Since its inception in 2009, the St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance (SLEHCRA) has worked to increase investment in low- and moderate-income communities, regardless of race, and in minority communities, regardless of income, by ensuring that banks are meeting their obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and fair lending laws. In practice, this work involves engaging in the CRA process to hold banks and regulators accountable, developing partnerships to help achieve the goals of outstanding performance in the community, and advocating for increased financial services that meet the needs of underserved communities.
This report is intended to capture changes that increase the availability of mainstream financial services and products to neighborhoods and groups of people historically excluded from banks. Findings were gathered from a survey of 23 banks that operate in the St. Louis metropolitan area on what changes have been made since 2012.