Codirector Richard Marsico publishes The 2004-2005 Amendments to the Community Reinvestment Act: For Communities, One Step Forward and Two Steps Back, 39 Clearinghouse Review 534 (2006), in the Clearinghouse REVIEW Journal of Poverty Law and Policy.

In 2001 the four federal banking agencies that enforce the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) began a review of CRA regulations that they adopted in 1995. The review lasted until they issued amendments in 2004 and 2005. The review process was controversial, tortuous, and divisive. By the time it was over, residents of the communities that the CRA was intended to benefit—including low- and moderate-income and predominantly minority neighborhoods, or “underserved communities”—gained a victory in their efforts to promote community reinvestment and economic development but lost significant ground. The victory was the strengthened regulation of subprime and predatory lending. The losses included a reduction in the number of banks and savings associations subject to more rigorous CRA standards, a loss in the amount of publicly available data about small-business and smallfarm lending, and the elimination of community development lending and investment and retail banking service requirements for large savings associations. As a result of the amendments to the CRA regulations, underserved communities face a reduction in loans, investments, and services.

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