Homeownership Opportunities II Abstact

The SoftSecond™ Loan Program was developed in 1991 by the Massachusetts Bankers
Association, the Massachusetts Housing Partnership and the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance to address community concerns highlighted in the 1989 Federal Reserve study citing racial disparities in mortgage lending. Launched in Boston, the program was expanded statewide in 1992 and is now available in 285 cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth through 38 participating banks. SoftSecond mortgages are funded by participating lenders with public subsidies from the state legislature, the Federal Home Loan Bank and participating communities. The program is administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership.

This report provides data on lending by the SoftSecond Loan Program during the most recent
three-year period (2004-2006) as well as over the sixteen-year life of the program. The Mortgage
Lending Committee of the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (MCBC) has had a special interest in the SoftSecond program since its inception and has carefully monitored the performance of its loans. The report updates an earlier report prepared for MCBC by the present author in 2004: Expanding Homeownership Opportunity: The SoftSecond Loan Program, 1991-2003. Detailed information about the origins and evolution of the program, and about the details of its structure and operation, are available in that report and elsewhere and are therefore not repeated here. 1