The Fed, she said, could help by making sure banks are serving the community.
“I think it’s an underutilized resource in terms of making sure that we’ve got our banking partners at the table and we’re getting enough from that community,” she said.
Federal regulators are considering changes to the Community Reinvestment Act, which requires banks to make loans throughout the regions where they collect deposits. Mr. Powell said on Thursday that the goal was improvement. “We’re deeply committed to the mission of the C.R.A.,” he said of the act. “We’re only looking to make it more effective.”
In one respect, however, the Fed is poised to make life here more difficult.
Houston Habitat for Humanity makes mortgage loans to its home buyers, and it has continued to charge 3 percent interest even as the Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate and as the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan has climbed to 4.94 percent.
But Allison Hay, the executive director of Houston Habitat for Humanity, said she did not expect to be able to keep the rate at 3 percent for much longer. If the Fed, as expected, continues to raise rates, she said she will need to do so, too.
Habitat already is struggling to keep the price of its homes at an affordable level. Land prices in the Fifth Ward are rising as the city continues to grow.
A higher interest rate means applicants will need more income to become homeowners.
Mr. Powell’s visit continues the practice of his predecessor, Janet L. Yellen, who made a public trip to a struggling community in each year of her tenure as Fed chairwoman. Ms. Yellen’s trips tended to focus on education and job-training programs.
Robert S. Kaplan, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, arranged the tour and accompanied Mr. Powell on Thursday. Mr. Kaplan said that while it was right to celebrate economic growth in Texas, the struggling parts of the state deserved more attention. He said he had considered taking Mr. Powell to other struggling areas of the state, including parts of Dallas and communities along the southern border.
