[House Hearing, 116 Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] A REVIEW OF THE STATE OF AND BARRIERS TO MINORITY HOMEOWNERSHIP ======================================================================= HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, AND INSURANCE OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION __________ MAY 8, 2019 __________ Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] __________ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 37-522 PDF WASHINGTON : 2020 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Serial No. 116-23 HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES MAXINE WATERS, California, Chairwoman CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York PATRICK McHENRY, North Carolina, NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ, New York Ranking Member BRAD SHERMAN, California PETER T. KING, New York GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri BILL POSEY, Florida DAVID SCOTT, Georgia BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri AL GREEN, Texas BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado STEVE STIVERS, Ohio JIM A. HIMES, Connecticut ANN WAGNER, Missouri BILL FOSTER, Illinois ANDY BARR, Kentucky JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado DENNY HECK, Washington ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas JUAN VARGAS, California FRENCH HILL, Arkansas JOSH GOTTHEIMER, New Jersey TOM EMMER, Minnesota VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas LEE M. ZELDIN, New York AL LAWSON, Florida BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia MICHAEL SAN NICOLAS, Guam ALEXANDER X. MOONEY, West Virginia RASHIDA TLAIB, Michigan WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio KATIE PORTER, California TED BUDD, North Carolina CINDY AXNE, Iowa DAVID KUSTOFF, Tennessee SEAN CASTEN, Illinois TREY HOLLINGSWORTH, Indiana AYANNA PRESSLEY, Massachusetts ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio BEN McADAMS, Utah JOHN ROSE, Tennessee ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, New York BRYAN STEIL, Wisconsin JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia LANCE GOODEN, Texas STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts DENVER RIGGLEMAN, Virginia TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii ALMA ADAMS, North Carolina MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania JESUS ``CHUY'' GARCIA, Illinois SYLVIA GARCIA, Texas DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota Charla Ouertatani, Staff Director Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri, Chairman NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ, New York SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin, Ranking EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri Member BRAD SHERMAN, California BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan AL GREEN, Texas SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas LEE M. ZELDIN, New York CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York DAVID KUSTOFF, Tennessee DENNY HECK, Washington ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio JUAN VARGAS, California JOHN ROSE, Tennessee AL LAWSON, Florida BRYAN STEIL, Wisconsin RASHIDA TLAIB, Michigan LANCE GOODEN, Texas, Vice Ranking CINDY AXNE, Iowa Member C O N T E N T S ---------- Page Hearing held on: May 8, 2019.................................................. 1 Appendix: May 8, 2019.................................................. 47 WITNESSES Wednesday, May 8, 2019 Bailey, Nikitra, Executive Vice President, Center for Responsible Lending........................................................ 7 Castro-Conroy, Carmen, Managing Housing Counselor, Housing Initiative Partnership, Inc.................................... 12 Griffith, Joel, Research Fellow, Financial Regulations, The Heritage Group................................................. 15 Hicks, Jeffrey, President, National Association of Real Estate Brokers........................................................ 11 McCargo, Alanna, Vice President, Housing Finance Policy, The Urban Institute................................................ 5 Nery, Joseph, Partner, Nery & Richardson LLC, and past President, National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP)....................................................... 9 Poole, JoAnne, 2019 Vice Chair, Multicultural Real Estate Leadership Advisory Group, National Association of REALTORS.... 14 APPENDIX Prepared statements: Bailey, Nikitra.............................................. 48 Castro-Conroy, Carmen........................................ 80 Griffith, Joel............................................... 84 Hicks, Jeffrey............................................... 89 McCargo, Alanna.............................................. 95 Nery, Joseph................................................. 117 Poole, JoAnne................................................ 128 Additional Material Submitted for the Record Waters, Hon. Maxine: UnidosUS report entitled, ``The State of, and Barriers to, Latino Homeownership,'' dated May 15, 2019................. 157 Clay, Hon. William Lacy: Written statement of The Cedar Band of Paiutes' CBC Mortgage Agency (the ``Chenoa Fund''), dated May 8, 2019............ 162 Written statement of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Americans for Financial Reform............ 269 Written statement of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.................................................. 276 McHenry, Hon. Patrick: Written statement of David M. Dworkin, President and CEO, National Housing Conference................................ 290 Posey, Hon. Bill: ``Multifamily Cost of Regulation, 2018 Special Study'' by the National Association of Home Builders and the National Multifamily Housing Council................................ 300 Tlaib, Hon. Rashida: Written statement of the National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of low-income clients).............................. 317 A REVIEW OF THE STATE OF AND BARRIERS TO MINORITY HOMEOWNERSHIP ---------- Wednesday, May 8, 2019 U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance, Committee on Financial Services, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in room 2128, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Wm. Lacy Clay [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. Members present: Representatives Clay, Velazquez, Cleaver, Beatty, Green, Gonzalez of Texas, Maloney, Vargas, Lawson, Tlaib, Axne; Duffy, Luetkemeyer, Huizenga, Tipton, Kustoff, Gonzalez of Ohio, Rose, Steil, and Gooden. Ex officio present: Representatives Waters and McHenry. Chairman Clay. The Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance will come to order. Good morning, and welcome to this morning's hearing entitled, ``A Review of the State of and Barriers to Minority Homeownership.'' As the Chair of the Subcommittee on Housing, I am honored to mark the anniversary of the congressional passage of the Fair Housing Act during the month of April, which was National Fair Housing Month. It is clear from the evidence in front of us, though, that 51 years later there is still much work to be done to promote and ensure fair housing in America. Just a few weeks ago, The Washington Post published an article entitled, ``The Heartbreaking Decrease in Black Homeownership'', which told a sad tale but also discussed some of the historical discrimination that led the homeownership rates to decrease for blacks and other minorities as a result of the recent financial crisis. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act on April the 11, 1968, 1 week after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. The Fair Housing Act was a monumental step forward for the civil rights movement and pivotal to establishing equal opportunity in housing for all Americans. The discrimination which the Act attempted to outlaw did not occur through happenstance, and although many private actors were complicit, research has shown that the government played a significant role. And although it was officially outlawed 50 years ago, as the National Fair Housing Alliance's 2018 report noted, some discriminatory practices are still prevalent. In fact, since 1988, dozens of cases alleging redlining and discrimination by mortgage lenders have resulted in close to $1 billion in compensation to victims of mortgage lending discrimination and for investment in communities. A recent New York Times bestseller by researcher Richard Rothstein provides a very sobering account of how government policy supporting and directing segregation was not accidental. And we should all be alarmed that the homeownership rate for blacks is now 42 percent, and for Hispanics, is 47 percent, compared to 73 percent for white households. Homeownership has proven to be one of the most consistent paths to attaining wealth in America and narrowing the wealth gap. Closing the racial wealth gap will be an essential path towards countering historic discrimination and predatory lending practices and would no doubt be a boon for the housing market. It is also clear that minority borrowers must have access to credit on the same terms and conditions as everyone else. Otherwise, the racial wealth gap will persist. In theory, enhanced fair lending, increased financial intelligence, and the use of creative ways to promote community development will spur the type of development that will help the economy grow and help our community to thrive and not just survive. There is much work to be done but there are resources available. And I want to acknowledge the housing advocates in St. Louis and to acknowledge the work of the St. Louis Affordable Housing Trust Fund Task Force which issued a report yesterday that spells out a number of recommendations to address affordable housing. And I will be introducing comprehensive legislation to address some of the problems that still exist. Let me also acknowledge the contributions of my colleagues who have introduced or are working on legislative proposals that will work to improve this dire situation. As chairman of this subcommittee, my mission is to promote pragmatic policy through smart legislation, intelligent collaboration, and sound policy choices to help make that dream a reality again. And I look forward to the witnesses' testimony. At this time, I now recognize the ranking member of the subcommittee, Mr. Duffy of Wisconsin. Mr. Duffy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you holding this hearing. Welcome, witnesses. It is hard to imagine that 50 years after passing a myriad of laws aimed at incentivizing low- income and minority homeownership, we find ourselves in a place where African-American ownership is lower than it was when Congress passed the Fair Housing Act. That is not an assault on Fair Housing. But it is that we have to reevaluate what we are doing and how we can be more effective, I think to the chairman's point. It is especially hard to imagine that with the lowest unemployment since 1969 at 3.6 percent, this is actually taking place today. I don't have the answers, but I want to work with the Majority and Chairman Clay to uncover reasons for the disparity of homeownership and what the solutions are to fix it. Looking at recent history, we know minorities were targeted for predatory mortgages prior to 2008 and the crisis. Congress acted to ensure that lenders verify employment, debt levels, costs involved in the loan, and the borrower's ability to repay at the FHA. Those disclosures are important, and we are still debating if we have hit the right balance on those disclosures. I think most people will point to a lack of financial resources for a down payment, poor credit history, a lack of understanding of the home buying process, regulatory burdens, and housing discrimination as barriers to homeownership. Sometimes, we can find microtargeted solutions for these issues by allowing the use of alternative data such as paying your phone bill or paying your medical bills when lending institutions use credit scores to determine a borrower's risk. The reality is we have an opportunity to address some of the inequities through a more holistic approach to housing finance reform and one cause of the financial crisis that Congress just hasn't seemed to get its hands around, but I think actually we need to address, again, housing finance. As I held hearings not long ago when I used to be the chairman, we invited many of the groups to testify at a roundtable where we discussed the barriers to minority homeownership in the context of major housing finance reform. And we will hear some of those ideas again today. I do want to use this opportunity to call on the chairwoman of the full Financial Services Committee to take the issue of housing finance reform up and do this in a bipartisan fashion because it is long overdue. Chairwoman Waters started this Congress by calling for a bipartisan working group on flood insurance and I am looking forward to participating in that. And I think she can use the same model to tackle housing finance reform and the issues that we are going to talk about today. I, for one, am ready to sit down with Chairman Clay, we have a great working relationship, and others on the subcommittee to work towards a solution that will benefit everyone in this room and all of our communities and all of our districts in all of our States. In today's hearing, we are looking at four bills and asking if they will solve some of the problems that you all will be highlighting. If they are legitimate solutions, we should stand with those bills and with those ideas. And if not, we want your feedback on how we can reform these proposals and make them work better and be more effective. While I have some initial opinions on the bills, I am looking forward to your testimony and your insight and your expertise to guide this Congress on how we should move forward. With that, if I could ask the Chair for a point of personal privilege? Chairman Clay. Proceed. Mr. Duffy. I would just like to make a quick note that Clinton Jones has served our committee and this subcommittee for 24 years. I know he doesn't look that old, but we have been blessed to have his expertise for 29 years in the Federal Government, 2 years at Fannie Mae. I am not sure how he would speak about the 2 years at Fannie Mae. Maybe he was happy to come back to the committee. But this is his last week. This is his last subcommittee hearing before he goes over to the FHFA. I couldn't have a better friend on the committee as someone who gives great insight. And it is fascinating as we go through some of these debates that Mr. Jones is sometimes a radical conservative and sometimes he is a radical socialist leftist. It just depends on the issue. And we never know where he is going to stand, but he always shares his opinion, and the loss to this committee from Clinton leaving will be to the benefit of FHFA. And so, Clinton, I just want to say thank you for your service and your friendship, and good luck as you make this transition. [applause] Chairman Clay. The gentleman yields back. Let me also congratulate Mr. Jones on your years of service here and good luck in your future endeavors. Today, we have a well-rounded panel of experts in the area. Oh, I see. Let me stop there with my opening statement and ask the chairwoman, did you want to make an opening statement? Chairwoman Waters. Yes. I would like to, right after you but not before you. Chairman Clay. Oh, I have done it. We have done ours-- Chairwoman Waters. You have? Okay. Chairman Clay. So we will yield to you. Chairwoman Waters. Well, thank you for the opportunity. I would like to do that. I would like to thank you, Mr. Clay. The racial gap in homeownership represents a failure to remedy decades of explicit government-sponsored discrimination in our housing markets. Due to the projected growth of minority households in the coming decades and the economic importance of the housing market, some analysts have argued that a failure to address the gap in minority homeownership and the corresponding wealth gap is not only a major civil rights issue, it is a threat to America's economic security. This hearing is an important hearing to hear from experts about the ongoing barriers to homeownership as well as potential solutions. I am also very concerned that under Kathy Kraninger's leadership, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) last week issued a proposal to severely curtail data reporting under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). HMDA data is a crucial tool used by researchers, advocates, journalists, and the government to identify and combat predatory and discriminatory mortgage lending. And the CFPB must rescind this proposal at once. I look forward to discussing this and other issues with our witnesses. Thank you very much. I yield back. Chairman Clay. The chairwoman yields back, and I thank you for your opening statement. We have a