What They're Saying: Banks, Housing Partners Respond to New CRA Impact Report Documenting $430 Billion in Private Investment
The Center for Affordable Housing Lending, the nonprofit policy research partner to the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders (NAAHL), last week released Incentive to Impact, a comprehensive analysis of how the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) leverages private investment to support affordable housing, homeownership, and small businesses across the United States. The report finds that in 2024 alone, CRA incentivized more than $430 billion in loans and investments in low- and moderate-income communities, nearly six times the combined federal budgets of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the USDA Rural Housing Service, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and the CDFI Fund.
Banks, industry leaders, and partners across the country are responding, sharing what CRA means for the communities they serve and the impact their investments have on communities with the support of the CRA framework.
“This report is a reminder of the banking sector’s substantial commitment to communities. With CRA, billions of dollars in private investments reached low-income families, small businesses and communities in just one year,” said Brandee McHale, Head of Community Investing and Development at Citi and President of the Citi Foundation. “At Citi, we have a long history of investing in the communities where we live and work, including through our CRA activities, and we are glad to support the Center for Affordable Housing Lending in documenting the impact of CRA at the national level.”
“This report shows that CRA works best when it acts as an engine for agile, market-driven capital deployment,” said Doug Schaeffer, Chief CRA Officer at Woodforest National Bank and NAAHL Board Chair. “Operating under our philosophy of customers first, community always, Woodforest focuses on meeting community needs at the ground level—often through high-count, small-dollar lending across a vast geographic footprint. Any future regulatory updates must remain flexible enough to evaluate banks based on their unique operating models rather than imposing rigid, one-size-fits-all metrics.”
“CRA is a critical component of our affordable housing ecosystem,” said Emily Cadik, Chief Executive Officer at the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition. “The data in this report underscores the importance of maintaining a robust CRA framework that continues to strongly incentivize investment in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit in order to increase our nation’s affordable housing supply.”
“Strong communities are built through sustained investment, partnership, and opportunity,” said Harry Cardillo, Head of Community Reinvestment and Community Partnerships at JPMorganChase. “This report highlights the meaningful impact that community development efforts can have in creating and supporting long-term growth. We are proud to work alongside organizations like the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders and fellow lenders investing in communities across the country.”
“This report provides a powerful reminder that the Community Reinvestment Act has been one of the nation's most effective tools for leveraging private capital to strengthen communities and expand access to affordable housing,” said Shaun Donovan, President and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners.“Incentive to Impact offers compelling evidence of the enduring value of these public-private partnerships and the critical role they continue to play in addressing America's housing challenges.”
“For more than two decades, the Community Reinvestment Act has helped drive banks to invest in the New Markets Tax Credit, and that private capital has delivered lasting impact in low-income communities nationwide,” said Merrill Hoopengardner, Executive Director of the New Markets Tax Credit Coalition. “Banks account for nearly all of annual NMTC equity.”
“This report dispels the myth that CRA is a story of big banks investing in big cities. For nearly half a century, CRA has helped banks of all sizes meet the small‑business, community‑development, and housing‑capital needs of rural America,” said David Lipsetz, President and CEO of the Housing Assistance Council (HAC). “HAC applauds the Center for Affordable Housing Lending for its groundbreaking analysis—which, like today’s CRA regulatory framework, captures both the quantitative and qualitative impact felt on Main Streets in small towns nationwide.”
“The Center for Affordable Housing Lending report illustrates the importance of CRA in driving crucial affordable housing and community development equity investing nationwide, serving urban, suburban and rural communities alike,” said Michael Novogradac, Managing Partner of Novogradac & Company, LLP. “Eighty percent of low-income housing tax credit and 98 percent of new market tax credit investment in 2024 came from CRA-motivated financial institutions, and banks with assets between $1.65 billion and $30 billion were particularly important for rural housing and community development investment.”
“The imperative for affordable housing has never been clearer in communities across the country,” said Asahi Pompey, Chair of the Urban Investment Group at Goldman Sachs. “Public-private partnerships are essential to meeting this challenge and must be innovative, responsive to community needs, and centered around the residents who live there. For 25 years, the Urban Investment Group has dedicated its efforts to exactly this work, bringing together capital and local partners to help create quality affordable homes for families.”
“The nation’s state housing finance agencies, which provide more than $55 billion in financing to serve more than 300,000 households every year, have long recognized the critical role the Community Reinvestment Act plays in focusing banks on the credit needs of all the communities they serve,” said Stockton Williams, Executive Director of the National Council of State Housing Agencies. “This report quantifies the CRA’s impact and underscores the importance of federal policies that ensure it continues.”
The full compilation of quotes can be found as a PDF here.
About the Incentive to Impact Report
Released July 24, 2026 by the Center for Affordable Housing Lending, the Incentive to Impact report is a comprehensive analysis of CRA’s impact in a single year. Key findings from 2024:
$430 billion in CRA-incentivized loans and investments, nearly six times the combined federal budgets of HUD, USDA Rural Housing, SBA, and CDFI Fund.
Nearly 504,000 CRA-qualifying mortgage loans totaling more than $100 billion, nearly 1 in 4 bank mortgages.
More than $152 billion in small business credit and $10 billion in small farm loans, comprising more than 55% of small business bank lending.
80% of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity and 98% of New Markets Tax Credit equity from CRA-incentivized investors.
Nearly $168 billion in community development loans and investments.
Banks under $30 billion in assets: $53.5 billion in community development loans, one-third of all CRA-qualifying community development lending.
Full report at: naahl.org/cra