AUSTIN, Texas - Middle-class families have taken the biggest hit during "The Great Recession," according to a Federal Reserve Bulletin report on family wealth. Expects think declining home values and the foreclosure crisis are largely responsible, since home ownership is the main source of wealth for most Americans.

Algernon Austin, director, Program on Race, Ethnicity & the Economy, Economic Policy Institute, says for people of color, the decline is even worse, since many minorities have been the targets of descriminatory lending practices.

"Following the Federal Reserve data for African Americans, we saw that the home ownership rate actually peaked in 2004, and we've been seeing a rather strong decline since then."

Texas has weathered the foreclosure crisis better than most states, with home values remaining relatively stable. However, many non-white borrowers in the state were handicapped by unfair lending practices going back at least a decade, according to U.S. Department of Justice complaints filed against lenders. Just this month, Wells Fargo agreed to pay out $175 million after being accused of targeting minorities for low-quality loans in 36 states - including more than 1,000 borrowers in the Houston area alone.

Because of such practices, the decline in minority wealth is not surprising, says David Berenbaum, chief program officer, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, given the lax underwriting standards of big financial institutions for home loan products.

"African American and Latino consumers were often steered into products - frankly, subprime loans or nontraditional loans - when they qualified for prime, high credit, high-quality products."

While the Bush administration promoted minority home lending during the last decade, some critics blame the Democrat-sponsored Community Reinvestment Act for the crisis. It's a charge Berenbaum rejects.

"The myth out there is that low incomes from consumers who were not ready for home ownership created this crisis. In fact, most of the subprime loans were refinanced loans, not loans designed to expand home ownership."

The Federal Reserve report says average middle-class net worth rose significantly during the first half of the last decade, then dropped off, with Hispanics and blacks experiencing the sharpest losses.

The June 2012 Federal Reserve Bulletin report is available at http://tinyurl.com/ch2arax.






With the housing bubble responsible for much of the recent decline in middle-class wealth in the United States, some experts say discriminatory lending practices over the past decade have led to an especially sharp wealth drop among people of color. Comments from Algernon Austin, director, Program on Race, Ethnicity & the Economy, Economic Policy Institute; and David Berenbaum, chief program officer, National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

Middle-class families have taken the biggest hit during "The Great Recession," according to a recent Federal Reserve report on family wealth. Experts think declining home values and the foreclosure crisis are largely responsible, with home ownership the main source of wealth for most Americans. Algernon Austin with the Economic Policy Institute says, for people of color, the decline is even worse, as many minorities have been the targets of discriminatory lending practices.

"Following the Federal Reserve data for African Americans, we saw that the home ownership rate actually peaked in 2004, and we've been seeing a rather strong decline since then."

Texas has weathered the foreclosure crisis better than most, with home values remaining relatively stable. Still, many non-white borrowers in the state were handicapped by unfair lending practices going back at least a decade, according to U-S Department of Justice complaints filed against lenders. Just this month, Wells Fargo agreed to pay out 175-million dollars after being accused of targeting minorities for low-quality loans in 36 states - including more than a thousand borrowers in the Houston area alone.

Because of such practices, the decline in minority wealth isn't surprising, according to David Berenbaum with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

"African American and Latino consumers were often steered into products - subprime loans or nontraditional loans - when they qualified for prime, high credit, high-quality products."

While the Bush administration promoted minority home lending during the last decade, some critics blame the Democratic-sponsored Community Reinvestment Act for the crisis. It's a charge Berenbaum rejects.

"The myth out there is that low incomes from consumers who were not ready for home ownership created this crisis. In fact, most of the subprime loans were refinance loans, not loans designed to expand home ownership."

The Federal Reserve report says average middle-class net worth rose significantly during the first half of the last decade, but then dropped off - with Hispanics and Blacks experiencing the sharpest losses.

Middle-class wealth is on the decline, and many say the housing bubble is the primary reason. With the decline even worse for people of color, experts are pointing to unfair lending practices. Peter Malof has more.

Peter Malof reporting.

Reach Austin via Karen Connor at 202-775-8810; Berenbaum at 202-628-8866. Federal Reserve Report: http://tinyurl.com/ch2arax. DOJ suit: http://1.usa.gov/MU3rys.






