Minorities Hit Hardest by Foreclosures in New York
16th May 2009
But the storm has fallen with a special ferocity on black and Latino homeowners, the analysis shows. Defaults occur three times as often in mostly minority census tracts as in mostly white ones. Eighty-five percent of the worst-hit neighborhoods — where the default rate is at least double the regional average — have a majority of black and Latino homeowners.
Perhaps that’s because they listened to the government and bought houses that they, you know, couldn’t afford. Always a bad idea, taking the government’s advice.
“My district feels like ground zero,” said City Councilman James Sanders Jr., an African-American who represents hundreds of blocks in Queens like this one. “In military terms, we are being pillaged.”
Novel concept: an area that pillages itself.
Years ago many banks drew red lines on maps around black neighborhoods and refused to lend; more recently, some banks began taking aim at those neighborhoods for the marketing of subprime loans, say consumer advocates.
How dare those racists target minority neighborhoods for loans! The swine! Not like the good old days where we could bitch at them for not lending in minority neighborhoods.