Policy Initiatives

Self-Help Policy Initiatives

To further our impact, Self-Help works to translate lessons learned as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) into targeted public policy changes that increase economic opportunities for low-wealth families.  Some of these policies initiatives are described below.

Self-Help Responds to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis

The consequences of reckless subprime lending have been a growing concern, and rightfully so.  One in five families with a subprime loan made from 1998 through 2006 have already lost, or will lose, their home to foreclosure in the next few years. These losses add up to as much as $164 billion in lost equity for families. As is usually the case with predatory lending products, people of color are being disproportionately affected: 53% of African-Americans who bought homes in 2006 received a subprime loan, and 42% of Latino families. By contrast, only 22% of white borrowers received these high-cost loans. Visit Self-Help affiliate Center for Responsible Lending for more information and a snapshot of the subprime crisis.

Predatory Lending

Responding to abusive home lending practices targeting low-wealth homeowners, in 1999 Self-Help worked to enact North Carolina’s landmark anti-predatory lending mortgage law.  Self-Help then created the affiliated Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), dedicated to protecting home ownership and family wealth by working to eliminate abusive financial practices.  CRL, a national nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy organization, has provided technical assistance in states across the country and on Capitol Hill.  Headquartered in Durham, CRL also has offices in Washington, DC and Oakland, California. 

Supporting CDFIs

The Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund, a part of the Treasury Department, was created in 1994.  The mission of the CDFI Fund is to expand the availability of credit, investment capital and financial services in distressed urban and rural communities by stimulating the creation and expansion of diverse CDFIs.  Self-Help helped craft the implementing legislation and actively works to strengthen the Fund and the entire community economic development field.  Self-Help is a founding member of the Opportunity Finance Network and the CDFI Coalition and is actively involved with the National Federation for Community Development Credit Unions. 

New Markets Tax Credit

Self-Help is a founding member of the New Markets Tax Credit Coalition, which worked to enact the New Markets Tax Credit in 2000.  The tax credit is part of the CDFI Fund.  It incents private investment in Community Development Entities, such as Self-Help, that in turn finance private business enterprises in low-income areas.  Legislation reauthorizing the credit is pending in the House and Senate.

Commercial and Community Facilities Lending

Self-Help engages in numerous policy discussions designed to leverage the success our commercial lending and community facilities lending.  Self-Help is one of the nation’s most successful Small Business Administration 504 lenders and works on relevant policies with The National Association of Development Companies (NADCO).  Self-Help works with the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) on SBA Microlending policy.  A leading child care facilities lender, Self-Help is a member of the National Children's Facilities Network.  As a charter school lender, Self-Help is active in the National Charter Friends Network. 

Credit Union Conversions

In response to increased efforts by some credit unions to convert to banks, Self-Help has helped form the National Center for Member Trust in order to help educate the public on the value and importance of cooperative ownership of financial assets.  Credit unions are owned by their members and as non-profits receive tax-advantaged treatment but an increasing number of credit unions have tried to convert from credit unions to banks without fully informing the membership of the potential ramifications and without fairly distributing the equity built in the credit union to the membership.

Other Issues

Federal Homeownership Tax Credit

Self-Help's home lending and residential real estate development experience helped spur us craft homeownership tax credit legislation designed to create more homeownership opportunities for low-wealth Americans.  Originally introduced in the 106th Congress, (Senate Bill 1336 and House Bill 5084), the proposal would provide a tax credit for lenders who make no-interest second mortgages to low-wealth borrowers. Similar legislation was introduced in the 107th Congress. A fuller discussion of the proposal can be found in this article for the Progressive Policy Institute. 

Increasing FHLB Access for CDFIs

As a Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of Atlanta member, Self-Help has learned that FHLBs can help catalyze well-collateralized community economic development projects such as Self-Help’s Secondary Market program.  To expand similar opportunities, Self-Help worked with Senator Lauch Faircloth in 1998 to offer federal legislation (Senate Bill 2544) to allow non-depository CDFIs to borrow from a FHLB as non-member mortgagees. A similar amendment, offered in 1999 by Senators Helms, Edwards, Santorum and Bayh, was included in the Senate-passed version as Sec. 319 of S.900, but was not included in the final bill. Click here for additional information.

Protecting the Integrity of Nonprofits

As a nonprofit, Self-Help realizes that the public expects nonprofits to employ a standard of conduct that is above reproach. In 1997, the North Carolina General Assembly considered legislation that would have allowed nonprofit North Carolina Blue Cross/Blue Shield to convert to for-profit ownership without preserving the value of the nonprofit assets built up over 60 years.  Self-Help helped form the Coalition for Public Trust on the principle that if NC Blue Cross/Blue Shield converted to a for-profit, it must ensure that its market value (estimated $1-2 billion) continued to serve its public purposes by being retained in perpetuity in a charitable foundation to promote the health of North Carolinians. The NC General Assembly overwhelmingly passed legislation to this effect.  

Please email Self-Help for more information, comments or suggestions.