Fair housing is not a checkbox. It’s the heart of our industry

by Doreen Spagnuolo | Apr 23, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Fair housing is more than a legal obligation — it’s a reflection of who we are, both personally and professionally. It represents dignity, equality, and the fundamental right of every individual to live, grow, and thrive in the community of their choice.

Housing is not just about transactions — it’s about people, futures and the freedom to belong.

TAKE THE INMAN INTEL SURVEY FOR APRIL

Professionally, fair housing means conducting business with integrity and transparency. It requires real estate professionals to treat all clients equitably, regardless of their race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), familial status, disability, and all other protected characteristics.

Upholding fair housing laws isn’t optional; it protects our industry’s credibility, strengthens consumer trust and ensures the sustainability of the communities we serve.

At LIBOR, fair housing is a core value woven into everything we do. Our mission is rooted in ethical conduct, inclusive communities and consumer protection. We equip members with the tools and training to uphold fair housing every day — from mandatory continuing education and immersive bias awareness courses to real-time legal guidance and advocacy at every level of government.

As real estate professionals, we also must work to shift the culture. That means going beyond compliance. We lead by example, encouraging open conversations, supporting diversity in leadership, and promoting member participation in programs like NAR’s “Fairhaven” simulation program and “At Home With Diversity” certification.

Through our “Home for All of Us” campaign, we educate the public about housing discrimination and help consumers understand their rights.

Fair housing isn’t about checking a box. It’s about building communities rooted in fairness and a sense of belonging.

Why fair housing still matters

Some may wonder: Haven’t we already solved this? But fair housing is not a finished chapter — it’s a living issue that continues to demand attention and action. Disparities in homeownership rates persist, and new technologies, such as AI-driven marketing and digital screening tools, raise new concerns about unintentional bias.

The neighborhoods we live in significantly impact everything — access to education, healthcare, jobs and generational wealth. Fair housing laws protect a consumer’s right to pursue homeownership or rental opportunities without facing discrimination based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, family status or any other protected class.

These laws help ensure real estate professionals act in the best interests of all clients, with fairness and professionalism.

The ripple effect of inclusion

There is a story that perfectly illustrates the lasting impact of fair housing. In the 1930s, a Black couple in California, the Thompsons, purchased a home despite widespread discrimination. Years later, they sold it to a Chinese family, reportedly choosing them not because they offered the highest price but because they wanted to extend the same opportunity they had been given.

Decades later, the home sold for a multimillion-dollar figure. In gratitude, the Chinese family donated $5 million to a Black student resource center, honoring the original act of fairness that gave them their start. That’s what fair housing can do: Create a legacy of opportunity, bridge communities and empower families across generations.

Why this matters to professionals and consumers alike

For real estate professionals, fair housing is about more than ethics — it’s good business. It protects your license, your reputation and the integrity of your service. Leading with fairness and empathy builds credibility and trust in a diverse marketplace.

Consumers should care because fair housing shapes their ability to access opportunities that lead to stability and upward mobility. Behind the scenes, organizations like LIBOR are fighting every day to protect these rights, advocating for fair lending practices, zoning reforms and first-time homebuyer programs.

You focus on finding the right home. We focus on ensuring you have the right to do it — fairly, safely and confidently.

Progress and the path forward

There’s reason for hope. More professionals now view fair housing education as essential, not just a requirement. Many brokerages are investing in meaningful training that addresses real-world challenges, not just hypothetical scenarios. States are strengthening enforcement, adding protected classes and increasing resources for fair housing agencies.

We’re proud to be building intentional systems that make equity part of the industry standard. We advocate for legislation like the Transparency of Co-op bill, support local housing nonprofits, and provide monthly legal updates to our members. 

But challenges remain. Discrimination still happens — sometimes subtly, sometimes systemically. Too often, conversations about race and equity are avoided. Leadership doesn’t always reflect the communities we serve. Compliance varies from region to region.

True accountability requires not only internal policies but also external oversight, more vigorous enforcement and a commitment at every level.

What every professional can do

Change happens one conversation, one showing, one decision at a time. Every real estate professional can practice intentional awareness by avoiding assumptions, checking personal biases, and ensuring that every client is treated with respect and fairness.

