LOS ANGELES – Black and Latino borrowers in the Los Angeles County area continue to receive far fewer home purchase loans than white homebuyers, according to an analysis of federal home loan data released Tuesday by The Greenlining Institute.
“In our society, homeownership remains critical to building wealth and financial stability,” said report author Rawan Elhalaby, Greenlining’s senior equity program manager. “The racial discrepancies we see can’t be explained simply by differences in income. It will take a concerted effort by banks, non-bank lenders and financial regulators to overcome the systemic disadvantages that Black, Latino and indigenous borrowers still face.”
In the Los Angeles/Long Beach/Glendale metropolitan statistical area, Latinos make up nearly half of the population but received less than 23% of home purchase loans. The Black community represents 7.76% of the population and received 4.04% of home purchase loans, according to Elhalaby.
The report, “Home Lending to Communities of Color in California,” is based on data for 2019 reported under the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.
Among the report’s key findings:
— Black and Latino shares of home purchase loans in the state were only about 60% of what would be expected based on their percentage of the state’s population, while whites were overrepresented. Native Americans’ share of home mortgages was about half of what would be expected based on their population;
— even among low-income communities, Black and Latino borrowers lagged behind whites in their share of home purchase loans, indicating that the racial and ethnic discrepancies can’t be explained solely by income differences;
— women of color make up 30% of California’s population but received only about 8% of home loans; and
— non-bank lenders, which operate similarly to traditional lenders but are not regulated by the Community Reinvestment Act, are gaining market share without making community commitments common among traditional banks.
The Greenlining Institute is a policy, research, organizing and leadership institute working for racial and economic justice, according to its website.
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surfside 6 says
Unhappy liberals? Yeah, well no kidding! But this multicultural viper pit was YOUR big idea liberals and nobody elses! Must have been a million better things everybody could have done with their lives. Can’t wait until they finally figure that out…
Laughing says
Please explain. What exactly is a multicultural viper pit?
Fairly certain anytime one group of people merges with another, for example Europeans coming to the Americas, bringing others from around the world as a labor force, etcetera that things will automatically become multicultural.
You knew that though. Guess you just need to lob a stone through some transparent material.
Laughing says
This study was narrow in focus, Why are they given less loans?
Go talk to the community. I have found those groups try to buy homes cash purchase. They save up unlike other groups that leverage debt. It is also part of the why those groups live in multiple generation families, the work together for a common goal rather than expelling the kids to a life of debt.
Can I have my study money now? Oh forgot to apply for it, bummer.
Loam says
“In our society, homeownership remains critical to building wealth and financial stability,” said report author Rawan Elhalaby…
But homeownership is a product of a long line of life events, yet I bet the authors of the report never studied it that way. For homeownership to be possible, a person has to have a steady job, a skilled job to reach a certain threshold of income (especially in So Cal), must establish a good credit behavior, must save for a down payment, etc. Could there be behavioral or cultural causes for this gap between social groups beyond just racist reasons for turning down loans?
We love to talk about “systemic” issues but so few people understand the concepts. There is a clear gap in educational outcomes from the LAUSD system – blacks and hispanics come out of our high school system with clearly less education or academic preparedness than other groups. Could this disparate outcome have an impact on the home loans in Los Angeles County? But LAUSD has plenty of funding from the state (urban schools get more per-student state funding than suburban schools) and Californian teachers are know for bring more liberal and more socially accepting than other areas. Clearly, behavior in school and poor personal choices as a young adult leads to differences in home loan qualifications?
Everyone needs to start looking beyond the cover of the book.
Terminology says
There is no such thing as “indigenous” anything. Those people migrated here as well.
Laughing says
Indigenous basically refers to peoples that have populated an area during pre-history. Talking tens of thousands of years.
Genius says
Another worthless study.
GFYS says
That’s because they get them for free commie bastard gfys
Anne says
Always beating the racism drum—further causing division and resentment. Whenever looking at data, one must be mindful of the person/group that is drawing the conclusions and their agenda.
It is easy to use data to make a point that may not be fully accurate or that is flat out dishonest. It indicates that a particular group should have a percent of the loans equal to their representation in the population.
1.) Did they even apply for loans? If so, what percent? Because if they aren’t even applying, then all of this is pointless! This article did not say they were denied loans! 2.) What was their credit score/credit worthiness? 3). Were they able to come up with the large down payment to qualify for a loan?
Of course the equity person is going to say it’s all inequitable because otherwise he’d be out of a job. Sadly, too many will read this article and will fall for it hook, line, and sinker without questioning.
Anne says
Conveniently, this article leaves out Asians, who also were given loans at a percent higher than their representation in the population—not just whites. Very disingenuous! This rhetoric is getting old. There are a multitude of reasons why some are not seeking loans. Such a cop out!
Why? says
If home purchase loan access differences can’t be explained by differences in income, can they be explained by – – personal debt, late payments or credit scores?
Loam says
That’s the problem with this article – it only scratches the surface and leave so many possibilities untouched. You make an excellent point about credit scores. It would be an easy way to numerically compare the ability to apply for a home loan, but the study never touches on that.