well-rounded list of witnesses, and I will start off by introducing them all. The first witness will be Ms. Alanna McCargo, vice president of housing finance policy at the Urban Institute. The second witness will be Ms. Nikitra Bailey, executive vice president for the Center for Responsible Lending. Third, will be Mr. Joseph Nery, partner at Nery & Richardson, LLC, and past president of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, and a current national board member. Fourth, will be Mr. Jeffrey Hicks, president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. Fifth, will be Ms. Carmen Castro-Conroy, managing housing counselor at the Montgomery County Housing Initiative Partnership. Sixth, will be Ms. JoAnne Poole, the 2019 vice chair of the Multicultural Real Estate Leadership Advisory Group of the National Association of REALTORS. And finally, Mr. Joel Griffith, research fellow, Financial Regulations, from the Heritage Foundation. Welcome to you all. You will each be recognized for 5 minutes to present your oral testimony. And without objection, your written statements will be made a part of the record. And we will start with Ms. McCargo. You may proceed. STATEMENT OF ALANNA MCCARGO, VICE PRESIDENT, HOUSING FINANCE POLICY, THE URBAN INSTITUTE Ms. McCargo. Chairman Clay, Ranking Member Duffy, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Alanna McCargo. I am the vice president of the Housing Finance Policy Center at the nonprofit Urban Institute. The views I express today are my own and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees or funders. This morning, I will share data on the critical role of homeownership access, housing affordability, and sustainability for households of color. My remarks will often focus on black homeownership because the homeownership trends for black Americans today are in a dire and declining state, and the Housing Finance Policy Center has been extensively researching these issues over the past several years. The face of our nation is changing profoundly and literally. As communities of color grow, their experiences will increasingly come to define the housing market of the future. Some projections suggest that in just 25 years, no racial or ethnic group will represent more than 50 percent of the U.S. population. The overwhelming majority of new homebuyers in the next 10 years will be non-white, with more than half being Hispanic. If current trends persist, however, the homeownership rate will significantly decline and opportunities to build wealth through homeownership will as well. Becoming a homeowner in America today is getting further out of reach for most families. The cost of buying a home is high and it is difficult to get a mortgage unless you have pristine credit. High rental cost makes saving for a down payment on a house very challenging. The result has been a persistent and significant racial homeownership rate gap in the United States. Just to level set, the national homeownership rate today is at 64 percent. Broken down by race, rates stand at 42 percent for blacks, and 47 percent for Hispanics, reflecting gaps of 30 and 25 percentage points less than whites, whose homeownership rate is at around 72 percent. The racial homeownership gap is larger today than it was 50 years ago, as the chairman mentioned, and that was when race- based discrimination was actually legal in this country. Not only have we failed to make progress, we have lost precious ground. New solutions, programs, and policy interventions are needed. There are four facts I will highlight around the severity and persistence of the crisis in homeownership for people of color. First, despite big gains made during the housing boom, black and Hispanic homeownership rates have never hit 50 percent in this country, and minorities disproportionately suffered the biggest stripping of wealth through the foreclosure crisis. Second, racial disparities exist across the nation. We looked at cities with the 100 largest black populations across the country, and there is no city without a racial homeownership gap. Third, racial homeownership gaps are a generational dilemma, intergenerational dilemma. The homeownership gap is present with our seniors, our Baby Boomers, and Generation X, and our research shows it persists with a large and very diverse generation of 74 million-plus millennials. Finally, there are historical and structural barriers and biases that continue to live in our housing system that cannot be ignored or put aside if we are to make any progress over the next 50 years. These barriers must be eliminated in order to reverse these trends. The racial homeownership gap will have consequences for the financial health and well-being of future generations and for the entire country because homeownership remains the primary wealth-building tool for most Americans. That survey data shows that homeowners have significantly more wealth than renters. Today, the median homeowner has a net worth of roughly $200,000 compared to just $5,000 for renters. And while the black and Hispanic homeowners have less than half the net worth of white homeowners, they still have considerably more than black and Hispanic renters. The returns on homeownership are not just financial, of course. Homeownership provides shelter, stability, and enables families forced savings each month when making their mortgage payment. And the home equity plays an increasingly important part in retirement security for seniors. I have shared several ideas for reducing the racial homeownership gap in my written testimony. Many of these ideas will require action from Federal, State, and local agencies. I urge this committee to pursue a bipartisan action that will help change the direction of the persistent growing racial homeownership gap by addressing these priorities. The segregation in our communities and the disparities in accessing our housing markets did not come about by accident. Our history and the role that the Federal Government played in creating segregated and undervalued neighborhoods through explicit race-based policies that benefited white families, helping them purchase homes through FHA and other programs that excluded people of color, is well documented. It is my view that intentional policies will be needed to reverse decades of wealth-stripping and decline. The data and the evidence are clear on this. Ensuring an equitable and accessible housing finance system is something Congress can and should undertake with all of the housing agencies. This includes modernizing and bolstering the Federal Housing Administration, particularly its outdated servicing systems, safely expanding access to fairly-priced conventional mortgages to borrowers of color through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, updating underwriting practices and models to consider modern living arrangements and varying income types, and innovating to make alternative forms of credit available and mortgage decisions to improve access to credit and reduce mortgage application denials. [The prepared statement of Ms. McCargo can be found on page 95 of the appendix] Chairman Clay. The gentlewoman's time has expired. Thank you, Ms. McCargo. And now, Ms. Bailey, you are recognized for 5 minutes. STATEMENT OF NIKITRA BAILEY, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR RESPONSIBLE LENDING Ms. Bailey. Good morning, Chairwoman Waters, Ranking Member McHenry, Chairman Clay, and Ranking Member Duffy. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in today's hearing on barriers to homeownership for families of color. Four hundreds of years after the enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, and hard-fought battles won granting citizenship and equal protection to African Americans, homeownership remains the driver of inequality. Our nation's housing finance system was built with discrimination as the cornerstone. The mortgage ecosystem favored whites and set them up for success while curtailing opportunity for families of color. Today's racial wealth gap is the outcome of this discrimination. White families have 13 times the wealth of African Americans and 10 times the wealth of Latino families. The white homeownership rate is 73 percent compared to 41 percent for African Americans and 47 percent for Latinos. These stubborn and persistent figures will only disappear when we stop underwriting practices that falsely equate race with risk. This hearing can be a catalyst for change, a step towards addressing the Federal Government's role in lending discrimination that produced winners and losers among American citizens in the pursuit of the American Dream. I am executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, an affiliate of Self-Help, one of the nation's largest community economic development lenders based in North Carolina. Self-Help has provided over $7 billion in financing to borrowers all across the nation, including in a secondary market program that has helped low- to moderate-income families and people of color succeed in homeownership. President Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act in 1968 following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stating that he was delivering on the promise of a century, referencing Lincoln's emancipation. In 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act that promised fair lending. It was limited by a private right of action and that weakened its enforcement manifesting in discrimination for 102 years of legal mortgage discrimination. Race remains an impediment to fair lending. Today, African Americans have the same rates of homeownership as they did in 1968. Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data consistently show low levels of lending by conventional lenders to communities of color, with only 3.1 percent of conventional loans going to African Americans and 5.8 percent to Latinos in comparison to 70.2 percent to white families in 2016. Discriminatory lending birthed redlining. Redlining birthed predatory lending. Predatory lenders target families of color with high-cost and risky mortgages. CRL's research found that consumers of color were steered towards these unsustainable loans even when they qualified for loans with lower cost and fewer risks. The spillover costs for black and Latino families totaled $1 trillion. Today's mortgage market delivers as designed. Conventional loans are for whites only. Families of color, including upper- income Latinos and African Americans, are disproportionately represented in the FHA. Government-backed loans cannot and should not be the only sources of credit for low-wealth families. Post-recovery, banks experienced record profits, reporting $59.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018, up 133.4 percent from a year earlier. Fannie Mae data shows that loans to low- income families originated between 2010 and 2015 had a default rate of just 0.3 percent, approximately equal to that of loans to high-income borrowers originated in 2002 through 2004. Rather than remediate the damage done by abusive subprime lending, excessive risk-based pricing dominates in today's mortgage market, driving out the very borrowers that a future system depends on. Harvard's Joint Center tells us that 7 out of 10 future borrowers will be families of color. Mortgage discrimination's impact on families of color needs a Federal response equal to the problems it created. Now is the time for action and not retreat. Some ways that we can achieve this goal include increasing support for down payment assistance, requiring national banks to ensure that 10 percent of their mortgage lending and small business lending occurs in communities where at least 20 percent of the population has experienced poverty for the last 30 years in exchange for FDIC insurance or to have their loans sold to the GSEs or Ginnie Mae. Strengthen and fairly enforce our nation's lending laws. These laws have never been fairly enforced. African Americans and Latinos have never operated in a fair and equitable mortgage system. If we had, many of the disparities discussed would be smaller than they are today. According to Demos, we would see a reduction in the homeownership and equity building for communities by considerable percentages. Whites have better life outcomes in wealth accumulation, housing, education, employment, and health. Our nation's lending system contributed to these inequities. Remediating the Federal Government's role will level the playing field, creating more equity of opportunity so that all Americans can share in its prosperity. Thank you. I look forward to answering your questions. [The prepared statement of Ms. Bailey can be found on page 48 of the appendix.] Chairman Clay. Thank you for your testimony. And, Mr. Nery, you are recognized for 5 minutes. STATEMENT OF JOSEPH NERY, PARTNER, NERY & RICHARDSON LLC, AND PAST PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HISPANIC REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS (NAHREP) Mr. Nery. Good morning, Chairwoman Waters, Chairman Clay, Ranking Member Duffy, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance. My name is Joseph Nery, and I am here representing the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), both as 2016 NAHREP national president and as a Chicago-based real estate attorney where I serve a largely Latino market. With over 30,000 members in over 80 local chapters, our organization is one of the largest Latino business organizations in the country. The force and passion behind our growing membership revolves around one primary mission: advancing sustainable Hispanic homeownership. Bottom line, we believe every individual who desires to become a homeowner and is able to sustain a mortgage should be granted access to the American Dream. Today, my testimony will outline the current state of Hispanic homeownership and make several actionable recommendations for this committee to consider. This year's edition of our annual State of Hispanic Homeownership Report highlighted four consecutive years of homeownership growth for Latinos and the largest increase since 2005. In spite of this remarkable growth, homeownership rates among Latinos and other minority populations lag behind that of their non-Hispanic white counterparts. At the end of 2018, the Hispanic homeownership rate was 47.1 percent compared to 73 percent for the non-Hispanic white population and 64.4 percent for the general population. While homeownership trends are positive, they should be much higher. And this is important because Hispanics will account for more than half of all new potential homeowners over the next several years and 56 percent of all new homeowners by 2030. Hispanics have also accounted for more than half of the nation's population growth since the year 2000. And at a median age of 29, Hispanics are just entering into their prime homebuying years, further increasing homeownership potential for decades to come. If homeownership rates across all ethnic groups were to remain what they are today, the national homeownership rate would decline to 55 percent over the next 40 years. The last time the homeownership rate was that low was in the years immediately following World War II. So that bring us to the unique challenges credit-worthy Latinos face in today's market. A young couple I assisted in buying their first home are a prime example of the Hispanic homebuyer today. Jose and Laura own a small gardening business, while Laura occasionally caters at events. Laura's mother and sister live with them, both of whom contribute to the monthly mortgage payment, yet it took 6 months for this household to be able to gain access to a reasonable loan. Much like my clients, potential Hispanic homeowners are more likely to be self-employed or involved in the gig economy, live in multi-generational households and tend to use cash over credit. Given these characteristics, coupled with today's regulatory constraints, lenders consistently fail to accurately assess the credit risk of many otherwise credit-worthy Hispanic borrowers. To that end, NAHREP offers these actionable Federal policy solutions. First, we must temporarily extend the GSE QM patch until it is replaced with a workable solution. Communities of color would be disproportionately impacted if the GSE QM patch were to expire, given that Hispanics are 38 percent more likely to have a high DTI loan. As data is still being developed to support alternatives and replacements for the patch, the Hispanic community is poised to be negatively impacted without clear solutions for non-W-2 borrowers, particularly for the growing number of Latino small business owners. Second, Congress must prioritize efforts to fund FHA's much-needed modernization. No Federal housing finance reform should be devoid of a plan for how to do so. Today, Hispanics are more than twice as likely to make use of the FHA programs than non-Hispanics, yet the agency is understaffed, underfunded and operating with severely outdated technology and computer systems. Third, we