Housing woes rough on Latino immigrants
By: Andrew Dunn, Senior Writer
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: La Colina
The housing market crash and the ensuing troubles in credit markets in the past year have caused home values to plummet, forced mortgage foreclosures, slowed the economy and put many businesses in financial peril.
First-time, low-income home buyers have been particularly hard hit as lenders are increasingly reluctant to take chances on them.
Latino newcomers have been especially impacted as North Carolina has experienced an influx of immigration, said Paul Stock, executive vice president of the N.C. Bankers Association.
"It seems pretty clear from various analyses that the downturn is especially disruptive in the Latino community," said Stock, who has researched the financial impact of Latino immigration in the state in conjunction with UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
"If it's not a plain vanilla home loan, lenders are reluctant."
Plain vanilla loans involve making about a 20 percent down payment and verifying income and credit with pay stubs in the U.S.
Stock said that complete generalizations are invalid but that Latino immigrants in North Carolina frequently fall into categories that put them at a disadvantage in securing credit.
Documentation issues and language barriers are part of it.
Latinos also are disproportionately employed in construction, an industry that has been severely slowed. And construction always being a seasonal industry, regular pay stubs are hard to come by.
After a construction boom from 2003 to 2007 in the state, the industry has leveled off, according to data from the N.C. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Bureau statistics also show that median weekly earnings for Latinos are lower than any other ethnic category.
"For lower-income people, even if they are well-documented, now it is hard," Stock said. "I think that disproportionately the factors hit the Latino community. They'll often be missing one, two or three of those things."
Stock said that though state and federal efforts are under way to help alleviate the housing and credit troubles, they don't particularly help the Latino community.
He said the focus is on helping homeowners not lose their homes, not first-time home buyers.
"There has not been very much specifically targeted at the Latino community nor many efforts to help people buy homes right now," he said.
But the Latino Community Credit Union, established in 2000 with headquarters in Durham, is a nonprofit, bilingual organization with the mission of improving the financial situation of Latinos. It also operates branches in Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte and Fayetteville.
The credit union offers mortgage loans requiring only a tax identification number, a 12-month work and rental history and a 12-month credit history. It also helps with remittances, car loans, credit card applications and financial education.
"Since its members own the credit union, each deposit in LCCU is an investment in the community," the union's Web site states.
Contact the La Colina editors at lacolinadesk@gmail.com.
First-time, low-income home buyers have been particularly hard hit as lenders are increasingly reluctant to take chances on them.
Latino newcomers have been especially impacted as North Carolina has experienced an influx of immigration, said Paul Stock, executive vice president of the N.C. Bankers Association.
"It seems pretty clear from various analyses that the downturn is especially disruptive in the Latino community," said Stock, who has researched the financial impact of Latino immigration in the state in conjunction with UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
"If it's not a plain vanilla home loan, lenders are reluctant."
Plain vanilla loans involve making about a 20 percent down payment and verifying income and credit with pay stubs in the U.S.
Stock said that complete generalizations are invalid but that Latino immigrants in North Carolina frequently fall into categories that put them at a disadvantage in securing credit.
Documentation issues and language barriers are part of it.
Latinos also are disproportionately employed in construction, an industry that has been severely slowed. And construction always being a seasonal industry, regular pay stubs are hard to come by.
After a construction boom from 2003 to 2007 in the state, the industry has leveled off, according to data from the N.C. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Bureau statistics also show that median weekly earnings for Latinos are lower than any other ethnic category.
"For lower-income people, even if they are well-documented, now it is hard," Stock said. "I think that disproportionately the factors hit the Latino community. They'll often be missing one, two or three of those things."
Stock said that though state and federal efforts are under way to help alleviate the housing and credit troubles, they don't particularly help the Latino community.
He said the focus is on helping homeowners not lose their homes, not first-time home buyers.
"There has not been very much specifically targeted at the Latino community nor many efforts to help people buy homes right now," he said.
But the Latino Community Credit Union, established in 2000 with headquarters in Durham, is a nonprofit, bilingual organization with the mission of improving the financial situation of Latinos. It also operates branches in Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte and Fayetteville.
The credit union offers mortgage loans requiring only a tax identification number, a 12-month work and rental history and a 12-month credit history. It also helps with remittances, car loans, credit card applications and financial education.
"Since its members own the credit union, each deposit in LCCU is an investment in the community," the union's Web site states.
Contact the La Colina editors at lacolinadesk@gmail.com.
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