Education and training are essential. They help professionals recognize the impact of historical housing discrimination, avoid exclusionary language, and make more informed, better decisions. At LIBOR, we ensure that fair housing is an integral part of our onboarding process, continuing education and everyday conversations.

We must also normalize this conversation. That means making fair housing a consistent part of events, programming and public outreach, not just once a year in April. We can collaborate with community partners, amplify diverse voices and ensure that fair housing is viewed not as a political issue but as a professional excellence.

What gives me hope is that the conversation has moved from the margins to the mainstream. We’re not just reacting to injustice anymore — we’re proactively building a better future. With stronger training, more innovative policies and deeper partnerships, we can ensure that every person has the chance to find a place they can truly call home, without fear, without discrimination and with full dignity.

Doreen Spagnuolo is the CEO of Long Island Board of Realtors. You can connect with Doreen on Instagram and LinkedIn.

This post was originally published on this site

In the face of bigotry and apathy, fair housing is even more essential

by Sean Frank | Apr 23, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

In modern times, many people don’t consider how real estate began in America. History tells us that land was taken from Native Americans by force and war. Many buildings, including some of the most iconic in the U.S., were built with slave labor.

America was founded on the principles of freedom, but also the suppression of minorities. This profound contradiction remains unresolved centuries later in a country that is deeply divided over the topic of diversity and equality.

TAKE THE INMAN INTEL SURVEY FOR APRIL

Science tells us we are all one human race despite skin-deep differences in appearance. Genetically, all humans are nearly identical, with equal intellectual and emotional capacities. Our lives should be valued equally. Yet, opportunities in life are unequal.

The bigotry and apathy in our country’s founding persist as systemic racism today. The need for fair housing and equality remains as strong as ever.

Historical racism in real estate 

United is our country’s namesake, but we are incredibly divided. Racism nearly destroyed America during the Civil War, and many would argue it is still eroding our country today.

Even after slavery was abolished in 1865 through a constitutional amendment, Black Americans were systematically oppressed. In 1926, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld racially restrictive covenants in property deeds, prohibiting sales or occupancy based on race, ethnicity or religion.

The court justified this as protecting “residential districts against deterioration of character.” This ruling stood until the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

Established in 1934, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) institutionalized redlining, a practice that designated minority neighborhoods as high risk for mortgage lending. The FHA’s Underwriting Manual explicitly recommended the “prohibition of the occupancy of properties except by the race for which they are intended.”

This led to the systematic denial of mortgages to Black Americans and other minorities, severely restricting their ability to purchase homes and build wealth. It also ensured neighborhood segregation for generations.

Even the National Association of Realtors (NAR) played a significant role in enforcing discriminatory housing practices. In 1924, NAR’s Code of Ethics stated that Realtors “should never be instrumental in introducing into a neighborhood … members of any race or nationality, or any individuals whose presence will clearly be detrimental to property values.” This clause remained until 1974.

Furthermore, NAR actively opposed the Fair Housing Act in 1968. NAR formally apologized less than five years ago, in November 2020. The apology came decades late and in the wrong century, evidence of how slowly progress is being made toward equality. 

Current bigotry in real estate

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was a landmark federal law prohibiting discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability and familial status. The laws changed, but it did not change people’s hearts.

The baby boomers who control U.S. politics today grew up in a segregated world and were taught discrimination by their parents and society. Fair housing matters, but it only works when people embrace it.

Minorities experience more housing discrimination and lower homeownership rates. It’s evidence that the legal protections aren’t working as intended — because many people are still racist and the United States was built for white men. 

Today, politicians avoid openly discriminating against protected classes like race, as doing so would be political suicide. Instead, they target other groups with fewer legal protections.

The LGBTQ+ community, for example, is a frequent target. The hatred directed at LGBTQ+ individuals in politics today mirrors the historical hatred toward racial minorities. Currently, there are no federal laws protecting against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and only 23 states have passed legal protections for both.

Hateful politicians are strategic about whom they hate publicly versus privately. Beware of any hateful politician if you aren’t in the majority — they might secretly hate you, too. 

