FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 24, 2024
Contact: Austin Cummings, Phone: 216-306-2542, Email: acummings@thehousingcenter.org
Cleveland, OH – Today, The Fair Housing Center released a first-of-its-kind report examining access to home improvement loans in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Using Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, we examine individual and neighborhood-level outcomes for home improvement loans between 2019 and 2022. During a time of unprecedented spending on home repair and improvement nationally, low- and- moderate-income homeowners and Black homeowners in Cuyahoga County experienced significant barriers in accessing home improvement loans from lending institutions compared to white and upper- and middle-income homeowners. The findings suggest institutional racism in the Cuyahoga County home improvement lending market undermines Black homeowners’ ability to experience the same degree of benefits from homeownership as white homeowners.
Other key findings from the report:
- 91.7% of all home improvement loan dollars went to borrowers living in white-majority communities.
- Borrowers living in upper-and middle-income neighborhoods received 87.4% of all home improvement loan dollars.
- White borrowers received 77.6% of all home improvement dollars, while Black borrowers only received 5.5% of all home improvement dollars.
- Home improvement loan origination rates for white applicants were approximately 2 times higher than for Black applicants.
- Home improvement loan denial rates were 1.9 times higher for Black applicants than white applicants.
- Racial disparities in loan outcomes persist across every income category.
Austin Cummings, Senior Research Associate noted “The unequal, racialized geography of home quality, home value, and neighborhood stability in Cuyahoga County, is rooted in the history of redlining, segregation, discrimination, and predatory lending. Moreover, the uneven distribution and access to home improvement loans for Black homeowners and in Black and Brown neighborhoods perpetuate longstanding economic and health disparities between white and Black residents.” Overall, Black homeowners and those in Black neighborhoods are systemically being denied opportunities to access home improvement loans and accrue the same benefits of homeownership as their white peers. To address the disparities highlighted in this report, we must expand access to credit and financial resources for home repairs, increase oversight of lending institutions and banks, and identify and hold accountable lenders failing to meet their fair lending obligations.
This report was funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The findings of this work are dedicated to the public. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in this publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the view of the Federal Government.
The Fair Housing Center is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and expand fair housing rights, eliminate housing discrimination, and promote integrated communities.
The report is available for free download on The Fair Housing Center’s website at: https://www.thehousingcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/508_Retrofitting-Racial-Disparites_ADA.pdf
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