On Thursday, June 28th, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) President Mike Calhoun testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for a hearing entitled "Principles of Housing Finance Reform." In his written testimony, he stated that the "goal must be to ensure that the full universe of credit worthy borrowers – regardless of where they live, including in rural areas, or who they are – have access to the credit they need to be able to secure a mortgage so that they can build their American dreams. The system must also continue to offer equal access for lenders of every size, taking special care to serve community banks and credit unions. Additional changes to the system must factor in existing progress made by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 along with the new mortgage protections created by Dodd-Frank and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Further, it is important to remember that radical changes to housing finance could provoke unanticipated harms — some suggested changes could create heightened systemic risks, adversely impact community lenders and make housing credit unnecessarily expensive and restricted." Download the full testimony above.