Politicians also use coded language to alienate minority groups. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs have been a cornerstone of housing initiatives to help minorities overcome generational disadvantages caused by systemic racism. These programs are crucial to correcting the injustices baked into past and present legislation.

Anti-DEI ideology presumes that the system is not rigged for the majority and that minorities should not have any advantages — which is completely untrue. Even with DEI programs, minorities are still underserved and disadvantaged. Anti-DEI rhetoric is outright racism and an attempt to maintain power over minorities. 

Government agencies have focused heavily on DEI programs for years. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) have all allocated significant budgets toward eliminating housing discrimination and promoting minority homeownership.

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Black and Latino homeownership rates increased by 13 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, from 2019 to 2023, narrowing the homeownership gap. Now, HUD faces the challenge of cutting essential staff members and eliminating their positions because of the Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE. The Trump administration proposed significant staffing cuts to HUD, targeting employees involved in disaster recovery, rental subsidies, discrimination investigations and support for first-time homebuyers.

This proposal aimed to halve HUD’s workforce, eliminating 4,000 jobs and affecting more than a dozen programs, raising concerns among housing advocates about disruptions to HUD’s critical functions. It’s estimated that 77 percent of staff will be laid off at the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, which enforces the Fair Housing Act at the federal level.

Housing is only one component in the fight for equality. There are many other frontlines where minorities are being actively disadvantaged. Systemic discrimination persists in various forms, including school districting, gentrification, political gerrymandering, harsher criminal sentences and employment discrimination.

This doesn’t account for the fact that some people vocally harass minorities for no reason. While Black Americans often bear the brunt of bigotry, other groups also face targeted discrimination based on current events.

Today, transgender people are villainized; during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was Asians; after the Sept. 11 attacks, it was anyone of Middle Eastern descent. Hateful people will always find someone to hate. If you turn on the news, it’s apparent how much hate exists in America. 

The harsh reality

From its origins to modern times, bigotry has been ingrained in political discourse and American culture. If you don’t see the problem, it may be because you benefit from privilege, most likely as a white, heterosexual individual.

As we move into the future, it would be assumed that civic rights would prosper. Unfortunately, they are deteriorating.

The United States was recently put on a watchlist for declining civil liberties, alongside countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Serbia.

The problem of systemic racism in America is more significant than any of us individually, but with education and personal action, we can still take a personal stance against it.

• We can wholeheartedly embrace minorities on their real estate journey.
• We can vote to protect their interests.
• We can promise not to judge anyone for being different from us.
• We can embrace diversity because it offers more in life than if everyone were the same.

Let’s face the facts: Love feels better than hate. It’s time to embrace compassion because it’s better for us and others. 

America would not exist without the theft of land and the exploitation of minorities. The least we can do is show empathy toward those who have been disadvantaged for generations.

The last thing we should allow is to stand by and watch our government suppress, deny and oppress minority groups further.

This is not a political opinion but a call for love and justice. If Americans genuinely believe that “all men people are created equal,” we must actively accept and support each other to make it a reality.

Sean Frank is the founder and CEO of Mainframe Real Estate in Florida. Connect with him on Instagram and LinkedIn.

This post was originally published on this site

Give us your 1 big idea on how to improve fair housing: Pulse

by Inman | Apr 23, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Pulse is a recurring column where we ask for readers’ takes on varying topics in a weekly survey and report back with our findings.

Challenges to fair housing can come from all sides, from a lack of training to a lack of regulatory compliance to discriminatory personal views. It’s not just about where someone lives or the value of their property — fair housing has implications for education, health, upward mobility and building generational wealth.

As a Realtor, we know you’ve seen some things, and you’ve probably formed your own ideas, so tell us what one thing would instantly improve fair housing outcomes from your perspective. Do agents need more training? Do clients need yet another disclosure? Are fair housing challenges more systemic or more personal, and how can they be effectively addressed? Let us know below:

We’ll compile a list of the top responses and post them on Inman next Tuesday.

This post was originally published on this site

Turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes’: Negotiation techniques for experienced agents

by Mauricio Umansky | Apr 23, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

This post was originally published on this site

The ChatGPT prompt every agent needs (but 99% will never use)

by Drew Thompson | Apr 23, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

ChatGPT just dropped a game-changing update: It remembers everything about you.

