The Securities and Exchange Commission votes unanimously to allow the five largest investment banks to dramatically increase their leverage ratios, removing a 1970s-era rule that limited debt to 12 times capital. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns …
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)William DonaldsonGoldman SachsMorgan StanleyMerrill Lynch+2 moreregulatory-capturehousing-policyleverageinvestment-bankshousing
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, led by Comptroller John Hawke Jr, issues a preemption determination blocking enforcement of the Georgia Fair Lending Act against national banks, marking a turning point in federal regulators’ campaign to shield predatory lenders from state …
Office of the Comptroller of the CurrencyJohn Hawke JrGeorgia State LegislatureNational City BankAmerican Bankers Associationregulatory-capturepredatory-lendingpreemptionhousing-policyhousing
Subprime mortgage lending reaches $160 billion annually by 2000, a tenfold increase from 1993, as predatory lenders systematically target minority communities with high-cost loans. Rather than expanding homeownership, research shows that subprime lending at this scale actually causes net losses in …
Household Finance CorporationAssociates First CapitalCitigroupAmeriquestNational Association of Mortgage Brokerspredatory-lendinghousing-policyracial-discriminationsubprime-mortgageshousing
President Clinton signs the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act, removing Depression-era restrictions that prevented banks from operating across state lines. The law enables massive consolidation in the banking industry, with the number of commercial banks declining from over …
President Bill ClintonSenator Donald RiegleRepresentative Stephen NealAmerican Bankers AssociationNationsBank+1 morebanking-deregulationhousing-policyconsolidationregulatory-capturehousing
Congress begins investigating whether HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce engaged in mismanagement and abuse of resources during his eight-year tenure under Reagan, uncovering that the department became a center of influence peddling and favoritism toward Pierce’s friends and political allies. During …
Samuel PierceDeborah Gore DeanJames WattThomas DemeryU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionhousing-policyrevolving-door
President Carter signs the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), requiring banks to meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods previously redlined by lenders. The law responds to decades of documented discriminatory lending that drained deposits …
President Jimmy CarterSenator William ProxmireAmerican Bankers AssociationFederal ReserveFDIC+1 moreregulatory-responsehousing-policybanking-regulationcivil-rightshousing
The Supreme Court rules in Hills v. Gautreaux that metropolitan-wide remedies are permissible for housing discrimination, distinguishing the case from its Milliken v. Bradley school desegregation decision that limited remedies to municipal boundaries. Justice Potter Stewart’s opinion finds …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice Potter StewartU.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentChicago Housing AuthorityLeadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communitiesinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policylegal-resistance
Congress passes two major housing consumer protection laws in 1974: the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) prohibiting discrimination in lending based on sex and marital status (race added in 1976), and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) requiring disclosure of closing costs. …
U.S. CongressPresident Gerald FordAmerican Bankers AssociationMortgage Bankers AssociationFederal Reservefair-lendingconsumer-protectionhousing-policyindustry-lobbyinghousing
Court-ordered school desegregation begins in Boston amid massive white violence and resistance, shattering illusions that Northern cities differ from Southern segregation. Following Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr.’s June 1974 ruling in Morgan v. Hennigan that Boston School Committee …
Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr.Louise Day HicksRestore Our Alienated RightsBoston School Committeeinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policyeducation-policy
On July 25, 1974, the Supreme Court issued its 5-4 ruling in Milliken v. Bradley, effectively ending meaningful school desegregation efforts across metropolitan America by prohibiting cross-district busing remedies to address urban-suburban segregation. The decision exempted wealthy white suburbs …
Chief Justice Warren BurgerJustice Thurgood MarshallU.S. Supreme CourtNAACP Legal Defense FundDetroit Public Schoolseducationsupreme-courtsegregationhousing-policyjudicial-capture+2 more
The Supreme Court issues a 7-2 decision in Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., holding that Congress can regulate private property sales to prevent racial discrimination under the Thirteenth Amendment’s power to eliminate “badges and incidents of slavery.” The case centers on Joseph Lee …
U.S. Supreme CourtJoseph Lee JonesAlfred H. Mayer Companyinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policylegal-resistance
Dorothy Gautreaux, a community organizer and resident of the Altgeld Gardens public housing project on Chicago’s South Side, becomes lead plaintiff in a landmark class-action lawsuit filed by six Black tenants with help from the American Civil Liberties Union. The suit alleges that the Chicago …
Dorothy GautreauxChicago Housing AuthorityAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policylegal-resistance
President Johnson signs legislation creating the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a Cabinet-level agency, consolidating federal housing programs under one roof. Robert C. Weaver becomes the first HUD Secretary and the first African American Cabinet member. However, HUD inherits …
President Lyndon B. JohnsonRobert C. WeaverNational Association of Home BuildersNational Association of Real Estate Boardshousing-policyinstitutional-capturecivil-rightshousing
On August 2, 1954, President Eisenhower signed the Housing Act of 1954, dramatically expanding the urban renewal program that had begun with the 1949 Housing Act. The law introduced the “workable program” requirement for federal funds, mandated comprehensive planning, and provided new …
Dwight D. EisenhowerU.S. CongressUrban Renewal AdministrationReal estate industryRobert Mosesinstitutional-racismurban-renewalhousing-policydisplacementcorporate-interests
President Truman signs the Housing Act of 1949, establishing the Title I Urban Renewal Program that provides federal grants to local governments for slum clearance and redevelopment. While the act sets a goal of ensuring “a suitable home and decent living environment for all Americans,” …
U.S. CongressPresident Harry TrumanLocal Redevelopment Agenciesinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policyeconomic-strategy
The Supreme Court issues a unanimous 6-0 decision in Shelley v. Kraemer, holding that racially restrictive housing covenants cannot be judicially enforced without violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case arises when Louis Kraemer sues to prevent the Shelley family, …
U.S. Supreme CourtChief Justice Fred VinsonNAACP Legal Defense Fundinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policylegal-resistance
Levittown, regarded as America’s first modern planned suburb, opens on Long Island to accommodate returning World War II veterans with “Clause 25” in housing agreements explicitly forbidding homes “from being used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian …
William LevittLevitt & SonsFederal Housing AdministrationVeterans Administrationinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policysystematic-corruption
President Roosevelt signs the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill) on June 22, 1944, creating transformative benefits for veterans including education, housing, and unemployment assistance. However, Southern Democrats, led by Mississippi Representative John Rankin, ensure the bill’s …
Franklin D. RooseveltCongressJohn RankinVeterans AdministrationAmerican Legionracial-discriminationwealth-inequalityhousing-policyeducation-policyfederalism-exploitation
The Federal Housing Administration publishes its Underwriting Manual, which establishes formal mortgage lending requirements that institutionalize racism and segregation within the housing industry. The manual emphasizes the negative impact of “infiltration of inharmonious racial groups” …
Federal Housing AdministrationU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policysystematic-corruption
The National Housing Act creates the Federal Housing Administration, which immediately implements systematic racial discrimination through mortgage underwriting guidelines. From its first operations in 1934, FHA staff conclude that no loan could be economically sound if the property was located in a …
Federal Housing AdministrationFederal Home Loan Bank BoardU.S. Chamber of Commerceinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policysystematic-corruption
President Roosevelt signs the Home Owners’ Loan Act, creating the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) as an emergency response to the mortgage crisis of the Great Depression. Between 1933 and 1936, HOLC refinances approximately one million mortgages (one-tenth of all urban homes with …
Home Owners' Loan CorporationFranklin D. RooseveltFederal Home Loan Bank BoardReal estate appraisersinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policyeconomic-strategyhousing