential of using alternatives to credit scores: https://www.urban.org/urbanwire/using-rental-payments-mortgagedecisions-could-create-more-inclusivehousing-finance 8
BL ACK HOMEOWNERSHIP COLL ABORATIVE
› Analyzing mortgage denial rate disparities can highlight opportunities for greater fairness in mortgage underwriting, including refinances and home improvement: https://www.urban. org/urban-wire/what-different-denialrates-can-tell-us-about-racial-disparitiesmortgage-market. › Streamlining refinances can help more Black homeowners benefit when rates fall: https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/ streamlined-home-refinancing-programwould-lower-monthly-payments-andprevent-defaults › Automated valuation models (AVMs) may reduce appraisal bias, but measures are needed to ensure disparities are not wired into the models: https:// www.urban.org/research/publication/ revisiting-automated-valuation-modeldisparities-majority-black-neighborhoods › As with extending mortgages, assistance to prevent home loss for Black homeowners also needs to be targeted: https://www.urban.org/urbanwire/how-can-policymakers-ensurehomeowner-assistance-fund-reachespeople-need
