Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Housing groups sue Fannie Mae over foreclosed Bay Area properties in communities of color

The San Jose Mercury News reports:
A coalition of fair housing groups has sued Fannie Mae, the government-backed housing lender, for failure to maintain and market its foreclosed properties in predominately African-American and Latino neighborhoods in four metropolitan areas, including Oakland and Richmond.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal district court in San Francisco, alleges that Fannie Mae engaged in a pattern of discrimination by allowing foreclosed properties to languish without upkeep that kept the homes unpurchased, attracted vandalism and crime and kept property values lower than they otherwise would be.

In comparison, foreclosed properties in predominately white neighborhoods were more carefully tended, with garbage thrown out, landscaping trimmed and homes properly secured, according to the suit.

“This is one more step in the pattern that we’ve seen where lenders divest communities of color of equity — first by denying loans to people of color, then targeting them for unaffordable loans, then foreclosing on them and finally failing to maintain and market those homes,” said Caroline Peattie, executive director of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, the lead plaintiff of the lawsuit, in a statement.
If only loans were made with 50% down: no one could yell anything but "collateral".