From: Wells Lawson [mailto:wellslawson@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 2:21 PM
To: Comments
Subject: Community Reinvestment -- RIN 3064-AC50
I am writing to urge you to retain the Community Reinvestment Act as is. In
a recent meeting with a major non-profit developer in California, I was told
by this organization's head that the CRA has been the single greatest policy
influence fostering the necessary collaboration between the private
financial institutions and builders of affordable housing. CRA improves the
overall efficacy on the public and private sectors to efficiently deliver
investment to lower income neighborhoods -- a strategy which not only
improves the lives of people living in these neighborhoods, but which has
also been shown to improve regional (and national) competitiveness. By
limiting the CRA requirements of smaller institutions you create
opporutnities for discrimination, but more importantly reduce the efficacy
of a system that has been integral to delivering affordable housing to
millions of Americans.
Thank you,
Wells Lawson
San Francisco, California
