A South Florida watchdog group is filing a complaint against the federal housing agency known as Fannie Mae. HOPE Inc. says Fannie Mae neglected foreclosed properties in predominantly black and Hispanic communities but kept up homes in white neighborhoods.
Wednesday, HOPE and 18 other fair housing groups from across the country held a national press conference to call attention to Fannie Mae’s alleged racial discrimination in how it maintained foreclosed properties nationwide. Fannie Mae has denied the accusation.
The groups, along with National Fair Housing Alliance, are filing their complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
From 2012 to 2014, HOPE took a look at all unoccupied Fannie Mae-foreclosed houses listed for sale in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Of those 64 properties, the nonprofit found 49 were located in predominantly black or Hispanic neighborhoods such as Miami Gardens, Hialeah and Lauderhill.
Homes in these communities were more likely to have have overgrown grass, debris and unsecured or broken doors or windows than the 15 foreclosed properties in white communities, according to HOPE’s investigation.
“If you go to houses in African-American neighborhoods, you’re going to see more deficiencies than houses in white neighborhoods,” said Danny Howe, HOPE’s vice-president for fair lending initiatives.
The disproportionate number of foreclosed properties in black or Hispanic neighborhoods, Howe said, is also an indication of the predatory lending that was rampant in minority communities.
As part of its investigation, HOPE also found Fannie Mae properties in black and Hispanic communities were more likely to have signs plastered on their doors that read, “Warning, this property is corporate owned” along with threats of prosecution for theft or vandalism.
These signs were not found on Fannie Mae’s foreclosed properties in white neighborhoods. The only sign found in a predominantly white enclave in Broward advertised a $2,000 homebuyer incentive.
“Fannie Mae is wreaking havoc on middle- and working-class communities of color nationwide through a pattern of neglect that is frankly appalling,” said Shanna L. Smith, president and CEO of NFHA. “Fannie Mae’s failure to take care of its massive foreclosure inventory in African-American and Latino neighborhoods further destabilizes the communities hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.”
In 2013, NFHA, HOPE and other housing advocates nationwide filed a similar complaint with HUD against Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo settled that complaint and agreed to invest $39 million in minority communities hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis. The investment included neighborhood stabilization, property rehabilitation and housing development programs.