That means it doesn’t just answer your questions anymore. It learns you — how you think, how you speak, what holds you back — and builds on that, session after session.

TAKE THE INMAN INTEL SURVEY FOR APRIL

And while most people are using it to write listings or plan vacations … I’m using it to change how I think, lead and operate. Every single day.

Because let’s face it: Most agents don’t have a lead-gen problem. They have a limiting belief problem.

But that doesn’t show up on your calendar. It shows up in subtle ways:

• You procrastinate on the one call that could change everything.
• You default to busy work when things feel emotionally risky.
• You play small in moments that beg for boldness.

You already know what to do. The real question is: Why aren’t you doing it?

What if AI could answer that?

Not with another content idea or social script, but with a mirror.

A brutally honest, pattern-recognizing, behavior-analyzing mirror that sees the real you — and won’t let you off the hook.

That’s what this prompt does. It turns ChatGPT into your AI Meta-Coach: Not a marketing assistant but a mindset assassin.

And here’s the cool part — I didn’t invent this idea out of thin air.

I saw a rough version of it buried in a random Reddit thread, and I thought, “This could be way more powerful.”

So I started tweaking it. Adding to it. Testing it.

And what came out is a self-coaching prompt that doesn’t just give feedback — it gives you back control.

If you’ve ever felt stuck, scattered, or self-sabotaging, this might be the most valuable use of ChatGPT you’ll ever find.

First, copy this prompt into ChatGPT

Just drop it in. No editing. No softening.

You are my AI Meta-Coach. Your role is to provide an unfiltered, objective perspective on my behaviors, beliefs and patterns, with the sole purpose of accelerating my personal and professional growth. I want you to be brutally honest — directness is far more valuable to me than politeness.

1. Identify five recurring patterns in how I think, speak, or act that may be limiting my potential. Base these observations on any past discussions or cues you’ve gathered about me.

For each pattern, provide:

• Context: Where it most often appears (topics, tone or specific behaviors).
• Underlying belief/emotion: Which belief, fear, or emotion might be driving it?
• Limitation: How this pattern might hold me back (professionally, relationally or personally).
• Challenge action: One practical, uncomfortable step I could take to test or break this pattern.

2. Brutal question: Pose exactly one uncomfortable, deeply honest question that no one else would dare to ask me, but that I need to answer.

3. 7-day self-recalibration exercise:

• Provide a day-by-day breakdown of actions, reflections or journaling prompts that will help me tackle these blind spots.
• Keep it specific and measurable: For each day, outline a short task, reflection or behavioral tweak.
• Make it challenging enough that it forces me to step out of my comfort zone.

Finally, do not sugarcoat or soften your observations. Offer evidence or reasoned arguments based on my previous statements or tendencies if needed. Your goal is accuracy and candor — so I can make real changes. Go all-in.

Why this works

Now, let’s break down why this works so well: 

Step 1: ChatGPT will expose your invisible patterns

You’ll get back five specific patterns.

Stuff like:

• “You tend to downplay your wins when talking to clients.”
• “You avoid follow-up calls after rejection-heavy weeks.”
• “You use perfectionism to mask fear of being judged.”

It’ll show you where it shows up, why it exists and how it sabotages your results.

But it doesn’t stop there.

ChatGPT gives you a challenge action for each one — a specific, uncomfortable step to break the cycle.

Think of it as exposure therapy, AI-style.

Step 2: Face the brutal question

You’ll get one question.

Just one.

But it will feel like a punch to the soul.

Because this is the question no one in your life is bold enough to ask — not your broker, not your coach, not your spouse.

Examples I’ve seen?

• “Who would you be if no one were watching?”
• “What’s the real payoff you get from staying stuck?”
• “What fear are you dressing up as strategy?”

This is the kind of inner work that creates outer breakthroughs.

Step 3: The 7-day recalibration

ChatGPT won’t just tell you what’s broken. It’ll coach you into momentum — one day at a time.

You’ll get:

• Day-by-day prompts
• Mini behavior shifts
• Journaling that reveals patterns
• One small stretch every day that rewires your habits

No fluff. No vague inspiration.

Just specific, measurable action — for seven days straight.

