By Janis Bowdler
(The was first posted on Univision News blog)
In honor of National Homeownership Month, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) issued a joint call to action with our partners―NAACP, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, National People’s Action, National Urban League, The Opportunity Agenda, and PICO―asking Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner to use his leadership to address the housing crisis. With approximately one foreclosure occurring every minute, we are urging our leaders to not give up on the American Dream.
Mr. and Mrs. Henriquez were one among the many who experienced foreclosure. They lost their home when Mrs. Henriquez had to close down her business. She ultimately had to give up working entirely to care for her autistic son. Mrs. Henriquez described being steered into an expensive loan by the real estate agent she relied on to guide her through the process:
Well, it changed completely. You had a dream and that’s the word these people [use]; tell you “you could do it” and give you this loan. And now you are back, worse than you were before. I got a phone call…[The] real estate agencies [said] we’ll come out and it was in Spanish, my language―They said, “We can help you, just go to the house, we’ll let you know and soon if you can qualify or not.” So we say yes, why not? And then, he came to our home…We said what kind of house can I afford? And his answer was, “If you want a million-dollar house, I can give [it to] you.” That was his answer. Whatever you want. And I said well, my question is what can I afford? And, and he said, “You just let me know how much you want to pay.”
In a last-ditch effort to save their home, the Henriquez family put mortgage payments on their credit cards:
I used the credit cards to make the payments for the house…I was not in debt at all, you know. So, I used my credit cards to make the house payment.
Researchers estimate that 1.3 million Latinos will lose their homes between 2009 and 2012. With banks and federal and state governments still struggling to resuscitate our housing market, few have considered the long-term ramifications of record foreclosure rates.
Mrs. Henriquez explains that these financial challenges have strained their marriage. Divorce was a consideration at one point:
My husband and I [were] fighting because there’s [not] enough money. There was a lot of [discussion] before we bought a house. We talk about it and then, you know, “I told you, you were not supposed to do this and you did it.” Blaming each other, like who was at fault. That “you’re supposed to get a job,” but I need to stay with my kids.
The Henriquez family ultimately moved four times before they found a new home to rent. They struggled to find a place that could accommodate their autistic son’s special needs while their older son bounced between three different schools.
Mrs. Henriquez believes achieving the American Dream for her family may be possible, though in the distant future; it “seems very far away.” Owning a home should be a modest yet steady way to grow an asset that a family can share with the next generation. During the housing bubble, federal regulators failed to rein in deceptive lending practices while finance companies rejected successful models that help working families step mindfully into homeownership.
Thanks to new protections included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, many of the worst lending scams are prohibited. Now we must address the second half of the problem by protecting responsible paths to homeownership for creditworthy borrowers. Join the Home for Good campaign and tell Secretary Geithner to not give up on the American Dream.
Has your life been affected by the risk of foreclosure? If so, please share your experience. Contributing to this project will help decision-makers better understand the depth of this continued foreclosure crisis and take better steps to address it. Your personal story could impact their decisions!