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Current small business lending discriminates by barring loans to people with criminal histories.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) restricts access to its lending programs—which are critical lifelines for small businesses—for people impacted by the criminal justice system. These policies entrench racial disparities, are out of step with antidiscrimination law, and should be reformed.
Each year hundreds of thousands of people in the United States are released from prison. They face daunting barriers to reentry into society, including exclusion from employment, housing, and other opportunities. Due to structural inequality and systemic racism, the population released from prison is disproportionately African American and Hispanic. For example, African Americans comprise approximately 38 percent of all federal prisoners but make up only 13 percent of the U.S. population. As a result, lending policies that exclude individuals with criminal histories tend to have outsized negative effects on people of color.
Antidiscrimination laws such as the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act can help people released from prison overcome these adverse impacts. These laws bar intentional discrimination based on race and other protected characteristics in housing, lending, and employment. They also bar facially neutral policies—those that do not explicitly target a particular group—that have a “disparate impact” on or...
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