CRA, Planners, and Neighborhood Development

Three years ago, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) was enacted as Title VIII of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1977 (Public Law 95"128). The Act requires financial institutions to define their local service area, and to detail the services they are providing for that area. Neighborhood organizations, fighting for years to end redlining and credit discrimination in their neighborhoods, saw the act as a great victory. Lenders viewed the law as an anathema, and tantamount to "credit allocation"; they claimed the next step would be for the federal government to require them to make imprudent loans. This article examines the potential of CRA as a tool for neighborhood revitalization, and the role for local planners in effectively using that tool to encourage reinvestment in lower-income neighborhoods