May 9th 2012 12:01PM
Eleanor Smith vividly recalls the first time she experienced housing discrimination. Then in her 30s, Smith and a friend had been driving around neighborhoods in Decatur, Ga., attempting to hunt down a home with an accessible entrance for Smith, who has polio and has used a wheelchair all her life. After responding to a... Continue Reading »
Apr 19th 2012 4:45PM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced its intention to crack down on discrimination by lenders against women and minorities. On Wednesday the agency -- a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's attempt to reform the nation's financial system -- sent a letter to lenders, which it called "Fair Notice on... Continue Reading »
Nov 21st 2011 4:22PM
Blacks and Hispanics with credit scores higher than 660 received subprime and option adjustable-rate mortgages three times as often as white borrowers in similar financial standing between 2004 and 2008, according to a new study from the Center for Responsible Lending. The center studied the loan quality, borrower... Continue Reading »
Aug 26th 2010 10:40AM
Not long after University of Chicago systems administrator Vanessa Matthews, 49, separated from her husband, she experienced grave economic hardship. Not only did she lose her estranged husband's income, which had helped pay the $2,539 mortgage payment on the couple's duplex in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, but... Continue Reading »
Mar 1st 2010 12:00PM
While the U.S. military tries to figure out what to do about "Don't ask, don't tell," the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department is trying to figure out how to conduct a study on anti-gay discrimination in the housing market. Last week, the agency began reaching out to to folks in New York, Chicago and San... Continue Reading »
