In the July 3 issue of the Tribune, Mike Dorning reported on Harris Bank`s recent slap from the federal regulators in Washington, D.C. The Federal Reserve Board`s rating of Harris struck most, if not all, of the low-income housing fraternity in the city as ironic at best, destructive at worst.
It is ironic because, as Dorning illustrated in his article, the community-based leadership in Chicago is virtually uniform in its praise of Harris for its involvement in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods all across the city.
We at Chicago Equity Fund can easily echo the same. As either an investor in Chicago Equity Fund projects or as a lender in them, Harris Bank since 1985 has been a financial partner in numerous multi-family, low-income housing developments totaling well over $45 million in financing. And these have been some of the toughest, most complex deals in the city.
It is destructive because Harris gets a ”fail” mark on its report card while other banks doing the same things-and sometimes less-get a ”passing”
grade.
Such inconsistency on the part of the Federal Reserve Board casts a blanket of uncertainty across the entire private/public partnership effort in this city. Such uncertainty could lead to less involvement on the part of financial institutions, not more-just the opposite of what the Fed seeks.
Washington either needs to develop more consistent rules or develop a more consistent application of the existing rules. Nothing more is required. Nothing less will be acceptable.
