The 2020 list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies – which identifies areas where activities are eligible to receive Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) consideration under the community development definition – are now available, the federal banking agencies said Wednesday.
In a joint release, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the Federal Reserve, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said the lists detail distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies where revitalization or stabilization activities are eligible for CRA consideration.
The geographic areas are designated by the agencies, they said, in accordance with the agencies’ CRA regulations. They said that the designations continue to reflect local economic conditions, including unemployment, poverty, and population changes.
As they have done in the past, the agencies said, they will apply a one-year lag period for geographies that were listed in 2019 but are no longer designated as distressed or underserved in the current release. “Revitalization or stabilization activities in these geographies are eligible to receive CRA consideration under the community development definition for 12 months after publication of the current list,” they stated.
The criteria for designating the areas are also available on the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) website, as are current and previous years’ lists and information about the data sources used to generate those lists.
Agencies release list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies