Comments Submitted to Department of Housing and Urban Development Regarding Doct No. FR-4160-P-01

Recipient: Public

This letter is written on behalf of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nations oldest, largest and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, consisting of over 180 national organizations representing persons of color, women, labor unions, persons with disabilities, older Americans, major religious groups, gays and lesbians, and civil liberties and human rights groups. As a general matter, the organizations that comprise the LCCR are deeply committed to the protection and enhancement of civil rights laws and policies. In this present context, we are concerned about ensuring that home mortgages are granted to all Americans without regard to race, national origin, gender, familial status, religion, or disability.

Mortgage lending discrimination is a pervasive problem that has detrimental consequences, not only for individual victims, but for entire neighborhoods. While litigation is an important weapon in ending these practices, it is essential that the mortgage lending industry and its regulators take a leading role in aggressively addressing the problem.