Milwaukee’s homeownership racial disparity rate is one of the largest gaps in the country and a reflection of decades of systemic, institutionalized racist policies and practices most commonly referred to as “redlining.” In 1975 Congress enacted the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), which required certain financial institutions to provide mortgage data to the public on an annual basis. This data helps show whether lenders are serving the housing needs of their communities, gives public officials information that helps to develop policies, and sheds light on lending patterns that could be discriminatory.
Since 2012, UEDA’s Take Root Milwaukee (TRM) program has performed an annual analysis of HMDA data to assess trends in the local mortgage lending market, who the top lenders are, the types of loans made, where loans are being made, to whom loans are made, and how this changes from year to year.
In 2020 the TRM Education & Advocacy workgroup developed an educational series based on what we’ve learned, looking at additional tools in the HMDA data set to inform our work in sustainable homeownership, and encourage our members and partners to work to advance racial equity when it comes to accessing credit and the opportunity of homeownership.
Thank you to our workgroup co-chairs, Bethany Sanchez and Lamont Davis, and other TRM members Bill Kopka, Maria Prioletta, and Irma Yepez Klassen for their support to plan the series. Stay tuned as this series will continue into 2022!
Below you will find a brief recap and links to resources for each session, and check out this tip sheet for suggestions on increasing loans to people of color and in low and moderate income neighborhoods which was shared during our 2021 sessions.
What We Can Learn From Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data | 12/3/20
The first session explored 2019 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee, discussed how this information can be used to increase access to credit for non-white and low- to moderate-income borrowers, and reviewed lenders who appear to meeting the needs of their community with their loans. View the session recording here and presentation slides here.
HMDA Lending Disparity Profiles | 10/8/21
Our next presentation focused specifically on borrowers and reviewed loan applications, originations, and denials by race. We also discussed strategies to ensure all lenders, not just CRA staff, are doing everything possible to get potential borrowers to the table and close on a home loan. View the session recording here and presentation slides here.
2020 HMDA Analysis & Credit Access | 12/3/21
The third session in this series focused on the release of 2020 HMDA data for the City of Milwaukee. We looked at top lenders, types of loans made, where and to whom loans were made, and changes from 2019 to 2020. We broadened our discussion to how racial disparities continue to persist in credit indicators that impact mortgage lending, and talked about strategies to increase access to credit for non-white and low- to moderate-income borrowers. View the session recording here and presentation slides here.
This recent blog from the Urban Institute Housing & Housing Finance provided important context to this year’s HMDA analysis: Closing the Homeownership Gap Will Require Rooting Systemic Racism Out of Mortgage Underwriting (October 2021).
