Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Sociology, Urban Studies, 1205 Urban and Regional Planning, 1604 Human Geography, 1605 Policy and Administration, 4404 Development studies, 4406 Human geography, 4410 Sociology

Abstract:

t has become common practice—and in particular, but not exclusively, in conservative media—to blame the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 for the U.S. subprime mortgage and foreclosure crisis that triggered the global financial crisis. It is argued that the CRA forced lenders to give mortgage loans to high-risk borrowers. This is nonsense for at least five reasons.