From racial covenants intended to ensure the ethnic purity of certain neighborhoods to the now-discredited practice of “redlining,” the real estate and mortgage-lending industry has a dismal history of discrimination. Over decades, this reality has made it exceedingly difficult (and in some cases, virtually impossible) for many people of color to take part in what is widely considered a cornerstone of the American dream: home ownership.

Now, a study released last week by the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending confirms what many participants and would-be players in California’s stratospheric real estate market may already know – that when it comes to home loans, African-American and Latino borrowers are much more likely to pay higher mortgage rates than white borrowers with comparable incomes and credit scores.

Based on an analysis of 177,000 loans made by subprime lenders – companies that cater to customers unable to secure loans from banks, and typically charge much higher interest than traditional financial institutions – the study concluded that blacks are nearly 30 percent more likely than whites to pay high interest on fixed-rate mortgage loans. The real estate market being what it is, particularly in this state, that would be enough of a disheartening statistic – but it doesn’t stop there.

According to the study, even being a good borrower didn’t help blacks who received these loans: the effect of being African-American on the cost of credit was found to be greatest for loans that contained penalties for early payoff, by margins ranging from 6 to 34 percent compared to whites.

Studies that depict the lingering effects of institutionalized racism and discrimination on the economic and social lives of people of color are nothing new. Sadly, neither are they infrequent. Yet, one could practically set a watch by predictable responses from industry advocates when they are confronted with incontrovertible evidence that injustices, such as the ones brought to light by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) study, are regular occurrences. In this case, a spokesman for the Mortgage Bankers Association, in an interview with the Associated Press, attempted to minimize the findings – by questioning them on the basis of minutious quarrels with methodology, none of which explains why certain groups with darker skin colors tend to pay a premium for home loans.

For federal, state and local policymakers, the key to solving this problem is as simple as it is likely to be fought tooth-and-nail by industry lobbyists and others with a vested interest in maintaining an unacceptable status quo: further regulation of the industry. Specifically, requiring that objective, transparent standards be set for determining the rates that will be paid for mortgage loans. This would be a suitable stride toward eliminating the kind of arbitrary – and at times predatory – practices that have brought us where we are today.