Simpson: Congress can help credit unions tackle housing challenges
Housing is a financial challenge faced by millions, and it’s a very personal one, America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Scott Simpson wrote in a Tyfone op-ed Wednesday. Rising home costs may be putting the dream of homeownership far away for many people, but credit unions exist to serve people in exactly that position.
“The communities that need affordable housing the most are often the same communities that lack access to member-owned, community-rooted lenders,” he wrote. “More credit unions means more institutions willing to sit across the table from a borrower with a thin credit file, a complicated employment history, or a modest down payment. It means more competition for mortgage business in places where borrowers currently have few options. It means more lenders with a genuine stake in the neighborhood doing well. It means the path to economic freedom is an option for every single American family.”
NCUA’s analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data shows credit unions outperformed other banking institutions in the share of mortgage loans originated to low-income borrowers.
Simpson urges Congress to support bipartisan housing legislation that includes credit union-backed provisions to:
- Allow credit union boards to meet a minimum of six times per year, rather than the currently required 12 (Credit Union Board Modernization Act (H.R. 975));
- Empower minority depository institution (MDI) credit unions and other smaller credit unions to collaborate with larger credit unions in mentorship efforts (Advancing the Mentor-Protégé Program for Small Financial Institutions (H.R. 3709)); and
- Promote the formation of de novo credit unions (American Access to Banking Act (H.R. 4544)).
“Cooperative finance goes hand in hand with access to affordable housing,” Simpson wrote. “Congress is primed to strengthen that connection at a critical time. All they must do is act.”
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