For activists and organizers that work on issues of displacement, jobs and housing, it is not exactly news that the subprime lending situation has had a malign effect on working class women and women of color in low income communities. They are usually first in line to fall prey to predatory lenders and usually the most viable customers of such loans. According to this morning's NYT women of color in Baltimore have inevitably been the first to be effected by foreclosures.
For each of the last four years, more than half of the foreclosures in this neighborhood have been homes owned primarily by women, according to an analysis of public records by the Reinvestment Fund, a nonprofit community development organization.The foreclosures threaten the neighborhood’s fragile stability. And they highlight a broader dimension of the housing meltdown: subprime mortgages, which are driving the foreclosure rate, have gone disproportionately to women.
Although this is not surprising, it shouldn't be ignored either. The trend in subprime lenders engaging in predatory lending practices have targeted low income people, making their living off ruining other people's financial lives (and I speaketh from experience). Debt has been normalized in communities of color and working class communities, it is assumed the only way you can live is in debt. The debt we are accruing, we will not pay off in this generation. The damage being done has serious long-term consequences for disenfranchised communities.
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Thanks for producing this knowledge. I also understand that most houses that live under the poverty line are female headed household. Patriarchy has so many faces to it, it is really incredible. not only is there the sexual objectification of women, and violence against women, but also economic disempowerment of women. Fuck!!! where can i get more information of this economic aspect of the oppression. specifically feminized poverty. articles, books the like you know. thanks.
It would be great if we could attack the source (that is: why working class women and women of color are poor)... Boo to the patriarchy. :(
"I also understand that most houses that live under the poverty line are female headed household."
Which reminds me, why do so many people apply "female headed households" only to households with no men in them but don't seem to apply "male headed households" only to households with no women in them...?
"It would be great if we could attack the source (that is: why working class women and women of color are poor)... Boo to the patriarchy. :("
Exactly!
Thanks for posting this - information and education is the best defense. The republican zeal for deregulating everything means that these reckless/predatory lending practices are actually legal in a lot of cases, and when borrowers aren't alert to what they are signing....well we see what's happening.
Your point about debt being normalized in working class/communities of color is also a very important and sad fact. The "company store" of 100 years ago has been replaced by consumer debt, which is debilitating and demoralizing.