An analysis of the relationship between housing foreclosures, lending practices, and neighborhood ecology: evidence from a distressed country

ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: Residential foreclosures increased sharply during the 1990s and in the first years of the twenty-first century. These foreclosures have profound impacts on the households and neighborhoods involved. Although foreclosures occur everywhere, the geography of foreclosures displays a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Professional geographer 2009-02, Vol.61 (1), p.101-120
Main Authors: Kaplan, David H, Sommers, Gail G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ecology
Economic geography
Housing
Human geography
Interethnic relations
Mortgages
Neighbourhoods
Race
Real estate market
U.S.A
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Summary:ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: Residential foreclosures increased sharply during the 1990s and in the first years of the twenty-first century. These foreclosures have profound impacts on the households and neighborhoods involved. Although foreclosures occur everywhere, the geography of foreclosures displays a pattern tied to a metropolitan area's social, fiscal, and economic geography. We examine these correspondences as they exist within Summit County (Akron), Ohio, between 2001 and 2003. Foreclosures themselves often result from unfortunate financial events that can affect any household, but we found that the geography of foreclosures corresponds primarily to Summit County's racial distribution, above and beyond any correspondence with income levels and housing fiscal stress. There also exists a clear coincidence of foreclosures with subprime lending, itself associated with Summit County's racial patterns. Concentrations of foreclosures in particular neighborhoods can be tremendously harmful to the social and economic health of the neighborhood. These comparisons help us to better understand the neighborhood ecology of foreclosure rates and subprime lending. // ABSTRACT IN SPANISH: Los juicios hipotecarios de residencias se incrementaron sensiblemente durante la década de los 90 y primeros años del siglo XXI. Tales juicios impactaron con fuerza los hogares y vecindarios implicados, y aunque estas son ocurrencias ubicuas, la geografía de estos problemas hipotecarios muestra un patrón ligado con la geografía social, fiscal y económica de un área metropolitana. En este artículo examinamos estas correspondencias presentes en el Condado Summit (Akron), Ohio, entre 2001 y 2003. Los propios juicios hipotecarios son a menudo el resultado de infortunados problemas financieros que pueden afectar a cualquier hogar, pero hemos descubierto que su geografía corresponde primariamente con la distribución racial del Condado Summit, más allá de cualquier correspondencia con niveles de ingreso y presiones fiscales sobre la vivienda. Se estableció también una clara coincidencia de estos problemas hipotecarios con préstamos subestándar de dudosa garantía (subprime lending), los que a su turno están asociados con los patrones raciales del Condado. La concentración de juicios hipotecarios en determinados vecindarios puede ser muy dañina para el bienestar económico y social de la comunidad. Las comparaciones hechas nos ayudan a entender mejor la ecología vecinal referida a las tasas de j
ISSN:0033-0124