Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)

Citation: Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)
Jurisdiction: Arlington (municipal)
Source: Official source
Original Source: https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/57214/637641171662530000 ↗

Related Parts of This Source

Full Text

1,707 chars

Table 8: Applicant Volume in Arlington by Income and Race/Ethnicity (HMDA, 2013-2017)

Native Pacific
Asian Black Latino White
American Islander

LOWEST-INCOME ($0 - $24,999)
LOWER-INCOME ($25,000 - $74,999) 41 3 6 3 152
MODERATE-INCOME ($75,000 -
4 170 6 13 527
$124,999)
HIGH-INCOME ($125,000 +) 4 265 14 34 2 1,333

TOTAL APPLICANTS 8 476 23 53 5 2,011
PERCENTAGE OF APPLICANTS 0% 18% 1% 2% 0% 78%

90
Arlington Fair Housing Action Plan

Table 9: Denial Rate in Arlington by Income and Race/Ethnicity (HMDA, 2013-2017)

Native Pacific
Asian Black Latino White
American Islander

LOWEST-INCOME ($0 - $24,999)
LOWER-INCOME ($25,000 - $74,999) 7% 33% 0% 0% 15%
MODERATE-INCOME ($75,000 -
$124,999) 25% 3% 0% 8% 7%
HIGH-INCOME ($125,000 +) 0% 5% 0% 9% 0% 3%

Assessment: Lesser mortgage application volume and (largely) greater denial rates for loan applicants of color
suggest a dynamic of exclusionary lending in Arlington and that mortgage lending is an impediment to fair
housing access. Lending discrimination and fair credit opportunities will need to be addressed. However, higher
approval rates for Black and Latino applicants should not be taken as an automatic improvement. The US lending
industry has a decades-long history of predatory loans approved for Black and Latino borrowers, including mass
predatory lending by major banks in Black and Latino communities in the run-up to the Great Recession of 2007-
2009. HMDA data offers no insight into the quality of loans issued to borrowers. Given the loan application and
denial rates by race and ethnicity, loan quality is not the primary fair housing concern in Arlington, but it should
be considered when working to ameliorate the disparities.