must put a halt to the practice of denying taxpayer-supported loans to taxpaying DACA recipients. We support today's Homeownership for Dreamers Act legislation and join its co-sponsors in their call to clarify that eligibility of a government-sponsored mortgages may not be conditioned on the status of a consumer being a DACA recipient. We must ensure that FHA and other Federal housing agencies do not get ahead of the judiciary to decide immigration law. Fourth, we urge the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion to take on the issue of diversifying the mortgage industry at all levels. A diverse lending community stimulates homeownership rates for minority borrowers. And finally, we would be remiss if we did not mention the need to increase the inventory of affordable owner-occupied housing, quite possibly the biggest short-term barrier to minority homeownership today. While we are proud to see a resilient Latino population consistently increasing its rate of homeownership, this progress is in spite of the structural barriers to homeownership. Today, more than ever, broad access to affordable credit, low-down-payment mortgage products, and sufficient affordable housing stock will be imperative to ensuring the long-term prosperity of the nation. Now is not the time to curtail access to the very products that have catapulted so many working-class Americans into the middle class. Instead, we must ensure that our housing system adequately adapts to the changing face of America's aspiring homeowner. Thank you. [The prepared statement of Mr. Nery can be found on page 117 of the appendix.] Chairman Clay. Thank you, Mr. Nery. Mr. Hicks, you are recognized for 5 minutes. STATEMENT OF JEFFREY HICKS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REAL ESTATE BROKERS Mr. Hicks. Good morning, Chairwoman Waters, Chairman Clay, Ranking Member Duffy, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you for holding this hearing and for giving me the opportunity to testify about the important issue of minority homeownership in America. My name is Jeffrey Hicks and I'm from from Atlanta, Georgia. I am the president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, NAREB. Founded in 1947, NAREB is the oldest minority real estate trade association in America. Its members are known as REALTIST. The primary mission is reflected in NAREB's motto: Democracy in Housing. For 72 years, the association has worked to ensure that all Americans have equal access to homeownership opportunities in urban, suburban, and rural communities throughout the United States, and equal opportunity in the real estate profession for black Americans. I am honored to be here today to provide our perspectives on what NAREB believes to be the barriers to minority homeownership in the United States. Our nation has a very complicated and checkered history with providing equal and equitable access to homeownership for black Americans. At the end of World War II, when black Americans sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom, dignity, and human rights, the United States Federal Government created an economic divide between black and white veterans, and their families were denied the multi-generational enriching impact of homeownership and economic security that the G.I. Bill conferred on the majority of white veterans, their children, and their grandchildren. Unequal implementation of the G.I. Bill, along with Federal Government policies and practices at the Federal Housing Administration, including the redlining of black neighborhoods, but at the same time financing the construction of suburbs restricted to whites only and providing subsidized mortgages, financing only for whites, set the stage for today's wealth and homeownership gap statistics. It is against this backdrop that I give my testimony. Annually, NAREB publishes the State of Housing in Black America Report. The 2018 edition examined the need for Federal policies to address and bolster the rate of black American homeownership since previous Federal policies discriminated against blacks which helped to create a disparity in black American homeownership, which lags a whopping 32.1 percent behind that of white Americans. According to the first quarter 2019 Census Bureau statistics, the homeownership rate for black Americans is 41.1 percent for blacks versus 73.2 percent for whites. For these reasons, NAREB has adopted three policy principles that can work to increase homeownership among minorities. One, we must continue to promote homeownership as a high priority public policy. NAREB calls for the passage of the American Dream Down Payment Savings Plan proposal by Congressman Meeks that will function from a tax perspective like the 529 College Savings Plan. Potential homebuyers and existing homebuyers desiring a move-up home would be allowed to save in an authorized account where the savings could grow tax free and be used as a down payment for purchasing a home. Two, loan level equality, which would be the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions, biases or privileges in the mortgage origination process. And three, non-bank financial institutions should have an accountability structure. There is a growing concern about the lack of regulation for non-deposit mortgage lenders while these entities are the growing force, now more than 50 percent of all mortgage originations, yet there is very little regulatory accountability. In closing, we need lawmakers and policymakers, local officials, homebuilders and the financial industry to promote homeownership. I fear the value of homeownership is being lost on our young people and will be lost on future generations. Realtist will continue to be the conscience of the real estate industry, forever promoting democracy in housing, which is the right for every person to live in a neighborhood of their choice. Thank you, and I will be happy to respond to any questions. [The prepared statement of Mr. Hicks can be found on page 89 of the appendix.] Chairman Clay. Thank you, Mr. Hicks. Ms. Castro-Conroy, you are recognized for 5 minutes. STATEMENT OF CARMEN CASTRO-CONROY, MANAGING HOUSING COUNSELOR, HOUSING INITIATIVE PARTNERSHIP, INC. Ms. Castro-Conroy. Good morning, Chairwoman Waters, Chairman Clay, Ranking Member Duffy, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Carmen Castro-Conroy, and I am the managing housing counselor at the Housing Initiative Partnership. We are a nonprofit affordable housing developer and HUD- approved housing counseling agency located in Maryland. Our housing counselors have provided counseling, education, and advocacy to over 20,000 households to help them enter homeownership, avoid foreclosure, secure affordable rental housing, and strengthen their personal finances. We serve Prince Georges County, Maryland, one of the most affluent majority African-American communities in the country, and Montgomery County, the 25th most diverse county in the country. The two primary barriers to minority homeownership our counseling staff witnesses are the lack of generational wealth and the shortage of affordable housing. The parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents of African American and immigrant populations either did not benefit from or were intentionally excluded from the Federal programs that allow white families to build generational wealth. During the housing bubble, the housing market exploited the communities that lack wealth. We worked with over 10,000 homeowners in default during the foreclosure crisis. A vastly disproportionate percentage, 98 percent, of those defaulting homeowners were minority households. To a person, our clients presented their counselors with the most toxic loan documents we had ever seen. We know now that lenders created these dangerous predatory products to be easily accessible specifically to this population that had been historically excluded from access to credit. The result? The African-American and immigrant households we worked with watched as their hard-fought financial gains and accumulation of equity slipped through their hands, draining their wealth away at an alarming and devastating rate. An African-American family we work with illustrates this loss of wealth. This family purchased in 2005, and despite their solid income and recent savings, their mortgage contained an adjustable interest rate that had spiked to 15 percent by the time we met in 2008. A housing counselor helped negotiate a loan workout with a new 4 percent interest rate, but the home had lost value after the housing crash, and the family continues to be saddled with close to $80,000 in negative equity. In communities of color we serve, home values are often far below pre-recession levels, and in some cities you will find as many as one in five homeowners with negative equity. On the purchase side, the lack of affordable rental housing creates barriers for minority households seeking to enter homeownership. Minority households that have sufficient income to qualify for a mortgage are often unable to save or pay down debts due to the high cost of rental housing. One of our clients who immigrated from the Republic of Congo in 1995 and began working as a nursing assistant illustrates this challenge. She had achieved a household monthly income of $6,000, but her credit was low due to her debts. She worked steadily for 2 years to adhere to a very strict budget, often meeting monthly with a counselor, and succeeded in paying down debt, building savings, and purchasing a $320,000 townhouse in 2018 with an FHA loan. This allowed her to access homeownership, but it came at a high cost. Her higher-than-market interest rate and high mortgage insurance fees will cost her $89,000 over the life of the loan. Minority households that have been historically excluded from or exploited by the credit market deserve a better Federal response, one that provides low-wealth borrowers with safe and sustainable mortgages without the prohibitive fees. Finally, any Federal response to increase homeownership for low-wealth minority communities should include housing counseling. Research is clear: Loans made to borrowers who had received pre-purchase counseling performed better. We hope Congress will improve access to sustainable homeownership for the minority communities. Thank you. [The prepared statement of Ms. Castro-Conroy can be found on page 80 of the appendix.] Chairman Clay. Thank you, Ms. Castro-Conroy. Ms. Poole, you are recognized for 5 minutes. STATEMENT OF JOANNE POOLE, 2019 VICE CHAIR, MULTICULTURAL REAL ESTATE LEADERSHIP ADVISORY GROUP, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (NAR) Ms. Poole. Thank you. Good morning, Chairwoman Waters, Chairman Clay, Ranking Member Duffy, and members of the subcommittee. My name is JoAnne Poole. As a REALTOR in Baltimore, Maryland, I have 33 years of experience working with the people of Anne Arundel County, Prince Georges County, Baltimore City, and Baltimore County. I have been an active member of the National Association of REALTORS for over 20 years, serving as its vice president, Chair of the Federal Housing Policy Committee, and currently as the 2020 chair of the REALTORS Multicultural Real Estate Leadership Advisory Group. On behalf of NAR's 1.3 million members, I want to thank you for the opportunity to present our association's concerns surrounding the state of and the barriers to minority homeownership in the United States. In addition to my work with NAR, I am also a member of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. I am proud to sit here today with President Jeffrey Hicks. Under President Hicks' leadership, NAREB continues to play its historic role, highlighting the critical issues this committee has convened to discuss. To many people in this country, homeownership is synonymous with the American Dream. Homeownership provides for stable communities, increases civic participation, and builds our feelings of self-worth and self-esteem. In fact, studies have shown that the children of homeowners go on to earn more as adults. But sadly, stark racial disparities in the rate of homeownership demonstrate that this dream remains out of reach for countless families and potential homebuyers across the United States. For example, the rate of homeownership for African Americans has returned to the levels not seen since before the passage of the Fair Housing Act. And as has been mentioned, that was over 50 years ago. NAR and NAREB and the Urban Institute recently convened a roundtable focusing on improving African-American homeownership rates. A five-point framework that can be applied across all minority communities emerged and continues to be developed. Namely, these priorities include advancing local policy solutions, tackling housing supply constraints and affordability, promoting an equitable and accessible housing finance system, engaging in outreach to our mortgage-ready individuals, and maintaining a focus on sustainable homeownership and preservation. NAR strongly supports the production of affordable housing and efforts to increase the supply of entry level homes. We encourage States and municipalities to consider the input of local experts and to adopt zoning laws, building codes, and other policies that encourage free market production of affordable housing units. If America is to remain a nation of homeowners, we must address the persistent barriers that minorities continue to face. NAR's policy solutions and proposals for this national issue are outlined in more detail in the official testimony submitted to this committee. I want to thank you again for the opportunity to address this committee, and I look forward to addressing these critical issues at today's hearing and in the months and the years to come. Thank you. [The prepared statement of Ms. Poole can be found on page 128 of the appendix.] Chairman Clay. Thank you, Ms. Poole, for your testimony. And now, we go to Mr. Griffith. You are recognized for 5 minutes. STATEMENT OF JOEL GRIFFITH, RESEARCH FELLOW, FINANCIAL REGULATIONS, THE HERITAGE GROUP Mr. Griffith. Good morning, Chairwoman Waters, Chairman Clay, Ranking Member Duffy, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning. My name is Joel Griffith. I am a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own and should not be considered as representing the official position of the Heritage Foundation. Efforts to expand homeownership through government programs or policies are often well-intentioned. But as you all know, good intentions are an insufficient basis for public policy. Directing resources to the housing sector through government subsidies, mandates, and guarantees may financially benefit select special interests such as MBS investors and lenders, but this negatively impacts affordability for all, including minorities. Furthermore, a focus on simply expanding homeownership fails to recognize that homeownership itself does not suddenly improve a borrower's financial health, enhance their skillset, or expand their economic opportunities. In other words, homeownership stems from financial health, a profitable skillset, and economic opportunity. These desirable conditions are not simply created by virtue of owning a home. Closing the gap in wealth accumulation and multiplying the opportunities to create such wealth requires an approach different from the government housing subsidies, mortgage guarantees and mandates of the past. Congress can help make housing more affordable, but this is actually accomplished by shrinking the Federal role in housing finance. Data show that heavy government involvement in the home finance sector failed to substantially increase homeownership long term, despite the trillions of dollars worth of credit that flowed to those with lower credit scores, minimal income documentation, less stable employment history, and scant down payments. Robust homeownership in this country was established long before the government became heavily involved in the housing market. Fannie Mae was not allowed to purchase non-government insured mortgages until 1968. But in the 2 decades prior to that watershed change, government-backed mortgages never accounted for 6 percent of the market in any given year. Yet, the homeownership rate was 64 percent in 1968 overall. That was virtually unchanged compared to today. For blacks, homeownership actually grew from 35 percent in 1950 to 42 percent in 1970 and increased to 44 percent in 1980. But by 1990, after the securitization market had begun expanding, black homeownership actually declined to 43 percent. And now in 2019, as discussed already, homeownership in the black community has declined even further to 41 percent. The fact is that homeownership rates for blacks and for the nation as a whole are nearly unchanged today compared to 1990. This indicates that additional leverage that many are recommending should not be relied upon to increase the rate of homeownership further. Rather than recognize the realities, congressional inaction has expanded the government's