The Daily News on Wednesday lays out a convincing argument that the foreclosure wave sweeping parts of the United States may drench the outer-boroughs as well. The argument uses numbers from a study by the nonprofit Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project–and the numbers are sobering:
In some areas of South Jamaica and Bedford-Stuyvesant, as many as 10 homes per block faced foreclosure last year… Mortgage lenders have filed 3,116 new motions to foreclose against delinquent homeowners since Jan. 1… Our city is now on track to surpass 15,000 filings this year, more than double the total two years ago, according to the study, which examines one- to four-family homes.
The News, like many, blames the predatory practices of some subprime-mortgage lenders, those who feasted on the aspirations of people craving homeownership during the housing boom, people who probably shouldn’t have had large sums of money loaned to them.
The dearth of such mortgages in Manhattan, however, ensures that at least one borough will likely escape the wave washing ashore from Staten Island through the Bronx.
– Tom Acitelli
