The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

A new report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) in partnership with the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) shows that minority women are more likely to receive high-cost home mortgage loans than White women.

In many cases, disparities by race widened as income levels increased. The report finds middle- and upper-income African-American women to be a least twice as likely to receive high-cost loans as middle- and upper-income White women in more that 84 percent of the metropolitan areas examined.  Similarly, middle- and upper-income Hispanic women were at least twice as likely to receive high-cost loans as middle- and upper-income White women in 62 percent of the metropolitan areas studied. 

The study suggests that minorities, especially African-American women, are likely to be affected by foreclosures. NCRC and NCNW recommend that Congress strengthen the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, to encourage more prime or market-rate lending to working families and communities.

The Obama administration said today that it will work with FEMA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to find permanent housing for displaced victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast who still live in hurricane relief trailers. The latest deadline extension for residents to move out of the trailers expired on May 30.

More than 80 percent of people living in the trailers own homes that were damaged by the storms but lack the economic means to finish fixing their properties.  Most sought federal and state grants to pay for the repairs necessary to make their homes livable again, but frequent delays and administrative problems left many of them with no option but to stay in their trailers.

Under the administration's plan, $50 million will be distributed by Gulf Coast housing authorities in the form of new housing voucher rental assistance.  Residents will get more hands-on assistance with transitioning to permanent housing and also have the option to buy their trailers from FEMA for as little as $1.

But renters now have some protection against eviction under the foreclosure prevention bill signed by President Obama last week. The new law, which took effect immediately, requires the new owners of a property to allow tenants to remain in the home, as long as the tenants pay their rent on time. Renters will be able to stay until the end of their lease, or will get at least 90 days notice if they do not have a lease or if the new owner intends to reside in the home.

For example, in Washington, D.C., where LCCR/EF's office is located, some low-income neighborhoods don't have a supermarket. If you don't have a car, you can either go to a corner store, where you would pay $3.79 for a loaf of wheat bread, or you could take the bus to a supermarket in another part of the city, where you would get that loaf of bread for only $1.19 - but you've wasted hours waiting for and taking the bus to get to the store.

The article also details the problems caused by payday lenders, to whom low-income people often turn if they need money quickly for unplanned expenses such as car repairs, prescriptions, or higher-than-usual utility bills. It's fairly easy to get a short-term loan, but you may end up paying fees and interest that add up to an annual percentage rate of more than 400 percent. In contrast, the average rate for credit cards in the United States is less than 15 percent. Payday lending is currently legal in 37 states.