Fair Housing Update: January 2005

WA State FAIR HOUSING UPDATE: January 2005

Training Focuses on Fair Housing and Mortgage Lending
By the Seattle Office for Civil Rights

Real estate professionals and nonprofit housing advocates discussed fair housing issues in mortgage lending at a Fair Housing Training Seminar on November 30, 2004, sponsored by the Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR).

The training included the results of a recent analysis by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) of Seattle-King County mortgage loan data. SOCR contracted with NFHA to analyze Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for potential patterns of racial discrimination in mortgage lending within the Greater Seattle area. This marked the first time in approximately the last ten years that anyone had taken a close look at mortgage-lending patterns in the Seattle area.

The NFHA report compared the types of mortgage loans offered to Puget Sound area residents of different races and ethnicities. The analysis showed clear patterns of disparity based on race/ethnicity both in home purchase and refinancing. Patterns of disparity occur in areas such as:

Percentage of home loans approved for different racial/ethnic groups;
Rejection rates for home loans different racial/ethnic groups, regardless of income level;
Ratio of FHA loans to conventional loans among different racial/ethnic groups;
Percentage of different racial/ethnic groups who receive sub-prime mortgage loans.

Participants at the training agreed to work together on fair housing and mortgage lending in 2005. SOCR and the regional fair housing partners plan to publicize detailed results of the study later this spring, as well as to conduct further outreach and training to the real estate and mortgage-lending communities.

Have a question about fair housing in Seattle? Call the Seattle Office for Civil Rights at 206-684-4500 (TTY 206-684-4503), or find SOCR on the Web at www.seattle.gov/civilrights.

NFHA also arranged to conduct "paired tests" of area banks/mortgage lenders to learn possible discriminatory practices and procedures.

Twenty paired-tests of mortgage lenders at the pre-application stage showed evidence of possible discriminatory practices, though it did not rise to the level of clear and pervasive discrimination.

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Updated: Feb. 7, 2005

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