Source: Tiffanie Stanard / Radio One
“Kept Out: For people of color, banks are shutting the door to homeownership” is the most recent article making headlines written by Aaron Glantz and Emmanuel Martinez of Reveal – from The Center for Investigative Reporting.
The yearlong analysis, based on 31 million records…revealed, African Americans and Latinos continue to be routinely denied conventional mortgage loans at rates far higher than their white counterparts. The report found a pattern of troubling denials for people of color across the country, including in major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Antonio. African Americans faced the most resistance in Southern cities – Mobile, Alabama; Greenville, North Carolina; and Gainesville, Florida – and Latinos in Iowa City, Iowa.
Specifically for Philadelphia: Philadelphia, where Reveal found African Americans were 2.7 times as likely as whites to be denied a conventional mortgage. Today, this part of Philadelphia is majority African American, and the homes are occupied by middle-class workers – teachers, nurses and union craftsmen. Yet in every year from 2012 to 2016, banks denied more conventional loans of all types than they made in Germantown.
Hosts Senator Vincent Hughes and Tiffanie Stanard had the opportunity to interview local Councilman Kenyatta Johnson alongside the authors Aaron Glantz and Emmanuel Martinez of Reveal: to discuss the report, case studies and next steps to ensure Philadelphia and other cities are taking these findings serious and moving forward to solve the problem.
Written by: Tiffanie Stanard, Host/Producer @Philly_Speaks
