The Racial Dimension of the Housing Crisis

Whoever says that we are living in a "post-racial" society is completely kidding themselves. Racism exists; it is alive and thriving, and it is our responsibility as lovers of justice to do everything in our power to STOP IT, both in its institutionalized form (seen below) and its informal permutations.

I received info about this from the Anne Braden Institute. It's rather shocking. Here's the summary info:

"Income is no Shield Against Racial Differences in Lending" (banking)

In 2007, NCRC (the National Community Reinvestment Coalition) produced its first "Income is No Shield Against Racial Differences in Lending" report. Similar results to those presented in this [2008] report were observed, including that Low-to-Middle-Income (LMI) African-Americans were twice or more likely to receive high-cost loans as LMI whites in 35.9 percent of the metro areas analyzed. Furthermore, Middle-to-Upper-Income (MUI) African-Americans were twice or more likely than MUI whites to receive high-cost loans in 74.2 percent of the metro areas during 2005.

"Income is no Shield Against Racial Differences in Lending" (mortgages)

Against the backdrop of the risky, high-cost lending practices [which have sparked our international economic crisis], NCRC has observed striking racial disparities.
...
MUI African-Americans were twice or more likely as MUI whites to receive high-cost loans in 71.4 percent of the metro areas examined in this report, while LMI African-Americans were twice or more likely as LMI whites to receive high-cost loans in just 47.3 percent of the metro areas during 2006.

The study also concludes that the following cities show "significant" racial disparities in mortgage loans:

1. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
2. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN
3. Huntsville, AL
4. Ann Arbor, MI
5. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT
6. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
7. Greenville, NC
8. Philadelphia, PA
9. Essex County, MA
10. Durham, NC
11. Raleigh-Cary, NC
12. Dayton, OH
13. Birmingham-Hoover, AL
14. Fort Wayne, IN
15. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH
16. Roanoke, VA
17. Rochester, NY
18. Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
19. Lubbock, TX
20. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI

Here is the full report f you're interested.

Other disturbing info:
According to a 2001 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances:
- the median value of financial assets was $38,500 for whites and $7,200 for minorities in that year
- whites had more than five times the dollar amount of financial assets than their minority counterparts.
- the median home value for whites was $130,000 and $92,000 for minorities in 2001.

The Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances reports that by 2004:
- the median net worth of minorities was only 17.6 percent of that for all other families
- the median net worth for African-Americans was virtually the same ($20,400) as it was in 2001 ($20,300).

NCRC says: "This data supports the fact that steering high-cost loans to underserved borrowers who are qualified for market rate loans not only results in equity stripping, but also contributes to inequalities in wealth."