Immigrants and the crisis

This opinion piece talks about the fact that homeowners in the immigrant community have not been as hard hit as other groups. People who blame the number of foreclosures on immigrants are simply wrong. - - Donna Poisl

| 2009-05-16 | La Opinión

There has been much speculation on the causes of the mortgage crisis, going so far as to blame immigrants for having taken on loans they could not repay. While it is true that some homeowners committed this error, the position of immigrants in this regard is much more complex and not nearly as negative as some have attempted to portray it.

A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center (Through Boom and Bust: Minorities, Immigrants and HomeOwnership) indicates that Latino immigrants have weathered this crisis better than US-born Latinos and African-Americans.

In short, the immigrant community ended up better off than the others after the booms and busts of the real estate market between 1995 and 2008. Over this period, the gap between the percentage of Latino immigrant homeowners and white homeowners was reduced.
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