role in the wake of the prior financial crisis. This is leading once again to widespread unaffordability and increased taxpayer risk. In fact, adjusted for inflation, residential property prices in the United States in the middle of last year had reached levels close to the peak of the bubble. The home price-to-income ratio is now at 3\1/2\. That is very close to the peak prior to the last crisis. The current system perpetuates inflated prices and deprives other sectors of needed financial resources. It is difficult to argue that these policies improve the status quo for anyone other than lenders, securitizers, and MBS investors. Optimally, Congress will work to make housing more affordable by gradually reducing those subsidies, but this alone will not close the wealth gap. What we need is an increase in economic opportunity. This also requires State and local governments sharing that responsibility and eliminating the artificial barriers to economic growth such as unreasonably high minimum wages, occupational licensing, and unreasonable zoning restrictions. Lastly, failing public schools contribute to a relative lack of education, marketable skills, and other forms of human capital. To better equip the next generation to prosper we need expanded educational choice. Many of the underperforming public schools are located in economically deprived areas with a disproportionately large minority population. The government-granted education monopoly fails the millions of students who are subsequently unable to effectively compete in the labor market. Educational choice will help close this opportunity gap. These three steps will unlock human potential and expand opportunities for all. Thank you. [The prepared statement of Mr. Griffith can be found on page 84 of the appendix.] Chairman Clay. Thank you, Mr. Griffith, for your testimony. I now recognize myself for 5 minutes for questioning. Ms. Castro-Conroy, in your testimony you mentioned an African-American family who had solid income but was still saddled with a predatory loan. Do you suspect that there are other families out there like this who unfortunately were not aware of the services that the Housing Initiative Partnership provides? Ms. Castro-Conroy. Yes. There are other families who do not know about the services that we provide. And we have also seen other families who have been impacted very similar to this case as well. Chairman Clay. And as a follow-up, how do we educate other families so that they are not subject to the type of bad financial practices that this family encountered? Ms. Castro-Conroy. We provide financial education to all of our clients with the counseling that we do. So when we work with them, we look at their budgets, we look at their credit reports, we talk about savings, we talk about debt. So we start educating them in the process of becoming homeowners, whether they are renting. Even when they are actual homeowners we always look at their finances, try to educate them. Chairman Clay. And that counseling service is effective and it helps? Ms. Castro-Conroy. Yes, we see results. We keep track of how they improve in their credit score, how they improve in their savings, and how they reduce their debt through time. Chairman Clay. Thank you so much. Ms. Bailey, from a historical perspective, you talk about how Jim Crow laws and groups like the Ku Klux Klan worked diligently to keep African Americans down, and when African- American neighborhoods flourished, like the one known as America's Black Wall Street, until the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 in which white residents massacred 26 black residents, injured hundreds more, and razed the neighborhood within hours. The riot was one of the most devastating massacres in the history of U.S. race relations, destroying the once thriving Greenwood community. Could you discuss how devastating this was, not just to the black community in Oklahoma, but how it had a chilling effect on blacks' success and wealth? Ms. Bailey. Yes, thank you for the opportunity. Many African Americans were making an effort to pursue opportunity across the country in the same way that white American families did. Twenty percent of white American family wealth can be attributed to them getting access to land grants from the Homestead Act. African-American families were following in that trend and relocated from the south throughout the nation, including western cities like Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, they faced terrorism, because right as the nation was moving forward with more sound economic and fairness policies, it met an equal and opposite reaction where we wanted to preserve white supremacy in this nation. And in doing that, we created barriers to opportunities for African Americans that really jeopardized their communities in the way that you just identified with the evidence from Tulsa. It is important to say that Tulsa is not the only place. There is also evidence that this happened in places like Rosewood, Florida, and in other communities across the country. So we really need to get at the real hardship that families of color face. People who were really pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, doing everything right in a nation that promised opportunity, we had all of these fair lending laws that promised opportunity and that opportunity was resisted by white Americans who wanted them to remain as second-class citizens. Chairman Clay. And you cite some notable historic examples. Ms. McCargo, you cited a paper by your colleague, Lori Goodman, which concluded that homeownership is still one of the better paths towards accumulating wealth. And when you think about it, if a family saves for a home, their spending behavior changes, usually for the better. They become more financially astute and they work towards a goal. Could you discuss homeownership and retention and some of the solutions which you mentioned in your testimony? Ms. McCargo. Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman. Undoubtedly, homeownership has provided a wealth-building opportunity for families for generations. It is noteworthy that we talk about the homeownership rate nationally at 64 percent. It has been, for over 30 years, over 70 percent for white households, and the accumulation of wealth during that same time has been significant. And I think it is important to recognize the significant opportunity that forced savings and essentially paying into something that you will ultimately own, as well as the intergenerational implications of that wealth transfer opportunity for families. That is something that has been afforded for decades to white families. And I think it is really important as a foundation for us to think about how disproportionately wealth is built in black and Hispanic communities through home equity. And that opportunity needs to be made more available and readily available for most. Chairman Clay. Thank you so much for your response. And the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Duffy, is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. Duffy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Listen, I want to thank the panel for the insightful conversation and good insight you provided to the committee. Just, it is troubling the disparity that we are talking about today in homeownership and actually the disparity in wages. And I think it brings us to the point that Mr. Griffith was mentioning. I don't think there is any one solution here. I think it is pretty clear that, as Mr. Jones just mentioned, this is a salad bowl of ideas that we are going to have to look at. I don't think there is any one single bullet, but you talked about regulation and education and choice. What impact do you think that will have on incomes but also then on homeownership? Mr. Griffith. Thank you for your question. I think, yes, we, all of us, regardless of what side of the political line we fall on, are deeply troubled by the fact that there is this gap in opportunity. But what we see is that you have minority communities that are disproportionately in areas, in local areas that have in an inordinate number of regulations that are impeding the ability to even get on that first rung of the economic ladder. When you compound that with the lack of educational opportunities that many minority communities have because of where they are located, it compounds the problem. And that is why I talked about the educational choice of it. This is a more difficult solution than simply subsidizing somebody's purchase. But longer term, this can have lasting impacts because somebody with a better education will be better equipped to make prudent financial choices and probably more importantly will have the opportunity to earn more over a longer term. Mr. Duffy. And I know this is not an education hearing and this is not the full solution, but I do think you are right. When you can look at the success of a young child based on their ZIP code because the quality of their school, not giving kids an equal opportunity for economic success because we keep them in failing schools is a problem and that we wouldn't give families, parents, and children a choice to go to a better school. I find that to be outrageous because I think better than Mr. Clay and myself, families know better what is best for their children and we don't offer that opportunity. I think that is maybe getting more to some of the root causes as to some of the other issues that were brought up today. But I appreciate that. Also, you have to be able to save money, right? So if you start out as a renter, you have to be able to save money for a down payment. And Mr. Hicks, I like your testimony and some of the ideas that you brought up. Let's give people an incentive to save for a down payment. Maybe a tax-free incentive to say, I am not paying that whatever percent you are at. I get to keep all that money and I am going to work towards that homeownership. But one of the problems that we have discussed in this committee is, and as we dealt with flood insurance, I am all about making sure that we have smart regulations so we are building quality homes for the spaces in which we build. But if we have too many rules and regulations and too many ordinances, all of a sudden we start jacking up the cost of housing so we have people who can least afford it paying higher rents. That is less money they can put in the bank to save for a home. And I think, again, it is a holistic approach that is going to put people in a better situation to take that leap, because I agree with everyone on the panel that homeownership does help you create wealth, and it helps you buy into a community. And I think it is better for families. And if we have policies that don't incentivize that, that is a problem here. But also I, as and we have talked about this since the 2008 crisis, I don't want to see people buy homes that they can't afford because--we have heard countless witnesses testify that if you are foreclosed upon how far that sets your family back and just the personal anguish that a foreclosure does to a family. We don't want anyone to go through that. Is that fair? We don't want to give loans to people who can't afford them just to say homeownership is the highest priority? Actually, homeownership for a home that you can afford is the highest priority. Is that fair? Mr. Hicks. Yes. Mr. Duffy. I only have 40 seconds. If you could just give us your one, the one thing, and I know there is no silver bullet so you are all going to have different answers, but give me the one thing we can do that you think will make the biggest different on minority homeownership? And by the way, my wife is a Latina, and she will tell you that Hispanics start businesses at 3 times the national average, and your point on W-2s is exactly right. And my wife would be singing off your sheet. But I'm sorry. Ms. McCargo, would you start? Ms. McCargo. Sure. I think that one of the critical things is increasing the supply of affordable housing. I think that that is one of the most important things that we need in this country. Mr. Duffy. Supply. Ms. McCargo. Absolutely, supply. Mr. Duffy. Great. Ms. Bailey? Ms. Bailey. Reforming the housing finance system, GSEs, to regulated utilities with oversight to preserve the important public interest mission of duty to serve. Mr. Duffy. Great. Mr. Nery? Mr. Nery. And I would say definitely some modernization of FHA is vitally important to make sure that we don't lose some important protections that we have for communities of color because we need to have low down payment assistance programs. Those are vital to our communities to be able to obtain and increase our homeownership rates. Mr. Duffy. Mr. Hicks? Mr. Hicks. I would say support of the American Dream Down Payment Savings Plan, and support of programs like the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco's WISH Program, which is a 4:1 percent match for savings. Mr. Duffy. Great. Ms. Castro-Conroy? Ms. Castro-Conroy. I would have to say to support comprehensive housing counseling agencies that provide credit counseling, rental counseling-- Mr. Duffy. Education. Ms. Castro-Conroy. Repurchase, homebuyer relocation which we see all the cases. We see the needs. We know how we can help our families. Mr. Duffy. Ms. Poole? Ms. Poole. Removing some of the local zoning issues and restrictions that cause affordable housing not to be built. Mr. Duffy. Absolutely. Mr. Griffith? Mr. Griffith. Equipping the next generation to earn more so they can seize economic opportunities to make investment decisions of their own choosing. Mr. Duffy. Thank you. Chairman Clay. The gentleman's time has expired. The Chair now recognizes the Chair of the full Financial Services Committee, Chairwoman Waters, for 5 minutes. Chairwoman Waters. Thank you very much. Let me thank all of our panelists. And allow me to thank you, Mr. Clay, for putting this panel together. This is perhaps one of, if not the most, diverse panel that we have had before us on any issue. And it is good to know that with the fact that Democrats are in the leadership, we can have these kinds of panels that reflect America. Thank you so very much for putting this panel together. I just want to say to our panelists today that during the crisis I got very much involved in learning a lot about loan modifications. Of course we were advised by, I think, our Ethics Committee that we were not supposed to do that, but I defied all of that. And I started to call these institutions to find out about why certain of my constituents were being foreclosed on and the way that it was happening. Now, in doing all of this, I learned a lot about what has evolved and what is being utilized in the banking community in different ways that they operate. For example, and I just want to give you a few of the things that I would like to see us scrub all of the practices and laws that are employed by the banks, many of which we take for granted. Let us take, for example, interest-only loans, which have an adjustable rate. When the adjustable rate, I guess expires, I don't know how many years it is and whether or not we should have a law to say how many years it is, take 5 to 10 years, and now you are paying not only interest but you are paying for the principal. And on that adjustable rate, the interest rate is going to increase, and so now what you have is a homeowner who is paying interest only. And based on their income and all of that, they got into it because they thought this was a good way to do it. But now they are paying the principal and the interest, and because of the adjustable rate, they are paying a high interest rate. They can't afford the loan anymore and they are foreclosed on. The other thing that I noticed was too many of the banks were saying they wouldn't even entertain a loan modification unless you have missed at least two payments. And by the time you miss two payments and you go through a loan modification attempt, you can't afford to pay up and get back into the loan. We want to take a look at that kind of stuff. The other thing is many of these foreclosures and particularly what was happening with the robocalling that was done and you found that there were people who lost their homes because they missed x number of payments. And then they packaged these loans with hedge funds or some of these other folks who go about, I call them scavengers almost, and then the equity that was built up in the home is not given any consideration for the cost of selling that or putting it in the package. That home might be worth, I don't know, $300,000, but when they packaged them, you have Countrywide that used to be in operation and all of their folks who are buying the things for pennies on the dollar. And if you had done that for the people living in the homes who could not afford to make their payments for a couple of months, they could have stayed in their home. So I bring this to your attention along with fraud. I had folks who said that this person who sold me this loan