[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 9, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1179]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN J. LaFALCE

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 8, 1999

  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, the Community Reinvestment Act was created 
by the Congress in 1977 to combat discrimination by encouraging 
federally insured financial institutions to help meet the credit needs 
of the communities they serve. I am here today to report that the 
Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA, has been a tremendous success.
  CRA's success results from the effective partnerships of municipal 
leaders, local development advocacy organizations, and community-minded 
financial institutions. Working together, the CRA has proven that local 
investment is not only good for business, but critical to improving the 
quality of life for low and moderate income residents in the 
communities financial institutions serve.
  You will be hearing about other CRA success stories in the next few 
weeks. I want to applaud the financial services industry for their 
extraordinary record of meeting their CRA obligations--at present it is 
estimated that almost 98 percent of all financial institutions have 
achieved a satisfactory or better CRA compliance rating. In my own 
district, however, there are many instances of leadership. Today I 
focus on one of the CRA lending practices of KeyBank. KeyBank loans 
have led to the development of 138 units of low income senior housing, 
as well as permanent financing for a group home for the developmentally 
disabled. KeyBank participants in the Buffalo Neighborhood Housing 
Services Revolving Loan Fund, which enabled local Neighborhood Housing 
Service agencies to acquire and rehabilitate numerous vacant 
properties, and resell them to low and moderate income constituents in 
my district. CRA lending by KeyBank has also led to job growth. For 
example, KeyBank has worked with the Minority and Women owned loan 
program of Western New York to create pro-bono counseling and 
monitoring services to minority and women loan applicants during the 
pre-application and post-loan periods of a new business. In addition, 
CRA lending by KeyBank resulted in the construction and financing for a 
manufacturing facility which resulted in the retention of 50 jobs and 
the creation of an additional 50 jobs in Niagara County.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support the Community Reinvestment Act and 
the success it has achieved in combating discrimination. I applaud our 
financial institutions for their strong compliance record and welcome 
their continued success.

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