This approach would help eliminate uncertainty and could encourage more capital for affordable housing, community facilities, and economic development activities in underserved areas. Moreover, a broader assessment area for community development activities could help address the concentration of investment dollars in metropolitan areas where several banks may have branches, while other smaller metropolitan and rural areas remain chronically underserved.
My recent visit to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota brought home the importance of addressing the problem of credit hot spots and deserts that result from the CRA’s current assessment area definition. I met with the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation and viewed their impressive 34-acre mixed-use project to create a new commercial center for the reservation.