The social structure of mortgage discrimination
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nihms978243.pdf
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346.01 KB
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Author(s)
Albright, Len
Rugh, Jacob S.
Massey, Douglas S.
Steil, Justin P
Date Issued
November 2017
Journal
Housing Studies
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Citation
Steil, Justin P. et al. “The Social Structure of Mortgage Discrimination.” Housing Studies 33, 5 (November 2017): 759–776 © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
In the decade leading up to the US housing crisis, black and Latino borrowers disproportionately received high-cost, high-risk mortgages—a lending disparity well documented by prior quantitative studies. We analyse qualitative data from actors in the lending industry to identify the social structure though which this mortgage discrimination took place. Our data consist of 220 depositions, declarations and related exhibits submitted by borrowers, loan originators, investment banks and others in fair lending cases. Our analyses reveal specific mechanisms through which loan originators identified and gained the trust of black and Latino borrowers in order to place them into higher cost, higher risk loans than similarly situated white borrowers. Loan originators sought out lists of individuals already borrowing money to buy consumer goods in predominantly black and Latino neighbourhoods to find potential borrowers, and exploited intermediaries within local social networks, such as community or religious leaders, to gain those borrowers’ trust. Keywords: Housing finance; discriminatory lending; racial equity
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2017.1390076