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A New Mexico resident will attend President Joe Biden's State of the Union address tonight as legislation is pending to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

The measure was passed in 1990, with money going to residents of the Southwest who were harmed, either from uranium mining or atomic tests in 1945. The original legislation included "downwinders" in Arizona, Utah and Nevada. But New Mexico was left out, despite the state being home to the world's first atomic bomb testing and explosion.

Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, has made it her life's work to get New Mexico families compensated.

"I've been working for 19 years to bring attention to the negative health effects the people of New Mexico suffered," Cordova explained. "The Trinity bomb was detonated in the middle of our state and adjacent to a bunch of towns where 13,000 people lived in a 50-mile radius."

Cordova was invited to the annual Presidential address by Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. In the coming days, the Senate is scheduled to vote on legislation to reauthorize the act, now scheduled to end in June.

Cordova pointed out the more than 30-year-old compensation program was an admission of guilt on the part of the government but left out many of those harmed. She knows families who have lost relatives to cancer, some within 10 years of the nuclear bomb testing.

"I just hope that people who know I'm present, realize that we will never give up the fight," Cordova asserted. "We will work very hard to get the RECA amendments passed this year, but if by some chance that doesn't happen, we will continue to fight this fight for justice as long as it takes."

This Sunday, the Hollywood blockbuster, Oppenheimer, about the creation of the atomic bomb, is a favorite to win best picture at the 2024 Academy Awards. The film did not address effects to those downwind of the bombing site.


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A new report finds Connecticut's recently released prison population is facing reentry challenges.

The State of Reentry report found resources and services are lacking for formerly incarcerated people. Between 2022 and 2023, 14% of the population said they would be homeless upon release.

It is just the tip of the iceberg as many of the state's Reentry Welcome Centers reported most of their clients were housing unstable.

Scott Wilderman, president and CEO of Career Resources, said it can be attributed to numerous factors including the stigma of being an ex-offender.

"We have to do a better job of educating and working with landlords and try to encourage them to give individuals a second chance," Wilderman contended. "There's no doubt about that. The sad part is, with returning citizens or ex-offenders, there's really no such thing as an ex-offender since everybody always sees the offense."

He thinks Connecticut should focus more on justice reinvestment. Other criminal justice advocates have called for using funds saved by closing prisons to invest in reentry centers. The centers are not funded by the state and have been subsisting on American Rescue Plan funds. When the money expires at the end of the year, it is uncertain how they will be able to help people with life after prison.

Given it is the third year of the report, Wilderman acknowledged there have not been many changes, but he found it surprising, noting there has been plenty of time to make improvements, specifically in areas like education.

"We know education is the great equalizer and having a high school diploma is essential," Wilderman asserted. "It just opens a lot more doors for an individual as it's often a requirement for employment, or in some cases going after further education or job training."

The report noted 66% of incarcerated people with sentences ending in six months said they did not have a high school diploma. Enrollment is down in programs for incarcerated people to complete their degrees. One reason for it is Connecticut's ongoing teacher shortage.


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After a five-year court battle, New Jersey's medical aid-in-dying law has been affirmed by the state's Supreme Court, which rejected an attempt to overturn the statute.

Signed by the governor in 2019, the law was soon challenged by a physician based on religious, personal and constitutional grounds. It allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to get a prescription they can use to end their lives.

Dr. Paul Bryman, a hospice and palliative care physician, is an advocate for medical aid in dying for people who feel their suffering is intolerable.

"I think it's important that that option is available for people who choose to avail themselves of it. It's not for everyone and it's someone's choice whether they want to use that. No one's forced to do it," he explained.

Bryman practices geriatric and internal medicine and believes there are adequate legal safeguards to make sure patients are protected. The law was briefly suspended in August 2019, but reinstated 13 days later as court proceedings continued.

The nonprofit group Compassion & Choices expressed support for the decision as well as expanded and improved end-of-life care options.

Alan Howard, Compassion & Choices attorney, urged the justices to uphold a lower court's ruling.

"We are grateful that the Supreme Court recognized that there are terminally ill New Jersey residents who are counting on this end-of-life care option to bring them peace of mind during this difficult time," said Howard. "Dying people should have this compassionate option to peacefully end their suffering if it becomes unbearable."

Bryman added a total of 186 terminally ill New Jerseyans have used the medical aid-in-dying law and believes the court made the right decision.

"I'm glad that it's finally over and that this law's available for people in New Jersey who have the right to their own health-care decisions," he said.

In addition to New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and nine other states, which represent 22% of all Americans, have authorized medical aid in dying.