said don't worry about my income. They could fix that and they signed the loan for me. Where do they turn? If they don't have a private attorney, there is no fraud division in the bank that is going to take a look at that and help out with unraveling this fraud. So there are a lot of things that have developed, some of which we take for granted, in the way that they do business. We need to scrub these mortgages and all of the rules and practices and come up with a laundry list of what we think needs to be taken out of the way that these home mortgages are done. These are just some of the things that I ran into as I was helping to do loan modifications. And so I would like to ask all of you who are experts, Ms. Bailey, all of you, to begin to take a look at all of the practices. Let us not assume that just because they do it, it is right to do. Let us begin to think about what just is not right and what absolutely operates against the homeowner's ability to stay in that home, and see if we can't get rid of some of the practices and laws in operation today. Thank you so very much. And that is not a question as much as it is a plea to you because you know this stuff. And let us scrub them and find out what we can eliminate. Thank you so much. I yield back. Chairman Clay. Thank you. I thank the chairwoman for her comments. I now recognize Mr. Luetkemeyer from Missouri for 5 minutes. Mr. Luetkemeyer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And first, I would like to recognize my good friend, Mr. Clinton Jones. I was the chairman of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee for a couple of years and I got to know Clinton very well. He is a fantastic individual, a wonderful staff person, and I just wish him the very, very best in his new endeavor. I know he will be very successful. I am just thankful this opportunity came his way and he is able to take advantage of it. So again, all my best to you, Clinton. With regards to what we are doing here today, we are looking at barriers to minority homeownership. And a couple of weeks ago, we had a hearing that talked about regulations being, like, 34 percent of the cost of a home. And today, a number of you have talked about adequate and affordable housing finance system. And what I want to do is talk about a regulation that is in that that I believe is causing or could cause the housing financial system to hurt people to be able to afford a home because of the increased cost. And it is called CECL. How many of you have heard of CECL already? One? One? Okay. Okay, let us educate. Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) is proposed by the Federal Accounting Standards Board (FASB). And what they are proposing to do is they believe that there needs to be better transparency with regards to loss on a bank's balance sheet with regards to mortgage loan exposure. Unfortunately, that goes across the board, not just banks but credit unions, mortgage bankers, anybody that makes a housing loan, as well as the GSEs. I have even had asset managers, insurance companies as well as credit card companies talk to me because it will affect them in certain ways. Last week, we even had one of the bankers here talk about how $6 billion to $10 billion of additional reserves are going to have to be put because of credit card exposure. The reason it is concerning to me is because in a committee back in December that I chaired, which was the Financial Institutions Subcommittee, the Home Builders Association indicated that it would cost, if you have increased cost of a home loan of $1,000, 100,000 people across the country no longer have access to home loans. Is that familiar? Are you familiar with that, Mr. Nery? Mr. Nery. I am familiar with it. It definitely is a proposal that would be onerously burdensome for a lot of the smaller regional banks. Certainly if you are going to have a standard rule that is going to apply across the board I think, obviously, you would have more adherence and it would be easier to adhere to by the larger institutions. But when you are talking about credit unions and you are talking about municipal, small, regional banks, it is going to be a higher burden, which I think is very, very difficult to accept because we have institutions, at least in communities of color, that are often reliant on these local institutions as well. And if you burden them and put them out of business or make it unreasonable for them to be able to afford or to be able to offer loans, it really would do an injustice to those communities which they serve. Mr. Luetkemeyer. Yes, my thought process is this is going to really impact the low- and moderate-income folks tremendously because when you increase these costs, which, you know, the credit unions have given me a couple of studies. So different ones said there were going to be an additional $30 billion in lost capital they are going to have to replace. One of them talked like over 30 percent of their members are either going to cut lending or they are going to have to increase costs or increase the cost to the consumer for their services. And if that happens, the availability of home loans is not going to be there. And so that is one part of it. The other part is the procyclicality of this thing. In other words, one of the problems is that if this happens and the economy turns down the financial institutions have to reserve more. And if they reserve more it means they have to charge more, which means they have less ability to lend, which means you start spiraling downward. And this is what happened with the mark-to-market. This is exactly the problem that the FASB folks caused and helped exacerbate the crash of 2008 because of the mark-to-market situation which they then had to pull that rule back because they didn't study the potential impacts. And in this situation they haven't put they haven't studied the potential impacts either. They admit to me that they have not studied this to see once what could happen here. So this is very, very concerning to me. I am hopeful that all of you will look into this. To me, it is going to have a dramatic impact on especially the groups that you are talking about here, the low- and moderate-income folks that we want to make sure they have the ability to have that American Dream: the home. And if you can do a study, please send it to me. I would be more than happy to take it and run with it. I know the REALTOR's association, I have talked to some of your folks already. This is going to have a dramatic impact on your ability, Mr. Hicks, on yours as well, Mr. Nery. This one regulation could be as impactful as any other regulation that is being proposed right now by anybody across the board if you think about what is going on. And the GSEs, you have a $5 trillion portfolio of 30-year loans? Imagine how much money is going to have to be reserved for that. I am out of time, but thank you so much. And again, if you can send me your studies, I would sure appreciate it. Thank you. Chairman Clay. The gentleman from Missouri's time has expired. The gentlewoman from Ohio, Mrs. Beatty, who is also the Chair of our Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, is recognized for 5 minutes. Mrs. Beatty. Thank you very much, Chairman Clay. Thank you also to Ranking Member Duffy and to the panel. Before I get started, let me also echo my thanks and congratulations, Clinton, to you for all your years of service. I want to start out by thanking you, as our chairwoman of Financial Services stated, for having a panel that is very diverse, not only in gender and race and ethnicity but their brilliance that they bring to the diversity of their experience in this very important issue. For some 20 years, I worked as a consultant in housing, so I give you a personal thank you for helping and fighting for all those who benefit from your services. Today is an exciting day for me, Mr. Chairman. One, I like that you said you are going to include pragmatic legislation in the work that we do. Mr. Duffy, I am sorry he is not here, but I want to thank him for acknowledging and reminding us that some 50 years later we still have disparities, especially with African Americans. So when we talk about funding and moving that needle, I am sure Mr. Duffy will be right there with you, Mr. Clay, in making sure that we fund and finance FHA and all of the housing programs. But on the pragmatic side, let me share with you all today that included in today's hearing is my bill, the House Financial Literacy Act, H.R. 2162. To the panel, I am very pleased to hear you, Ms. Castro-Conroy, Mr. Hicks, and Mr. Nery talking about the value of education in making sure that we include legislation and programs that can be helpful. Well, this bill will give first-time homeowners a 25 basic point reduction on their up-front mortgage insurance premiums if they take a HUD-approved housing counseling program. This bill will essentially lower the cost due at closing by reducing the current up-front mortgage insurance premium on a FHA loan of 1.75 to 1.5 percent. So basically, if you were buying a home at $200,000, you would get a $500 reduction. If it was $300,000, you can do the math, $750; $400,000, $1,000. And here is what is so important about this and many of you have talked about first-time homeowners, who purchase a home. If they have the counseling classes, if they have the support system, they are one-third less likely to default on their mortgages, which in the case of FHA leads to cost savings for the mutual mortgage insurance program. Also, I think it is important to note that FHA's 2016 annual report to Congress found that in 2015, FHA was used for 47 percent of homes purchased by African Americans and 49 percent of purchases by Hispanic households. It also found that 82.1 percent of FHA purchase loans were for first-time homebuyers. Now, all of you are probably very familiar with Section 2126 of the 2008, when Congress passed and the President signed, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act. Well, as you will be reminded, it authorized $25 million a year between 2009 and 2015. So I would like to ask you all, do you support the fact of having education and counseling and that we should, of course, make sure that Congress should pass those dollars again. So I only have about 30 seconds. Ms. Castro-Conroy, Mr. Hicks? Mr. Hicks. Absolutely. Ms. Castro-Conroy. Strongly support, yes. Mrs. Beatty. Thank you. Ms. Bailey? Ms. Bailey. Yes. Mrs. Beatty. Mr. Griffith? Mr. Griffith. I can't endorse specific legislation, but I support education of borrowers. Mrs. Beatty. Ms. Poole? Ms. Poole. NAR absolutely supports this. Mrs. Beatty. Ms. McCargo? Ms. McCargo. Absolutely. I think that the educational component is critical to the solving of these issues and housing counseling as well. Mrs. Beatty. Okay, thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Chairman Clay. I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio. And I recognize the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Huizenga, for 5 minutes. Mr. Huizenga. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I have had a kind of a front row seat into some of these issues in my own career. I have been a licensed REALTOR in the past. I have had family members who have been licensed REALTORS literally since, well, my earliest memories. And I thought it was the coolest thing when my uncle's beeper went off, and it was for those of you that have been in the industry, and Ms. Poole, you are nodding your head. You had, I think, two times that you could hear whatever that message was, right? But it has been a problem, as has been pointed out by many of you, some of the inequities that have existed in housing. And I know, again, from being a licensed REALTOR and from having a family involved in construction, there are a number of barriers that have been in place. Mr. Hicks and some of the others had noted some of those formal barriers and certainly historic barriers that we, in a modern society, look at and say, completely unacceptable. Mr. Hicks. Yes. Mr. Huizenga. Mr. Hicks, though, on page three of your testimony, I just wanted to kind of give you an opportunity to be a little more specific here. And I know you then continue on with some policy recommendations. And I am going to quote you here, ``Housing experts such as scholar Richard Rothstein find that segregated neighborhoods are not an accident, but the result of laws and policies passed by local, State, and Federal Governments that promote segregation and discriminatory practices.'' Can you be more specific on what some of those local and State laws might be? And this goes back to some of the discussion that we have had in this committee a number of times, which are what are some of those cost barriers that are put up by local governments that, whether it is lot size, whether it is certain building requirements? Mr. Nery, I see you nodding your head, too, but please either of you can jump in. Ms. Poole? Mr. Hicks. Well, when you start talking about cost barriers historically, is that what you are asking? Mr. Huizenga. No, I am asking right now, what are State and local governments and expand upon that if you need to, on the Federal Government as well. But what are some of those barriers for that entry? And Mr. Nery if you want to jump in? Mr. Nery. I just wanted to clarify, are you speaking as to, maybe, some of the costs for affordable housing or building homes? Is that what we are discussing? Mr. Huizenga. That is what I guess I am trying to get-- Mr. Nery. Okay. Mr. Huizenga. Mr. Hicks to find out if that is what he meant-- Mr. Nery. Well, I will speak to that. Mr. Huizenga. --by that. Yes? Mr. Nery. Definitely one of the grave issues that we see across the country when you are talking about building affordable homes for first-time homebuyers is the fact that there is just exorbitant amounts of costs just to start really shovel to ground. Our friends at the Home Builders would tell you that in the average municipality, the average builder is spending about $90,000 just in permits, in zoning, and what have you before they can actually construct a home. Then if you add on top of that $120,000 it will take to actually build a property, you are talking a cost, an upfront cost of $220,000, $230,000. So you are probably going to have to sell in the $300,000 to $400,000 range. That would not constitute a first-time homebuyer option, right? That is not going to be for somebody at an entry level. It is going be most likely a move-up buyer. But again, those are just cost-prohibitive measures that exist across the country so we really need to have some Federal legislation that can work with a lot of the local municipalities to ensure that we can reduce some of that red tape, that we can reduce some of those zoning costs and building costs. Mr. Huizenga. How does the Federal Government do that, though? Mr. Nery. I think it really would be a question of putting together some sort of a body that would govern some of these zoning regulations that I think there would have to-- Mr. Huizenga. But we may have some 10th Amendment issues-- Mr. Nery. Right, right, right. Mr. Huizenga. --in that. Mr. Nery. Sure, but I think there would definitely be some standards that can be put into place for zoning departments, building departments for municipalities across the country. I think cities would adopt a lot of those regulations to try to create some uniformity. But you also have issues right now just when you are talking about labor and when you are talking about building costs right now there has been a lot of stories written about the costs in lumber and costs in labor shortages so you have higher costs for builders as well. So those are obviously ancillary issues that need to be dealt with as well. But I think there needs to be some sort of a uniform system across the country to try to reduce some of those upfront costs. Mr. Huizenga. Ms. Poole, if-- Ms. Poole. Yes, I would love to add to that. In addition to some of the zoning laws and some of the cost of building new construction, if grants are not there, a lot of times there are no affordable homes put in those developments. Another piece that we have to consider is that when some new construction is being built there are deferred costs that are then pushed off to the homeowner so that the builder doesn't absorb those costs, things like front foot assessments, that in this case could total an additional $400 to $600 a year just in paying for the deferred charges of putting in public water and sewer. So as they go through, you start thinking about all the costs that are then referred over to the homeowner and it all of a sudden disqualifies them possibly for a loan. Mr. Huizenga. My time has expired. I am in the process of building new construction. I hear Mr. Nery. I have never been a part of any project, other than vacant land, that has put any kind of delayed sewer and water assessment on those. But maybe we can talk about that at a-- Ms. Poole. I would love to talk to you about it. Chairman Clay. The gentleman from Michigan's time has expired. I now recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Vargas, for 5 minutes. Mr. Vargas. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate what you are doing here today and especially the panel being here. I agree with Mr. Luetkemeyer completely, that it is still the American Dream to own a house. I still believe that. It certainly was the case in my family. I know that once our family was able to buy a house, it really stabilized our finances. And it allowed my parents later on to help us with college costs, and so I am very appreciative of that. I did want to ask some specific questions, however, with regard to DACA recipients since we are talking about dreams. It was the case in the past that HUD and FHA was not preventing DACA recipients from getting FHA loans. Now, my understanding is that there is nothing in writing that prevents them from getting FHA loans but now that both FHA and HUD are verbally saying that they are not eligible. Who would like to comment on that if they know the information? Ms. Bailey, it sounds like you have some information. Go ahead please. Ms. Bailey. Yes, thank you so much for the opportunity. We think that the practice has a very chilling effect on potential homeowners for an important subset of our nation's citizens and residents. And we think that it is important for HUD to really clarify its position and ensure that DACA recipients are eligible for FHA loans without legislation. Mr. Vargas. Mr. Nery, yes, sir? Mr. Nery. I would echo Ms. Bailey's thoughts. DACA recipients really, under FHA guidelines when you are looking at them, the whole issue is legal status. And from NAHREP's perspective, it really is inappropriate for a government agency to be setting up immigration legislation. And in my statement I mentioned that really is something for the judiciary to decide as opposed to have a body such as FHA really dictate that. So our feeling really is it is more of an administrative issue that is going on right now. Administration forcing that immigration question to be addressed through FHA which, again, is inappropriate in our eyes. Mr. Vargas. Well, we have, in fact, cases where there are individuals who have arrived in our country and undocumently when they were 3 years old. They have lived here their whole lives. Mr. Nery. Absolutely. Mr. Vargas. They got married. They had kids. They have very stable incomes and they believe that everything is going to work out. They have saved for their down payment. And then they go to the bank and the bank looks and all of a sudden they are denied because they receive verbal instructions from FHA that they don't qualify, even though their legal status is such that they should qualify and they did previously qualify. Mr. Nery. Right. Mr. Vargas. Mr. Nery, you were going to comment? Mr. Nery. No, I would agree with that. I have had personal experience with that with a number of clients that had they applied for a loan a year ago, 2 years ago, they would have easily received a loan. But now because of their DACA status they have been unable to obtain loans. And these are folks and individuals for all intents and purposes you would say they are as American as apple pie because some of them have been here since they were born, right? They were here. They just happened to be born in another country, but they have been here since they were 6 months old, a year old. So for all intents and purposes, they are American through and through. Mr. Vargas. Okay, thank you. You were going to say something, Ms. Bailey. Go ahead. Ms. Bailey. If I could hold up the study that I cited earlier by the UNC Center for Community Capital of Self-Help Credit Union's mortgage loan. Self-Help is one of the primary lenders to undocumented families across the nation. And again, when consumers are given safe and responsible loans, they perform well in those. So we know that these consumers can succeed. So again, HUD needs to really clarify its position. Mr. Vargas. Thank you. Well, I appreciate that. I have to say also with respect to affordable housing, I was on the San Diego City Council for many years. And it is interesting being on the other side of those fees because at the same time, it used to be in California that the State would pick up a lot of the infrastructure issues. They would pick up the roads, the schools, the sewer, the water. And because of Prop 13, property values continued to grow but the assessment didn't except for 1 percent a year. So the amount of money that was coming into the government just wasn't there. So that is why you put it on the new homeowner. They had to pay then upfront, all of those costs, and that does create a huge burden for new homes to be built. And also, of course, the NIMBYism. Everyone loves density somewhere else, but not in their own community, which is too bad. I love to travel, and I travel quite extensively with my family. One of the places we have traveled to is Vienna. It is one of the most dense cities in the world. It is also the most livable. And so I hope that we get over that notion that density is wrong and bad, especially in places like California where people want to live. The price is too darn high. So again, I appreciate very much the work that you have done here. Again, I am someone who believes in homeownership. I know some people are saying that maybe it is not the best way to create wealth. It certainly has been historically, and it certainly has stabilized families. And I think it is still the dream that we all aim for. And certainly, I hope that we can make it affordable for people. Again, thank you guys. God bless you. And I thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, sir. Chairman Clay. You are very welcome, Mr. Vargas. I now recognize the gentlewoman from Michigan, Ms. Talib, for 5 minutes. Ms. Tlaib. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank all of you so much for your incredible advocacy on this important issue in our country. A lot of folks are locked out of the traditional mortgage market. I think we can all agree to that, due to a number of factors that all of you have mentioned from institutional racism to, you know, I would like to wrap it up into access. Access is so key. In the 13th Congressional District, many homes are under $50,000 where it is nearly impossible to get a traditional mortgage company or folks to finance. This has led to my district becoming ground zero for land contracts. And I want to urge my colleagues, as I am working with Chairwoman Waters and her team on the Land Contract Homebuyers Protection Act, that I am hoping to provide eviction protections for buyers by allowing termination of those contracts only through foreclosure proceedings, similar to foreclosure proceedings, again giving them access to due process. It seems like a great idea, land contracts. And I worked at nonprofit organizations where that is where we lean to when we couldn't get folks to traditional access to finance. And now it is becoming a thing. Many of the folks who are pushing predatory lending and so forth have gotten into the business of land contracts. Many buyers, many of our residents don't realize that and there are repairs that are needed, hidden fees and interest and so forth, again, not fully disclosed to the homeowner. Later down the line, the seller forces the buyer to make the repairs that should have been made. And if the resident doesn't make those repairs, they evict them, literally taking everything, their time, their energy, every single ounce of what was put into the home. So based on your experience, Mr. Hicks, would you say that homes sold under land installment contracts are habitable condition to rent? Mr. Hicks. Well, we totally discourage the use of land contracts and that is because I am from Georgia, and we believe in the owner getting title at time of closing. Ms. Tlaib. Yes. Mr. Hicks. And because of that we just discourage the use of it. And because, like I say, there is too much fraud that can occur in that type of transaction. Ms. Tlaib. I agree. Mr. Nery? Mr. Nery. So I would say, as a practicing a real estate attorney, land contracts is something that I understand well. And when I first read about your bill, I was taken aback because, honestly, when I have been involved, I make sure I am pulling title in escrow and ensuring that there aren't any issues with liens or-- Ms. Tlaib. Yes. Can we-- Mr. Nery. --previous ownership-- Ms. Tlaib. The thing is, we have to get-- Mr. Nery. I can establish that. Ms. Tlaib. --residents in front of you. Mr. Nery. Correct, correct. Ms. Tlaib. And that is what is happening is they are not. Mr. Nery. The majority of people-- Ms. Tlaib. And I am an attorney myself. Mr. Hicks. Right. Ms. Tlaib. But these are the same. I mean, renters have more rights than-- Mr. Nery. Right. Ms. Tlaib. --land contracts. Mr. Nery. Right. Ms. Tlaib. Some of these places can't even be rented out because of certain-- Mr. Nery. Absolutely. Ms. Tlaib. --requirements for conditions like roofing and so forth. Many of these folks who are pushing the land contracts can't rent them out because of the condition of the home. Mr. Nery. Right. No, I-- Ms. Tlaib. But I really have to reclaim my time. Mr. Nery. Yes. Ms. Tlaib. It is really, really important. In 2015, the Detroit News found that more land contracts than traditional mortgages have been filed with the Wayne County registrar in my district. Ms. Bailey, compared to a traditional mortgage offered by financial institutions, how high are interest rates on land installments? Ms. Bailey. They are extremely high, and we know that these are not new practices, right? This is, again, reincarnating things that had been really problematic in places like Illinois. We know that those types of contracts cost consumers in the City of Chicago more than $500 million. So you are right to be concerned. We think two things need to happen that are essential. Every contract should be recorded immediately. And then we also believe that the termination of the contract needs to be enforced through judicial foreclosure. Ms. Tlaib. That is right. Ms. Bailey. That is really important. And then, we want to highlight that TILA already provides substantive protections around these transactions. So we don't really need to reincorporate that language in any of the bills. Ms. Tlaib. Yes, thank you. And, Ms. McCargo, why are companies allowed to get around regulations that address predatory lending, the Truth in Lending Act, and offer these products with outstanding property taxes and liens to consumers without letting the potential homeowners know? Ms. McCargo. For me? Ms. Tlaib. Yes, you go ahead. Ms. McCargo. Thank you. Ms. Tlaib. I am, like, where are you? Ms. McCargo. Thank you for the question. So land contracts, we have done a tremendous amount of research on low-cost markets. There is an inadequate amount of financing available for the purchase of lower-cost properties. And so we have looked at small-dollar access to lending, and I think that the workarounds in terms of, I shouldn't call them workarounds, the issues that you are describing are pervasive, predatory, and essentially inadequate. And I think it is an issue that we need to spend more time on in terms of how to deal with land contracts. But I do think that the mortgage system, the finance system, in supporting properties in lower-cost markets needs a tremendous amount of modernization. Small-dollar lending and the ability to actually finance anything that is frankly under $80,000 in communities like yours and many others around the country are completely insufficient and inadequate. And that there is an opportunity to look at how we can propel and advance small-dollar financing for more safe, consumer-friendly products to allow for affordable home buying at the lower end of the market. Ms. Tlaib. And thank you. And, just really quickly, Chairman Clay, I would like to submit a statement by the National Consumer Law Center that outlines the racist history of land contracts that I couldn't get a deeper dive into during my questioning. Chairman Clay. Without objection, it is so ordered. The gentlewoman's time has expired. I recognize the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Gonzalez, for 5 minutes. Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. I first want to thank the chairman for holding this hearing and thank all of the witnesses for your participation today. Let me start by saying that, like all my colleagues on this committee, I believe that for many Americans and for many of my constituents, homeownership is an integral part of achieving the American Dream. Along with the pride and accomplishment of owning a home, homeownership encourages civic and community engagement, helps lead to better educational achievement, and also improves health outcomes. Based on the testimony today, it is clear that minority communities have a more difficult time achieving homeownership and that this is by no means an easy problem to address. As you said in your testimony, Ms. Poole, there is no end all, be all solution. It is multifaceted. That being said, Ms. Poole and Mr. Nery, you both mentioned the issue of access to credit for many minority communities. Ms. Poole, you specifically stated that for Hispanic households, more than a quarter are either credit invisible or have an unscored credit record. Mr. Nery, you stated that millions of Hispanics pay their bills with cash which prevents individuals from gaining access to credit. So my first question is for Mr. Nery. You briefly mention in your testimony that alternative credit models are currently unavailable in the mortgage space. We had the credit rating agencies in here earlier this session. I met with FICO the other day. I couldn't agree more. It is pretty clear that this is an industry, and I think, Ms. McCargo, you kind of were alluding to it. This is an industry in need of major innovation, and it is not happening. And I think that is primarily structural, frankly. But, Ms. Poole, what are your recommendations for expanding access to credit for individuals who may be credit invisible in a more responsible way? Ms. Poole. Thank you for the question. One of the things that needs to happen is, as we look at alternative credit, is to recognize that everything doesn't fit in a box-- Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. Absolutely. Ms. Poole. When we are looking at the multicultural individuals that we serve, what we are looking at is saying, there are credit vendors who report credit scores for positive and negative. But the positives of paying rent and paying utilities and things that they do, paying car insurance, only show up if they are delinquent. It never shows up as a positive. If we could move towards, if anything, that one alternative piece and being able to say is there a way that all credit, no matter what it is that they are paying on a monthly basis and installments, be reported as current good credit. Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. Right. And Mr. Nery? Mr. Nery. Yes, NAHREP firmly would agree with that. There is a company, VantageScore, that already is successful in the automotive and the lending, small lending, personal loan, or their credit models are being implemented already for credit cards and automotive loans. That company would be somebody that can certainly introduce an alternative credit model that can be utilized by the GSEs. They have been using the same model essentially for 20 years. If they adopted a new model, if they took that decision, made that decision themselves to implement new credit scoring models, I think you would see a drastic change. Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. My understanding is VantageScore is owned by the three credit bureaus. Do you know if that is accurate? Mr. Nery. To my knowledge, that is not accurate. Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. I will have to look into that. I think when we met with some folks last week, they suggested that that was true. If it is true, I think we may need to find another vehicle. Mr. Nery. Right. Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. But kind of next question more broadly, and again, this gets into the competition. I will open this question up to the entire panel, but more broadly speaking, do you all think there is adequate competition in the credit reporting industry? And maybe just go down the line, a simple yes or no. Ms. McCargo. No. Ms. Bailey. No. Mr. Nery. Absolutely not. Mr. Hicks. No. Ms. Castro-Conroy. No. Ms. Poole. No. Mr. Griffith. No opinion on that. Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. No opinion? Okay. Well, again, I thank you all for your time. I am as committed as anybody to making sure that there is more competition. One of the promises of A.I. is that when you have robust datasets if they are opened up and people can innovate in a space that we can find those better predictors so that we can more accurately distribute credit into the marketplace. And I look forward to working with anybody on the committee who is committed to that fundamental mission. So thank you, and I yield back. Chairman Clay. Okay. The gentleman from Ohio yields back. I now recognize the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Lawson, for 5 minutes. Mr. Lawson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and witnesses, welcome to the committee. Mr. Hicks, I want this question to go to you. I want to make sure that I am on the right track and I am not out there in left field. I have been concerned a great deal about millennials who are coming out and would like to become homeowners. And I have been working on what I call a rentals IRA which allows them to put money into an IRA account on a deferred basis that can only be used for a down payment on a house. But what I would like to know from your perspective or any anyone else's perspective is what is the limit of the amount that they should be able to put in those IRAs earning interest in order to be adequate for a down payment? I will tell you the reason why. In about 1973 or 1974, I was purchasing a house through FHA. I think the interest rate was 21.5 percent, and they required that you had to put down 10 percent. And I was trying to find out how I am going to get the 10 percent. So when you see all these rental units and everybody rent them and even housing, how they get out, and I think that has been my perspective. So judging from that if they can have this IRA that they can put money into and know that they can use it and I just wanted to see if anybody can respond to that. Okay. Ms. McCargo. Did you have-- Mr. Hicks. That is a very interesting concept. In our down payment savings plan proposal what we are suggesting is as much as $500,000 could be accumulated in a tax savings plan. The reason why we say $500,000 is because that paints a broad brush of all Americans. Certainly, $500,000 is not a large amount for very wealthy people buying $5 million and $6 million houses, but we are talking about a down payment savings plan where the wealthy could contribute that maybe to a family member. So in a renter's IRA I do think that is a very unique concept because there are a lot of lease purchase programs that are out there that probably that type of a structure could be beneficial. And I think that that is an excellent idea. So I think you asked the amount. I would say about $500,000. Mr. Lawson. Okay. Ms. McCargo. The rents in this country are incredibly high. We have been talking about the housing supply problem and so those constraints are really pushing up the issue on affordability. Research that we recently have done has indicated that the average or median down payment for most home purchases in the last year is 5 percent. And there is still a belief out there that there is a need for a down payment of 20 percent, 10 percent. There are a tremendous number of low down payment programs out there. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have introduced such programs that have allowed for as low as 3 percent down. The V.A. home lending is 0 down. So I think it is really important to just note that part of the educational process and kind of demystifying is that the majority of people don't put down 20 percent; 5 percent is the median down payment amount in America today. And I think there is a lot of opportunity for down payment assistance programs to help meet or go support homebuyers in purchasing at that level. Ms. Bailey. And I would share that you are right. Many Americans are now paying more than 50 percent of their income in rental housing costs. So it is really difficult for them to be able to save for a down payment. And we know that student loan debt, $1.7 trillion, is really delaying homeownership entry by many first-time homebuyers and many of those people will be families of color. So other options that have been promoted have been promoted by people like Sandy Darity and others coming up with ideas around baby bonds to make sure that people have sufficient resources for entry into homeownership and money already reserved for entry into homeownership. And because we got a question earlier about education and how education can really solve these issues, what we know is that students of color are disproportionately burdened with debt because of historical housing discrimination. White families got access to homeownership because of Federal housing policy so they were able to build up home equity and then use that home equity across generations to support their family members. So your idea is definitely taking us in the right direction. Mr. Nery. I think NAHREP would wholeheartedly agree that we should have something. If it is going to be use of an IRA it would be something that would be aligned with low down payment assistance programs. So if we are talking about 3\1/2\ percent, simply because in the Latino space we are talking it is about 16 years before homeowners would be able to achieve a 20 percent down payment. And we are challenged because of the fact that we are younger, at 29 years old, we live in large metro areas that are more expensive, and we also don't have intergenerational wealth. So we are not inheriting money at the rates that non-Latino communities are doing. So it definitely would be a challenge for us. I would say something commensurate with the loan down payment programs that exist would be ideal. Mr. Lawson. Thank you. My time has run out, but I need you all to help as we move forward with this. Thank you. Chairman Clay. The gentleman from Florida yields back. I now recognize the gentlewoman from New York, Mrs. Maloney, who is also the Chair of our Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets. She is recognized for 5 minutes. Mrs. Maloney. I thank the gentleman for calling this important hearing and for yielding me the time and I thank all of the panelists today. I would like to ask Joseph Nery, we all know that homeownership is absolutely critical for wealth creation in our country. We also know that the financial crisis really caused havoc on the foundations of homeownership and disproportionately hurt minority homeowners and borrowers. This led all of us to acknowledge the need for smart regulations and strong consumer protections. The ability to repay and qualified mortgage rules that went into effect a few years ago provide some of the vital consumer protections that we now know are necessary. But when thinking about barriers to homeownership today, particularly for minorities, I have heard concerns that some credit-worthy borrowers with non-traditional sources of income like individuals who are self-employed, farmers or gig workers have difficulty in verifying their income using documentation other than their W-2 and therefore they have more obstacles than anybody else in obtaining mortgages. And with an increasing number of Americans making their living through alternative work arrangements, I would like to get your perspective. Have some of the income verification form requirements unnecessarily shut people out of the mortgage market and particularly affected minority borrowers? So your take on that, please? Mr. Nery. I would say that NAHREP would agree that the current credit scoring models that exist have disproportionately affected a lot of minority consumers because, again, we have thin credit files or no credit really through the current models. Yet, we have made some strides and some improvements. The GSEs have had HomeReady. They have had Home Possible and those programs have then started to take into account some of the different scoring or the different ways of establishing credit that Latinos have, again, being self-employed, having gig-economy, dealing in cash. But there still needs to be more done on that front. I think a lot of the legislation as we are looking at either modernizing FHA, if we are looking at the continuation of the QM patch for the GSEs, we really have to make sure that that is one of the factors that is incorporated in there. We have to ensure that whether it is through alternative credit scoring models or whether the existing models are modified, there has to be a mechanism which accounts for the way Latinos and minorities traditionally bank. Because again, if we are talking about how we pay cash for credit card payments, for utility bills, for rental payments, that is not captured in the credit models that exist today which were really developed in the 1990s. So, they are outdated. We need to make sure that they become updated and they reflect the way the communities establish their credit and bank today. Mrs. Maloney. Well, could you elaborate and explain and maybe give examples of other types of documentation that non- traditionally employed individuals could use to build their credit score? Mr. Nery. I would say one of the things when you are talking about the ability to repay for lenders that are employing some of these more traditional models, one of the things that they look at is they really look at banking accounts because they will see the deposits. They will see that over time, there actually is money. There is sufficient money that comes in. And I will give you an example. Earlier, I had mentioned one of my clients who had a tree trimming business. If you were to look into his deposits and you were to look at his monthly statements you would see that there are sufficient funds to afford that mortgage payment. The payments that he is receiving in cash, that his wife is receiving in cash, that the other family members were contributing to the bank account, that would be sufficient to cover the mortgage. But again, sometimes some of the more traditional models that are out there don't really look at deposits. They don't look at bank statements. They really look at the W-2s. They look at the tax returns. So if you are looking simply at bank statements, I think that would be one thing that would be important. Even if you were looking at receipts for rental payments. If you are looking at monthly statements for credit cards, those I think are all indicators of the ability to repay. Mrs. Maloney. Do you think it would be a good idea to include all of those in the criteria that they could be looking at? Mr. Nery. I think so. I think it is very important because, again, as we look at millennials, in the Latino space we are talking about 29 year olds, but if we look just at non-Latinos, if we look at millennials across the board there are so many folks that in that gig-economy if you are an Uber driver by day or if you are doing something else online by night, you are not receiving your traditional W-2. Perhaps you are a 1099 person so you are not receiving that easily identifiable salary that is nine to five. Right now, you have young folks who are not working at companies for 30 years. They are moving every 3 years to a different company. They are creating their own jobs. So we have to be flexible. We have to adjust with how a lot of our younger generation, the future of the country, really, how they are developing, how they are earning their income. So I think those are factors that have to be incorporated. Mrs. Maloney. I would like to follow up with you further, my time is almost up, because there has been legislation and proposals out that say you can use these other forms that include some of the things you said, yet organizations that advocate for these communities have been very much opposed to the use of it. To me it seems like a practical good step forward, but I don't want to advocate or work on something that people who are most affected are against. And some of these organizations have been against it. I don't quite understand why. Maybe this is a further conversation we could have but thank you and all the panelists for being here. My time is over. Thank you. Chairman Clay. The gentlewoman's time has expired. Give me names on the other side. What is his name? Voice. Brad Steil. Mr. Steil. Chairman Clay. Where is he from? Give me the State. Voice. Wisconsin. Chairman Clay. The gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Steil, is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. Steil. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for calling today's hearing on a really important topic. I was digging into some numbers in particular at the distinction between some of the different cities in the United States. Seeing homeownership, in particular for African Americans in Milwaukee, and the disparity we see is between different cities, maybe higher in the south, Atlanta seemed to be significantly higher than, say, New York; Milwaukee is in between. Looking at why that might be the case and what we can learn from the distinction between specific cities in the United States where it is statistically pretty significant variations. I was wondering if maybe you, Ms. Poole, could comment as to what you have seen from that and then ask some of your colleagues on the panel to comment as well? Ms. Poole. The differences depend on where they come from, high-rent districts or high-cost areas versus median prices that we see every day. Some of it are barriers related to zoning issues that we talked about earlier and cause homeowners not to be able to cross those barriers. In some cases, we know that the sophistication leads to barriers to homeownership that are higher in some areas than others purposely. Some are put in place to cause homeownership not to occur and especially for minorities. So that would be one of the barriers when we are talking about fair housing and moving forward, and some of them are intentional. Mr. Steil. And so those local land use regulations that we are seeing have a statistically significant impact-- Ms. Poole. Oh, absolutely. Mr. Steil. In your observation? Ms. Poole. Absolutely. Mr. Steil. Thank you. Ms. Bailey. And if-- Mr. Steil. Ms. Bailey, please? Ms. Bailey. And if I may add, what we see from those local ordinances is that there is a preference for single family housing, and because of the history of discrimination, African Americans oftentimes were not allowed to live in those communities. They were actually relegated to the industry areas and local jurisdictions. So all of those things combined with an inability to get access to safe and affordable loans over time has created regional disparities. And we should just always note that African Americans and a lot of our history is rooted in the south so you see opportunities in those southern cities that might be different from when we migrated during the great migration up north because we lived in close proximity, quite frankly, to many of our southern white neighbors and attempted to do that when we migrated to the north. But these local ordinances that were a response to our progress emerged that really denied that and created kind of barriers, even with highways around our communities that locked us in. And because of that, we have this persistent residential segregation. Mr. Steil. I appreciate that comment. Mr. Hicks? Mr. Hicks. The thing that hasn't been mentioned along with what Nikitra is saying is that we have to look at historical redlining maps that existed in certain cities across the country. And I think that that has a lot to do with how we see the level of homeownership disparities that exist in the nation. Mr. Steil. Thank you. Maybe to just shift gears for a moment with my limited time, Mr. Griffith, if I can you a question? I have been looking at the Dodd-Frank Act and the mortgage lending standard getting tightened significantly following the economic downturn. And we have seen, I think, a disproportionate impact maybe on the minority communities and lower-income Americans as a result of some of the regulations in the Dodd-Frank Act. Could you comment on what you think might have been some of the key problems in Dodd-Frank and what impact that has had in particular with minority communities and homeownership? Mr. Griffith. I thank you for your question. What we have been focused on at the Heritage Foundation are ways in which we can restore affordability to the market in general, not for just minorities but for everyone in general. And we really do believe that as that footprint has grown substantially even in the wake of the crisis that this has fueled another increase in prices that is making it very difficult for minority communities, the middle class in general, and that the way long term to restore that affordability is to gradually diminish the size of the imprint. And just one thing on that, if you look at the proportion of these, the loans that are guaranteed that are for cash-out refis, how does that actually help people build wealth long term? I think that is something that Congress should look at. Mr. Steil. Thank you very much. I appreciate everyone's time here. I yield back. Chairman Clay. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Green, who is also the Chair of our Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. Green. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the witnesses for appearing as well. And I thank Mr. Duffy for his engagement. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask a few questions of the witnesses with your consent and permission. Friends, if you believe that invidious discrimination has been a significant reason for the inability of African Americans to achieve wealth in this country, would you kindly extend a hand into the air. Please let the record reflect that some persons have extended 2 hands-- [laughter] --but that everyone extended hands into the air. If you believe that invidious discrimination to this very day, as I speak to you now, as I say these words, if you believe that invidious discrimination is still a part of the obstacle to wealth-building for minorities in this country, extend a hand into the air. Let the record reflect again that all have raised their hands. I am grateful that you have done this because we have been trying to build this record to let the world know that we still have discrimination. Regulations have to be dealt with, but our original sin was discrimination. To be more specific, racism, a word that we don't like to hear in hearings like this, institutionalized racism. With this understanding, those of you who may know, are you familiar with something called testing such that you can ascertain whether or not discrimination exists? If you are familiar with testing, would you kindly extend a hand into the air? All but one person, I believe. If you are not familiar with it, would you kindly extend your hand? Okay, one person. That is Mr. Griffith. Is that correct? Is that your name, sir? Mr. Griffith. That is correct. Mr. Green. Okay, not familiar with testing. Those of you who are familiar with testing, is testing a valuable tool in determining whether or not invidious discrimination exists? If you believe that it is, extend your hand. All have extended hands. Let the record reflect such. Now, given that testing is a valuable tool, would testing be a valuable tool in ascertaining whether or not invidious discrimination exists in lending by using testing, having persons go into lending institutions, banks and credit unions, and test them to see if they are engaging in invidious discrimination? Do you think this is a tool that can be useful to help us ascertain whether or not invidious discrimination exists in lending? If so, raise your hand. All have raised their hands who are familiar with testing. Let the record so reflect. Finally, on this question, I have a bill, H.R. 166, the Fair Lending for All Act. This bill would establish criminal penalties for invidious discrimination and would allow testing to determine whether it exists. I think that it is time for us to move now a quantum leap forward. We have talked about this for years, how this discrimination exists in lending but now we can do something about it. We may have a Congress that will act. If you think it would be beneficial to have this sort of testing and penalize persons for invidious discrimination, which is harmful discrimination, raise your hand please. All who agree that testing is helpful have raised their hands. Moving to the next bill, H.R. 123, you have talked about credit. This bill would allow additional credit scoring, a pilot program such that people who pay their light bills, their gas bills, their water bills, their phone bills, and utilities--these things could be scored in an automated fashion. This would help the people with the thin files that you have talked about. This would give people an opportunity who are paying rent to possibly buy a home for less than they are spending on rent. If you believe in scoring light, gas, water, phone, and cable as additional scoring, not as a substitute for current scoring but in addition to it, kindly raise your hand. Okay. Mr. Griffith, you don't think that that would be beneficial I take it? You didn't raise your hand. Is that correct? Mr. Griffith. It is a bit nuanced, but I don't believe that it should be forced congressionally. Mr. Green. You don't think it should be forced. Mr. Griffith. Correct. Mr. Green. I see. Well, you and I-- Chairman Clay. The gentleman from Texas-- Mr. Green. We have a difference in opinion. Chairman Clay. I am going to ask you to wrap up. Mr. Green. Yes, sir. I will. I want to thank the panel. All but Mr. Griffith indicated that this would be beneficial. With this said, thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman. I will yield back the balance of my time and I ask unanimous consent that H.R. 123 and H.R. 148 be made a part of the record. Chairman Clay. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. Green. Thank you. Chairman Clay. The gentlewoman from New York, Ms. Velazquez, is recognized for 5 minutes. Ms. Velazquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me thank you and the ranking member for holding this important hearing. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank the distinguished panel. Ms. Bailey, earlier this year I introduced H.R. 963, the Home Loan Quality Transparency Act of 2019, which reinstates Dodd-Frank's expanded HMDA reporting requirements that were stripped out of law last year as part of the passage of S. 2155. Senator Cortez Masto has introduced companion legislation in the Senate. Can you talk about the importance of these expanded reporting requirements and how, without them, finding and prosecuting mortgage lenders and financial institutions for discriminatory lending practices will be far less effective? Ms. Bailey. Yes, thank you so much for the question. The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data has brought a lot of transparency into the marketplace. Because of HMDA data, every year we know which lenders are serving which borrowers. So we know that conventional lenders are not serving consumers of color and the service that they are provided is very minimal in comparison to the more than 70 percent of mortgages that they are giving to white homeowners. The rollback took away that transparency that we need. We need the data. Part of the challenge that we have in the consumer advocacy and fair lending space is oftentimes we don't have the data, and that is one of the important things that HMDA has provided. And your legislation gives us the tools that we need to really strengthen and get back that data that is really foundational for consumers. And then in terms of compliance, because I know a lot of what we heard during S. 2155, a lot of smaller lenders were saying that they were having difficulty with compliance, we felt like a lot of larger banks were really hiding behind those smaller lenders. We do understand the burdens of complying with our laws and regulations. My organization is part of a small credit union administration organization in the country so we understand compliance costs. But for years, banks have consistently been able to comply with our nation's fair lending laws and do it in a way that has really allowed us to give credit to consumers. So your bill takes us back where we need to go. Ms. Velazquez. Thank you. Ms. Bailey, last week the CFPB issued a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding changes to HMDA's reporting requirements as required by the passage of S. 2155. Can you explain any concerns you have with the CFPB's notice of proposed rulemaking? Ms. Bailey. Yes. We are concerned that they have put out this idea that we can either increase or decrease the thresholds, and it is around 50 closed-end mortgages. Ms. Velazquez. Yes. Ms. Bailey. So it is, once again, going back and undoing the transparency opportunities that we need HMDA to continue to provide. Ms. Velazquez. Thank you. Ms. Poole, in your testimony you state the homeownership rate for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans remains at an unacceptably lower rate than that of white non- Hispanic Americans. I agree. What is the National Association of REALTORS doing to address discrimination in housing? Ms. Poole. I am glad that you asked that question because we are an organization which is evolving and moving forward, not revolving and staying in the past. We are intentionally moving forward with programs to help our REALTOR members stay current on fair housing, to reduce any discrimination policies that might be happening locally for them. We are helping local and State associations to provide programs at no cost to them that they can filter down to their members. We are working with a multicultural leadership across the country, and some are represented here today, and trying to find ways that we can work together to reduce a lot of the discriminatory practices that occur. Because in some cases we hear from each other some practices that we don't even know about. We kind of thought that we were a solo and come to find out that individually, we are together. So we are working together to try to move our agenda forward and we are progressive in doing so. Ms. Velazquez. Thank you. I yield back. Chairman Clay. The gentlewoman from New York yields back. I now recognize the gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Cleaver, who is also the Chair of our Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy. He is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. Cleaver. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I may not take up the entire 5 minutes. Thank you for calling this hearing. Mr. Griffith, I am not sure, I may have misunderstood you. Do you believe that there is such a thing as racial discrimination in housing? Mr. Griffith. Racial discrimination does occur. And when that does occur, the people perpetrating that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Mr. Cleaver. Well, the only reason I am bringing this up is because Mr. Green raised four issues and your hand was the only one that didn't raise. I think one of them was about discrimination. And so I am a little, more than a little, concerned. I am still, even with your answer I am not sure I understand what you are suggesting? Mr. Griffith. Oh, yes, and thank you for the opportunity to clarify that. I was unfamiliar with the details regarding testing for discrimination, the random testing of entering institutions to actually determine whether or not the discrimination is occurring. That is something that I am not actually fully apprised on and that is why my hand was not raised for that question, simply because I am not familiar with that practice in determining whether or not discrimination is occurring. Mr. Cleaver. Well, what practices are you familiar with? Mr. Griffith. That I am not aware of the different mechanisms in which people randomly enter in order to determine. I am just not aware of that. I am aware, of course, of being able to report to the FHA through our civil system when discrimination is occurring. I think, of course, that is very helpful that we have that opportunity. Mr. Cleaver. And I am still getting a headache. Ms. Bailey, will you-- Ms. Bailey. Yes, thank you for this opportunity. I want to highlight a report that the National Fair Housing Alliance did recently. They conducted an in-depth investigation on how consumers are treated when they shop for auto loans, so I want to-- Mr. Cleaver. I will yield. Ms. Bailey. --talk about it in the auto lending context. Mr. Green held a hearing last week on auto lending discrimination. The National Fair Housing Alliance found in that testing case, that in 62.5 percent of the cases, consumers of color received unfavorable treatment and more costly price options than the less-qualified white counterparts. So if you were white and your credit wasn't as good, you received better credit. I would really refer our co-panelist to that study. We know that discrimination is real and ongoing. Mr. Cleaver. Yes. We always have a problem in solving a problem. If you don't think you can get cancer from cigarettes, there is no point in trying to stop people from smoking. If you don't think there is discrimination, there is no point in trying to stop people from discriminating. And obviously, it is massive. I would like to yield the balance of my time to Ms. Tlaib of Michigan. Chairman Clay. The gentlewoman from Michigan is recognized. Ms. Tlaib. Thank you so much, and I wanted to actually allow Mr. Nery to finish. We were both very eager to hear what you have to say about land contracts. But before I do that, I do want the record to note that between the 1930s and the 1960s, contracts were used to redline and prevent minorities from being homeowners. As you all know, 50 years later, we still allow for the land contract system to exist to hurt communities of color. And so it is really important that we allow it to happen but with safeguards. And so, Mr. Nery, we are very curious about your response of, we know and I think we want access, because access is key. Mr. Nery. Absolutely. Ms. Tlaib. But this seems to be a predatory process, a redlining process that hurts predominantly blacks-- Mr. Nery. I would-- Ms. Tlaib. --in our country. Mr. Nery. --wholeheartedly agree. I was just expressing as an attorney, that it surprised me because when I am involved, I make sure that those issues that we are concerned about don't occur. But I didn't imagine, I didn't think about in the majority of transactions people are obtaining land contracts consumer-to-consumer without having any of those protectionary measures. I would say NAREB completely and wholeheartedly agrees that there has to be some uniformity. There has to be some standard to it because you have to, at a minimum, make sure that you have some sort of a memorandum of agreement that identifies that this contract is there. You want to make sure that you have title and-- Ms. Tlaib. Oh, I know. Mr. Nery. --that you can ensure that all of those protectionary measures are there for the consumers. You don't want someone to inherit any kind of liens or foreclosure or any kind of debts or other mortgages that exist. So absolutely, I think there has to be a standard that is applied across the country for consumers to be protected because you have to make sure that although in some cases this may be the only option that people have for financing, you have to make sure that they are protected. Ms. Tlaib. Thank you. Lastly, Ms. Bailey, you said something really shocking and profound. I lost more black homeownership in the State of Michigan than anywhere in the country. But you said black homeownership is at the same rate today that it was in 1968. What is the rate now, since 1968 to 2019, the same rate? Ms. Bailey. Indeed, it is. Today, it is at 41.4 percent. And it is important to really help us understand, we had progress after the Fair Housing Act, however, the market shifted. Reverend Jackson says that when we get in the game and the rules are clear and the referees are fair, we win. Black and Latino families have never been in a mortgage market that operated in that way. Instead, we have had dual systems where we are tracked to dangerous and risky mortgages and other financial services products that stop our ability to build wealth over time and pass on to future generations. Each of our generations continually have to start over again as opposed to building on legacies of families' opportunity. Chairman Clay. The gentlewoman's time has expired. Did the gentleman from Florida have something to add? Mr. Lawson. Yes. Ms. Bailey, I just want to say you made reference to Rosewood? Ms. Bailey. Yes. Mr. Lawson. And the reason why I'm interested is that I am the one who did a bill in Florida. Ms. Bailey. Yes. Mr. Lawson. And that was in 1923 when African Americans had homes and all that kind of stuff before the massacre and everything took place, but it was interesting that you mentioned Rosewood. It just stimulated me when you mentioned something about it. Ms. Bailey. And if I may? People keep asking, why do we look back? Why do we look at yesterday? The only way we are going to learn the lessons of the past is by understanding what the facts present. And we have a chance today to make sure we do not pass on to our children the burdens of discrimination. Chairman Clay. The gentleman is welcome. And I would like to thank our witnesses for their testimony today, as well as say that I am encouraged by the thoughtful questions and answers to this intractable issue of barriers to minority homeownership. But I am confident after hearing your testimony and your responses that we can find solutions to this issue. The Chair notes that some Members may have additional questions for this panel, which they may wish to submit in writing. Without objection, the hearing record will remain open for 5 legislative days for Members to submit written questions to these witnesses and to place their responses in the record. Also, without objection, Members will have 5 legislative days to submit extraneous materials to the Chair for inclusion in the record. And, thank you all. This hearing is adjourned. [Whereupon, at 12:17 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.] A P P E N D I X May 8, 2019 [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]