Housing groups in California are ringing alarm bells over President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, alleging that as chairman and CEO of Pasadena-based OneWest Bank, Steve Mnuchin presided over a bank that discriminated against minorities and foreclosed on tens of thousands of Californians.
Less than two weeks ago, the California Reinvestment Coalition, a housing advocacy group, and Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California filed a federal complaint alleging that under Mnuchin, OneWest Bank consistently violated the Fair Housing Act.
The complaint alleges that OneWest provided home loans to a disproportionately low number of minorities. It says that last year only 1.7 percent of OneWest's home loans went to African-American borrowers compared to 3.6 percent in the rest of the industry, and only 8.4 percent of mortgages went to Latino borrowers compared to 20.5 percent in the rest of the industry.
Of 74 OneWest branches across Southern California, none are in African-American communities, one is in an Asian-American community, and 11 are in Hispanic communities, according to the complaint.