The Future of the Community Reinvestment Act

The symposium highlighted the need to modernize the CRA to reflect the evolving banking environment while maintaining its core mission of promoting financial inclusion. Discussions emphasized expanding CRA assessments to include online and non-bank lenders, improving data collection for better evaluation, and ensuring CRA activities are aligned with the needs of LMI communities. These reforms are crucial for the CRA to continue effectively supporting community development and economic equity in the 21st century. The resulting papers from the conference are available as working papers on the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Penn IUR website. They were also published as a special volume of Housing Policy Debate, co-edited by Lei Ding and Susan Wachter, that addresses issues surrounding the modernization of the CRA.