UNDERWATER AMERICA: HOW THE SO-CALLED HOUSING "RECOVERY' IS BYPASSING MANY AMERICAN COMMUNITIES

 July 29, 2014

OUR RECOVERY?  NOT INCLUSIVE:  STOCK MARKET GAINS, YES.   HOUSING, NO.


The Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society (UC Berkeley) published a recent study (July 2014) titled, "Underwater America - How the so-called housing "recovery" is bypassing many American Communities.



Their report (lead author Peter Dreier) provides the following highlights:

HARDEST-HIT CITIES:  In 57 cities, at least 30% of all mortgaged homes are still underwater.  Nearly 1 in 10 Americans live in the 100 hardest-hit cities (28.7 million).  34% of the 100 hardest-hit cities have median household incomes below $40,000.  The 100 hardest-hit cities are in 27 states.

HARDEST-HIT NEIGHBORHOODS:  In 151 zipcodes, at least 50% of all mortgaged homes are still underwater. 10.4 million people live in the 395 hardest-hit zipcodes.  43% of the 395 hardest hit zipcodes have median household incomes below $40,000.  

HARDEST-HIT - COMMUNITIES OF COLOR:  In 1 of the 100 hardest-hit cities, African American and Latinos account for at least 40% of the population.  In 146 of the 395 hardest hit zipcodes, African Americans and Latinos account for at least 75% of the population.


There were five authors of this study:  Peter Dreier, Occidental College; Saqib Bhatti, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Rob Call, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Alex Schwartz, The New School, and Gregory Squire, George Washington University.

More on this study later.



Source:   www.diversity.berkeley.edu/haas-institute

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ANOTHER STORY TO READ:

On Rooflines - the Shelterforce blog - please see story by Sarah Hauswald of July 22, 2014 (she worked as former public policy manager at San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing), titled "Subsidizing the Upper Middle Class?  Go to:  http://rooflines.org/3793/subsidizing_the_upper_middle_class