Subprime Mortgage Crisis Causing African-Americans to Experience Greatest Loss of...

Subprime Mortgage Crisis Causing African-Americans to Experience Greatest Loss
of Wealth in Modern US History

/CAUTION -- ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 12:01 A.M. ESTTUESDAY, JAN. 15/

Racial Bias of Subprime Mortgage Lenders Accounts for 40% Difference in Losses
Between Whites and People of Color

/ADVANCE/ BOSTON, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report says the
subprime mortgage crisis will cause African-Americans to experience wealth
losses of between $71 billion and $122 billion over its duration. The racial
bias of subprime mortgage lenders accounts for a 40% difference in losses
between whites and people of color.

Foreclosed: The State of the Dream 2008 is available to members of the press
under embargo until 12:01 a.m.January 15, the actual date of King's birthday,
which will be officially celebrated on January 21 this year. This will mark
the fifth year that United for a Fair Economy (UFE) has published its State of
the Dream report. The report may be obtained at
http://www.faireconomy.org/state_of_the_dream_2008.

"As we approach the 79th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
it's important to realize how much ground middle- and working-class Americans
have lost in the subprime crisis," said Amaad Rivera, Program Leader for the
Racial Wealth Divide team at UFE and a report co-author. "Our estimates
indicate that it will cause the greatest loss of wealth for African-Americans
in modern US history."

"The dream of economic stability and opportunity for everyone living in the
US, so eloquently described by Martin Luther King, Jr., is bound up with
homeownership, the most significant source of wealth for most people," said
Dedrick Muhammad, Senior Organizer and Research Associate at the Institute for
Policy Studies, a co-author of the report.

"As a result of cold-blooded targeting of people of color, and low-income
people in general, by the subprime mortgage industry," said Brenda
Cotto-Escalera, Co-Executive Director of United for a Fair Economy (UFE) and a
co-author of the report, "communities across the nation are being torn apart.
As mortgages go into foreclosure, people move out, houses are boarded up,
crime and fires increase, neighboring properties are devalued, and the tax
base erodes."

The report details the types of subprime loans developed and offered by the
industry since 1995, presents evidence of their effect on minority and
low-income communities, and outlines potential solutions.

All co-authors of the report are available for interview or comment.

United for a Fair Economy is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that
spotlights the growing economic divide and works across races, ethnicities and
classes to help shrink it.

SOURCE United for a Fair Economy

Christina Kasica of United for a Fair Economy, +1-617-423-2148 ext. 119,
+1-617-966-0554 (cell)