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Unfair Lending Perpetuates
Homeownership Gap
betters ‘'Co ,'Cfe (^Editor
1 have been living here in Portland for several years now. I’m
still trying to get used to the weather and to African Americans
who have lived here for a long time.
I have lived all over this nation and I have never seen a more
passive group of Negroes than the ones I have seen out here. I
expect whites to be like this, but my own people? What is going
on here?
Granted, the Pacific Northwest is lovely and offers a peace
that a Detroit or Chicago can’t, but it also makes whimps out of
African Americans. People take so much for granted and allow
government and people to walk all over them and we think its
okay because we live in so called diverse neighborhoods and
many of our children go to school with whites.
There is just as much racism and bigotry in Oregon as there
is in the deep south, people here (whites and blacks ) cover over
it real good.
Take for instance, the advocacy commissions here in Oregon:
Good idea, but the Legislature and the lack of interest by the
communities and the "Uncle Toms" on the commissions have
made them almost useless.
Look at the black commission. It’s manager is a sharp black
man who has done some good things but is being held back by
commissioners who don’t want to do anything or allow the
manager to do anything worthwhile for fear of making white
people mad. I have heard the manager speak several times. He is
a breath of fresh air in complacent Oregon. He wants to make
things better for African Americans, blacks and people of color
in Oregon, but his commissioners, except for a few, are only
there to give an impression of fairness and to add to their
resumes. The ones who want to make a difference are always
out-voted along with the manager.
Why don’t you folks do some articles on where is the
Commission on Black Affairs when the communities and people
really need them? Why isn’t the manager allowed to work closer
with our community? Is this commission just window dressing?
It is a shame to see capable people such as the manager and
several of the commissioners being held back by people who
want to sit on their butts instead of advocating for their
communities. Many on the commission have seemed to forgot
ten their roles.
Please check into this and do the community a favor and see
why the manager is being fought by black people, (not whites)
while he tries to do his job.
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs
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shut in their faces.
A new report from the C enter for
Com m unity Change says that African
A m ericans and H ispanics are dispro
portionately represented in the subprime
hom e-refinance m arket. That means
they are paying at least 1 to 6 more
percentage points than their white coun
terparts pay. Data from 331 m etropoli-
Julianne Malveaux
Not a week goes by when I don’t get an
e-mail from someone peddling home loans
or home-loan refinancing on the Internet.
The rates are going down, they scream,
exclamation points all over the place. Loan
guaranteed, they shout, casting the net as
widely as they can to get me to respond.
Since I’m a homeowner in an area that is
gentrifying, with property values spiraling
upward, I’m "fresh meat" for lenders look
ing for hot prospects.
W ith the mortgage interest rate down
to 6.42 percent for 30-year loans, and
even lower for shorter-term m ortgages,
financial planners say this is a great time
to buy or to refinance. But, unlike me,
too many African-A m erican borrow ers
find the doors to conventional lending
A new report from the
Center for Community
Change says that African
Americans and Hispanics
are disproportionately
represented in the subprime
home-refinance market.
tan areas show that while 17 percent of
whites borrow money in the subprim e
m arket, nearly half (49 percent) of
A frican A m ericans, 30 percent o f His
panics and 28 percent of Native A m eri
cans get subprim e loans.
How can we explain this disparity?
Most lenders say the subprime market is
a function of the risk they take when they
provide money to borrowers whose credit
is not pristine. But Freddie Mac, one of the
publicly chartered secondary mortgage-
market enterprises, says that as many as
30 percent of those who get subprime
mortgages could benefit from conven
tional mortgages and from great savings.
Further, in many cases the quality of
your loan is a function of who you know.
Some people with “good” credit end up ,
with costly subprime products because
they have had so many negative experi-
ences with conventional lending that they
shy away from seeking credit from them.
Instead, they respond to the television and
radio ads that seek them out, help them to
consolidate their credit or improve their
homes and charge them interest up the
yin-yang.
This is important because home owner
ship is often the way that lower- and
middle-income families amass wealth.
The American dream has always in
cluded homeownership. But many people
of color can’t participate in the American
dream except at high-interest, subprime
rates. This inequality must end.
Julianne Malveaux is a Washington,
D.C.-based economist and a nationally
syndicated columnist. She can be
reached at pmproj@progressive.org.
, probably saw
IHortlattì»
Thanks for clearing the air
at work, Oregon.”
NORTH PORTLAND
Northminster Press. Church
Temple Baptist Church
I can remember days where I could see the smoke in my office hanging
2823 N. Portland Blvd.
1319 N.E. 7th
near the ceiling tiles. But with the Oregon Smokefree Workplace Law,
Tlmberilne Dodge
Tillamook Park Bldg.
2510 N.E. Sandy Blvd.
2108 N.E. 41st Ave.
rea lfo o d .re a l life .re a l resu lts.
it's a thing of the past. No more dirty ashtrays. No more
butts in the sink. And no more secondhand smoke.
Because now smoking doesn't work in Oregon. And I'm
breathing a lot easier.
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