Getting a home loan if you are a person of color or live in predominately minority neighborhoods continues to be a challenge in Rochester and elsewhere.
A state report out Thursday looked at mortgage lending in Rochester, Syracuse and Long Island. It highlighted the disparities by lender and geographically — which in Rochester was evident in neighborhoods to the north and south of downtown.
Investigators found loan approval rates for people of color were well below community averages in each metro area. And when comparing the size of the local minority population to the share of approved mortgages? The largest gap was in Rochester.
People of color make up 24% of Greater Rochester’s population. But the report found they received only 11% of approved mortgages.
Advantage Federal Credit Union scored best overall when it came to lending to people of color and to borrowers in predominately minority neighborhoods. Community Bank scored lowest.
This was the Department of Financial Services’ second report looking into possible redlining across the state. Redlining refers to illegal housing discrimination, be it refusing to lend to certain people or in certain neighborhoods, or imposing more onerous terms based on race or ethnicity.
The first report, released last year, found disparities in Buffalo, and an increasing role of nonbank mortgage lenders. That prompted changes in state law aimed at closing the gap.
A message left for Community Bank was not immediately returned.
