The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Fair Housing Campaign Aims to Protect Americans from Foreclosure and Predatory Lending

By Tyler Lewis

The foreclosure crisis continues to wreck havoc on families across the country.

Nearly 6 million foreclosures have been initiated since 2007 alone, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. It is estimated that 13 million homes will fall into foreclosure during the next five years. And while the foreclosure crisis is hitting homeowners hard, people who rent homes or apartments are not immune to the catastrophe. An estimated 40 percent of people who are facing eviction due to foreclosure in the U.S. are renters, not homeowners.

Many of these families struggling to keep their homes entered into predatory, high-risk loans unknowingly and many of them do not know what to do in order to keep their homes.

To help address the foreclosure crisis, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched a national media campaign in June to inform Americans about how to avoid foreclosure and predatory, high-risk loans, and how to recognize when they might be experiencing housing or rental discrimination.

The campaign is designed to target:

• families in immediate need to refinance their homes;
• families in or on the brink of foreclosure;
• families facing eviction or already in the rental market; and
• families looking to purchase a home.

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Tyler Lewis is communications manager at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education fund.