U.S. housing market data has been sending mixed messages over the past year. On the negative side, existing home sales had been growing steadily since the start of 2015, but slumped sharply in August. Data from the Flow of Funds (FOF) shows outstanding mortgage debt has yet to rise in any meaningful way and, worse, median prices as reported by the National Association of Realtors appear to have fallen slightly in the last four months.

Single-family building permits have been rising slowly but remain far below normal levels, even as home ownership rates—as measured by the U.S. Census—unexpectedly fell at the start of the year. Concerns surrounding Federal Reserve policy and its impact on interest rates is also worrying investors.

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Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 mandated that federal agencies institute an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI). The act distinguishes each OMWI as, “responsible for all matters of the agency relating to diversity in management, employment, and business activities.” 

Furthermore, to determine the efficacy of each office, Dodd-Frank tasked OMWI directors with establishing diversity standards for agencies to assess the diversity policies and practices within the institutions they govern. 

Of these agencies, six—the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—worked together to develop joint standards. 

The six agencies also collaborated with the public, following the publication of a request for comments on the “Proposed Interagency Policy Statement Establishing Joint Standards for Assessing the Diversity Policies and Practices of Entities Regulated by the Agencies” in the Federal Register in October 2013. 

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The National Association of Women in Real Estate Businesses (NAWRB) held its 2nd Annual Conference, “Historic Diversity and Inclusion Movement,” August 17th-19th in Long Beach, CA. As a testament to our dedication to bring women to the forefront, 84 percent of our speakers were women in executive positions, who shared their best practices, personal stories and business opportunities with the attendees. 

Conference workshops were highly engaging, starting with certification training speakers Sylvia Gutierrez of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Karla Gonzalez of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Attendees were encouraged to bring their certification packages and follow step-by-step instructions on the process of applying for a women-owned business certification. Prepaying applicants had the opportunity of submitting their completed certification packages to an onsite NAWRB certification reviewer. As part of the workshop, we also addressed the benefits of certifying as a women-owned business and the ways certification can maximize business growth.

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As part of NAWRB’s commitment to bring women’s diversity and inclusion to the forefront, Congresswoman Maxine Waters provides an OMWI update:

NAWRB: Throughout your career protecting the consumer has been a very important priority for you. Can you provide an update on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act since our last conference October 2014? What is the most important benefit this act is affording the typical American consumer?

Congresswoman Waters: Consumer protection has been, and continues to be, a top priority for me here in Congress.  During my time as Member and now Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, I’ve come to understand how critical consumer issues are for the average American. In the run-up to the 2008 financial crash, our financial system was riddled with loopholes and opaque shadow markets, which allowed the worst actors to reap financial gains on the backs of America’s middle class. In the end, we saw the financial crisis decimate our economy, destroy nine million jobs, and displace 11 million American families. In response, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (The Dodd-Frank Act), to end this sort of behavior in the financial services sector, and provide rules-of-the-road to prevent another crisis from happening again.

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