Dispatches

Chapel Hill, N.C. – A new study by researchers at the UNC Center for Community Capital finds a clear link between homeownership and how low-income families perceive crime in their neighborhoods. Not only does homeownership lead residents to take steps to protect and secure their neighborhoods thereby reducing crime levels, those perceptions are also important because they affect residents’ mental and physical health as well. The study compares the perceptions … Continued

Seattle, Wash. – Good mortgage lending stewardship is key to affordable homeownership, a UNC Center for Community Capital researcher and partners told a national audience. “Not only did community lending not cause the crisis — the flexible and sound lending that was typical of CRA mortgage programs can show us how to get out of it,” center executive director Janneke Ratcliffe told community development professionals Wednesday at the 2012 National … Continued

Kim R. Manturuk has been named senior research associate in financial services for the UNC Center for Community Capital. Manturuk will lead the center’s consumer financial services research and policy team, which conducts research and analysis to understand what products, services and conditions promote and inhibit wealth creation and economic mobility among low-wealth families and communities. A sociologist, Manturuk brings expertise understanding the complex sociological factors that determine how and … Continued

Researchers at the UNC Center for Community Capital will evaluate the impact of new small dollar loan program aimed at addressing the critical barrier of cost for immigrants working to become U.S citizens. Although there are multiple barriers on the path to citizenship, the naturalization fee of nearly $700 remains a significant one. CASA de Maryland, a community organization working with low-income Latinos, has created the Maryland New Americans Loan … Continued

Washington, D.C. – UNC Center for Community Capital executive director Janneke Ratcliffe spoke on “Redefining the Dream: Affordable Homeownership after the Great Recession” Feb. 8 at Habitat on the Hill in Washington, D.C. “Homeownership did not cause the foreclosure crisis. Risky products drove defaults that precipitated the crisis,” Ratcliffe told Habitat volunteers gathered for the three-day event to learn about policies and strategies for expanding homeownership for low- and moderate-income … Continued

As federal regulators consider setting down-payment standards on new mortgages, a new study shows such rules could push 60 percent of creditworthy borrowers into high-cost loans or out of the market altogether. A proposal by regulators to define a high-quality mortgage as one with at least a 20 percent down payment, or possibly 10 percent, would hobble a healthy segment of the housing market. While higher down payments do result … Continued

Washington, D.C. — Michael A. Stegman, founder and former director of the UNC Center for Community Capital, has been tapped to join U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner’s team as an advisor on housing finance policy. Stegman most recently served as director of policy and housing for U.S. programs at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Stegman founded the UNC Center for Community Capital in 1997 while … Continued

Chicago, Ill. – Changes in federal bankruptcy laws enacted in 2005 prevented many low-income households from taking advantage of the fresh start bankruptcy could have offered during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, according to new research by the UNC Center for Community Capital. Center research director Mark Lindblad will report two key findings on the impact of bankruptcy reform on low-income homeowners today (Jan. 6) at the … Continued

By Roberto G. Quercia, Director UNC Center for Community Capital Occupy Your Home advocates across the country have good reason to demonstrate their frustration over mounting foreclosures and market excesses. They have called for a National Day of Action today (Dec. 6) to protest. Homeownership, long the cornerstone of the American dream, is cracked and crumbling. The foreclosure crisis has created two Americas: one prosperous and hopeful, the other hopeless … Continued

Washington, D.C. – UNC Center for Community Capital Executive Director Janneke Ratcliffe joined colleagues from the Ford Foundation and National Council of LaRaza today (Dec. 1) to discuss the future of homeownership for low-income and minority families at the Consumer Federation of America’s Financial Services Conference in Washington, D.C. “Our decade of research on thousands of low-income borrowers clearly demonstrates that homeownership for low-wealth, lower-income and minority borrowers can be … Continued