Here’s where it gets wildly powerful:

Because ChatGPT now remembers everything about you, you can treat this like a daily mindset mentor.

It knows:

• What patterns you’ve broken
• What you’re avoiding
• What you’re afraid to admit — even to yourself

You can literally say:

• “I’ve got a big presentation this week. What behavior traps should I watch for?”
• “I’m feeling stuck again — help me course correct.”

And it will coach you like someone who’s been with you through it all.

Use this every day. It’s the most consistent, context-aware mentor you’ll ever have.

How to use this (right now)

1. Paste the prompt into ChatGPT (use GPT-4 or Advanced Reasoning, if available).
2. Sit with the feedback. Don’t skim it. Let it sting.
3. Do the 7-day challenge. Commit. Even if it feels awkward. Especially then.
4. Bookmark it. Re-run the prompt every 30 days to stay sharp and self-aware.

You’ve tried the strategies. You’ve read the books. But you can’t out-market a mindset that’s quietly holding you back. And no one’s coming to call you out. Except this.

This one prompt might be the most honest voice in your business right now. Use it. Face it. Grow through it.

Then go become the agent — and the leader — you were meant to be.

Drew Thompson is the head of agent performance and head coach at Real. Connect with him on Instagram and LinkedIn.

This post was originally published on this site

Groups slam CFPB’s bid to undo fair lending settlement as ‘dangerous’

by Matt Carter | Apr 22, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

In April, we’ll go deep on money and finance for a special theme month, by talking to leaders about where the mortgage market is heading and how technology and business strategies are evolving to suit the needs of buyers now. Inman’s Best of Finance returns for 2025, celebrating the leaders in this space. And subscribe to Mortgage Brief for weekly updates all year long.

The Trump administration’s attempt to undo a settlement in a fair lending case that the government reached with a Chicago mortgage broker just days before the November election is an “unprecedented” request that would establish a “dangerous and destabilizing precedent” if granted, according to fair housing and consumer protection groups opposing the move in court.

Under new leadership since the election, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has dropped at least nine pending consumer lawsuits, and the Trump administration is also embroiled in a court battle over its plans to fire all but 200 of the consumer watchdog’s 1,700 employees and hand many of its duties back to states.

But in seeking to vacate a settlement it reached with Townstone Financial Inc. and its owner, Barry Sturner, last year, the CFPB’s new leadership has taken the remarkable step of trying to undo an enforcement action the bureau achieved after more than four years of litigation.

TAKE THE INMAN INTEL INDEX SURVEY FOR APRIL

The motivation for undoing the settlement is not new information about the law or facts, as the CFPB claims, but boils down to a policy disagreement, 14 nonprofit fair housing and consumer protection groups alleged in an April 4 amicus brief opposing the move.

The “unprecedented relief” sought by the CFPB “would invite a host of similar docket clogging motions at the beginning of each new presidential administration, undermining public confidence in the finality of judicial orders and wasting the courts’ and agencies’ time rehashing old cases instead of addressing current controversies,” the groups said. “The parties point to no other case where a court anywhere in the country vacated a final judgment because incoming agency leadership disagreed with the decision to litigate the case leading to that judgment.”

The groups — including the National Fair Housing Alliance, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Consumer Federation of America and the National Consumer Law Center — were granted standing to file the amicus brief after the CFPB essentially switched sides in the case against Townstone.

Case filed during Trump’s first term

The CFPB sued Townstone in July 2020 — the final year of the first Trump administration, when the bureau was led by Trump appointee Kathy Kraninger.

Townstone was accused of broadcasting statements on an AM radio show and podcast that effectively discouraged Black residents from applying for loans.

In a 2016 episode, for example, Sturner allegedly said that between Friday and Monday, it’s “hoodlum weekend” on the South Side of Chicago, and that police are “the only ones between that turning into a real war zone and keeping it where it’s kind of at.”

The CFPB alleged that Black applicants accounted for only 1.4 percent of the 2,700 mortgage requests fielded by the mortgage broker in the Chicago market from 2014 to 2017, compared to 9.8 percent of applications taken by its competitors.

After more than four years of litigation, Townstone settled the case in November, agreeing to pay a $105,000 fine without admitting to or denying the allegations against it.

