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 ↗

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These trends in application volume by income are unsurprising given that applicants would likely need higher
earnings to afford to purchase a home in Arlington. These trends also underscore the high barrier of entry to
purchase a home in town. It is notable that the share of total applicants in the lower-income category for the
comparison region (16%) is double that for Arlington (8%), meaning that lower-income residents are half as
likely to seek housing in Arlington. This again highlights the difficulty that lower-income residents face in accessing
housing in town. While income is not a protected class, due to the strong relationship between income and many
protected classes it is an important component of understanding the extent to which protected classes can access
housing in town.

Denial Rate
Home mortgage applications are either approved and the loan is “originated” (meaning that they lead to the
applicant obtaining a mortgage), or the application is denied. Understanding the origination and denial rates
for protected classes contributes to an understanding of whether lending discrimination may be occurring.
Of the 3,170 applications for loans on homes located in Arlington, around 95.2% (3,010) led to a loan
origination and around 4.8% (150) led to a loan denial. As expected, denial rates were higher for lower-income
applicants (12.4%). Moderate-income applicants were denied around 5.7% of the time, and high-income
applicants were denied around 3.6% of the time. Unsurprisingly, denial rates decreased as income increased.

Table 18: Application Volume and Denial Rate in Arlington and the Comparison Region (HMDA, 2013-2017)