Housing Push for Hispanics Spawns Wave of Foreclosures

[douglas9]

California Rep. Joe Baca has long pushed legislation he said would "open the doors to the American Dream" for first-time home buyers in his largely Hispanic district. For many of them, those doors have slammed shut, quickly and painfully.

Mortgage lenders flooded Mr. Baca's San Bernardino, Calif., district with loans that often didn't require down payments, solid credit ratings or documentation of employment. Now, many of the Hispanics who became homeowners find themselves mired in the national housing mess. Nearly 9,200 families in his district have lost their homes to foreclosure.

For years, immigrants to the U.S. have viewed buying a home as the ultimate benchmark of success. Between 2000 and 2007, as the Hispanic population increased, Hispanic homeownership grew even faster, increasing by 47%, to 6.1 million from 4.1 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Over that same period, homeownership nationally grew by 8%. In 2005 alone, mortgages to Hispanics jumped by 29%, with expensive nonprime mortgages soaring 169%, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

An examination of that borrowing spree by The Wall Street Journal reveals that it wasn't simply the mortgage market at work. It was fueled by a campaign by low-income housing groups, Hispanic lawmakers, a congressional Hispanic housing initiative, mortgage lenders and brokers, who all were pushing to increase homeownership among Latinos.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123111072368352309.html#printMode

[mmonk]

1. Blame the poor and minority populations for the decisions

made by the mortgage industry. I've seen that before.

[cap]

2. Patience, my friend... all things in their own time

the Alt-A and Option Arms mortgages will soon blow up. These were taken out by many in the middle class.

The minorities and the subprimes are the canaries in the minefield. They are the most vulnerable.

[NOW tense]

3. I thought the same thing

[Javaman]

6. I ranted on just this a while ago...

how these bastard mortgage brokers and corps fed upon the poor, promising them the world and tweaking their apts without the buyers knowing all so they could make their commission.

Now these people saddled with loans nothing like they were told or thought signed onto are taking it in the gut big time.

I got shot down left and right by the closet rethugs here on DU saying things like, "they bought more house than they could afford" or the now neo-con classic, "fuck them, they deserve their misery". nice huh?

there are so many grossly ill informed people here on DU as to what was being done all in the name of a quick buck off the various minoritys and the poor.

The whole reaction by many a person here on DU truly disgusted me. No compassion for the people only excuses for the rich.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Who else would the Wall Street Journal blame? The bankers? With them, it's always the

fault of the common people.

[surrealAmerican]

5. It looks rather more like unscrupulous mortgage brokers ...

... taking advantage of a population with inadequate financial literacy.