In 1977, Congress passed the CRA to address the credit needs of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. With the passage of the CRA, Congress aimed to reverse the urban disinvestment from years of government policies and market actions that deprived lower-income areas of credit by redlining—using red-inked lines to set apart neighborhoods that were deemed too risky. The CRA is unique in important ways.
Unlike previous government efforts to address the needs of lower-income areas, the CRA puts decisionmaking about a community’s needs and priorities in the hands of local actors.