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SCOTUS skeptical that state abortion bans conflict with federal health care law; Iowa advocates for immigrants push back on Texas-style deportation bill; new hearings, same arguments on both sides for ND pipeline project; clean-air activists to hold "die-in" Friday at LA City Hall.

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"Squad" member Summer Lee wins her primary with a pro-peace platform, Biden signs huge foreign aid bills including support for Ukraine and Israel, and the Arizona House repeals an abortion ban as California moves to welcome Arizona doctors.

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The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken, and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Foreclosure Rates: African-Americans take a hit in VA

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008   

Richmond, VA – The numbers are staggering. The Richmond-area African-American community has a foreclosure rate four times higher than other groups. That finding is from a new study released by the nonprofit agency, Housing Opportunities Made Equal. After tracking numbers for more than a year, research analyst Will Sanford says many borrowers got sub-prime loans even though they could qualify for prime loans. He calls that part of the problem.

"Upper-income African-Americans are five times more likely to get sub-prime loans than white borrowers, and even lower-income African-Americans are about three times more likely to get sub-prime loans."

It's those sub-prime loans that have caused much of the foreclosure problem, with adjusted interest rates pushing housing payments out of reach for many.

Sanford says the problem is also reflected in Virginia's home-ownership rate, which for whites stands at 75 percent as opposed to 51 percent for African-Americans.

"Basically, this is just a failure of the prime market and its disparate impact on African-American communities and other neighborhoods."

Sanford says that the Tidewater region and Northern Virginia are next on the nonprofit's agenda for targeted studies.

Instead of walking away from a property, experts advise strapped homeowners to open negotiations with their lender, or take advantage of a new government program aimed at preventing foreclosures.

Additional information about the study is available at www.phonehome.org.


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