Tag Archives: fair housing

the outside exterior of the U.S. Treasury Department building

News Release: New Treasury Rules Pull Back the Curtain on Corporate Landlords and Their Financial Backers That Can No Longer Hide Behind LLCs

The Treasury Department released two new rules requiring the disclosure of real estate ownership transparency that will make it easier to identify corporate real estate backers and crack down on money laundering in the real estate sector. This announcement comes the week after the Department of Justice launched a lawsuit against RealPage for facilitating rent price fixing by corporate landlords, and together represent major back-to-back tenant victories against corporate landlords and their privately-funded financial backers

News Release: Report Exposes How Real Estate Industry Maintains Housing Crisis

An intricate network of housing industry groups, often backed by corporate landlords, are actively blocking solutions that would alleviate the worst aspects of the current housing crisis and improve affordability, according to a new report. The report, from Capital Strategies for the Common Good, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, Bargaining for the Common Good, and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, sheds light on the money behind the political influence that has distorted the politics of housing in favor of wealthy interests. 

News Release: Advocates Welcome Mandatory Collection of Language Preference Data by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Americans for Financial Reform, the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Consumer Action, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD), the National Consumer Law Center, the National Fair Housing Alliance, National Housing Resource Center, and UnidosUS celebrate today’s decision by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises), that will require lenders selling loans to the Enterprises to collect information on borrowers’ preferred language, as well as any housing counseling services they’ve used.

a house behind bushes

Letters to Regulators: Comment in Response to HUD RFI on Small Mortgage Lending

AFREF joined the National Fair Housing Alliance and local, state, and national organizations to submit comments in response to HUD’s “Request for Information Regarding Small Mortgage Lending.” Our comments focus on the importance of residential small-dollar lending (SDL), which is essential to building wealth and family opportunity for communities of color and low- and moderate-income families throughout the nation. For too long, homes in lower-priced markets have been starved of quality, sustainable, mortgage credit, both subject to and contributing to a history of residential segregation, neighborhood disinvestment, and lost wealth-building opportunity. This comment letter makes a number of suggestions to the FHA regarding how it can better promote small mortgage loans.

News Release: Advocates Applaud Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Move to Require Mortgage Lenders to Obtain Applicants’ Language Preference

WASHINGTON – Today, National Consumer Law Center, Americans for Financial Reform, Consumer Action, Empire Justice Center, National Community Stabilization Trust, National Fair Housing Alliance, UnidosUS, and National CAPACD applauded the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) announcement that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will make it mandatory for lenders to use the Supplementary Consumer Information Form (SCIF) during the loan application process.