The proposed settlement was submitted for court approval on Nov. 1 — four days before the 2024 presidential election — and approved by the court on Nov. 7, two days after Trump was elected to a second term.

After Townstone paid the fine, the CFPB and attorneys for Townstone filed a motion to vacate the judgment, seeking not only a refund for Townstone but to revoke requirements that the company (or its successors) implement additional policies, procedures, education and training of employees to prevent discrimination for five years.

In their March 26 motion to vacate the settlement, attorneys for the CFPB claimed they’d uncovered evidence that Townstone was targeted “based on the political views of its owner,” and that that CFPB lawyers “misled their superior” — suggesting that Kraninger may have decided to proceed with the case based on incomplete or inaccurate information.

The CFPB also found fault with its investigators’ use of audio mining software to search Townstone’s radio show and podcasts, identifying 16 minutes out of nearly 79 hours of radio content that formed the heart of the case.

“CFPB abused its power, used radical ‘equity’ arguments to tag Townstone as racist with zero evidence, and spent years persecuting and extorting them – all to further the goal of mandating DEI in lending via their regulation by enforcement tactics,” CFPB Acting Director Russ Vought said in a March 26 press release.

But searching hours of publicly available audio programming for key terms is “certainly a more efficient use of government resources than having investigators listen to every episode in real time,” fair housing and consumer protection groups said in opposing the CFPB’s motion to vacate the settlement.

The information that CFPB lawyers were accused of omitting from a memo to Kraninger concerned case law that the attorneys may not have considered relevant, the groups said.

No ruling on First Amendment issues

While the CFPB maintained that the speech in question was not protected by the First Amendment because it was advertising, neither the trial court nor the appeals court weighed in on the First Amendment issues in the case.

Not in dispute is that Townstone employees made six “racially charged statements,” and that the case weighed on whether any or all of them would have discouraged a “reasonable [Black] person from making or pursuing” a mortgage loan, the consumer groups said in their amicus brief.

There are only six circumstances in which courts can undo a final judgement, the groups said, including “a mistake,” “newly discovered evidence,” and “fraud … misrepresentation, or misconduct.”

The CFPB is seeking to overturn the judgment under a catch-all provision, they said: “Any other reason that justifies relief.”

In an April 15 response, lawyers for the CFPB and Townstone said the bureau moved to vacate the settlement “not because of a change in leadership, but because it discovered that the Townstone case lacked any evidence of actual discrimination, lacked any actual consumers who complained about anything Townstone did, and was both brought and pursued because CFPB disliked Townstone’s speech.”

Vacating the settlement “will not open the floodgates to other efforts to vacate cases, unless those other efforts involve cases, such as this one, in which agencies have used baseless lawsuits to target individuals because of their speech,” CFPB lawyers said.

“Boiled down to its essence, CFPB’s case turned on an alleged statistical disparity in minority mortgage applications between Townstone and unknown (and unrevealed) ‘peer lenders’ and six statements that represented a mere 16 minutes out of 78 hours of total programming from Townstone’s radio show,” the CFPB now maintains.

“As the parties pointed out in their opening brief, a mere statistical disparity in applications is not actionable” under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, CFPB lawyers said.

“The entire case was built on speech that CFPB lawyers did not like,” the CFPB now says. “That speech was not bigoted — it was, at worst, offensive.”

Even if it were, bigotry “is actionable only if it results in injury to a plaintiff; there must be a real link between the bigotry and an adverse … action,” CFPB attorneys said, citing a 2003 ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Adams v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

At an April 8 hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Franklin Valderrama said he would consider the amicus brief filed by fair housing and consumer groups when deciding the CFPP’s motion to vacate the settlement and that the trial court “may set this matter for an in-person hearing following the review of the filings.”

Valderrama on March 26 granted Mark Paoletta and other attorneys representing the CFPB standing to appear before his court in Illinois, but minutes of the hearing noted that, “At this time, the case remains closed.”

Get Inman’s Mortgage Brief Newsletter delivered right to your inbox. A weekly roundup of all the biggest news in the world of mortgages and closings delivered every Wednesday. Click here to subscribe.

Email Matt Carter

This post was originally published on this site