Ethnically bounded homeownership: qualitative insights on Los Angeles immigrant homeowners’ experiences during the U.S. Great Recession

Abstract

Immigrant homeowners’ function within ethnic boundaries in the housing market may have helped or hindered them during the recent U.S. Great Recession. This research explores this theme through interviews with immigrant and non-immigrant homeowners from four ethnic communities in Los Angeles County and the non-profit organizations that tried to assist them. Immigrant homeowners turned to co-ethnics for advice and support and formed multigenerational households as a strategy to achieve and sustain homeownership. Language and cultural barriers primed them for risky loans and thwarted their pursuit of refinance and modification when they struggled to make mortgage payments. These findings conform to existing evidence of ethnic segmentation in the housing market and imply that analyses of home buying and homeownership in areas with significant immigrant populations should factor in the role of ethnicity.

Keywords:

• Immigrants
• foreclosures
• ethnic communities
• housing counselors
• non-profits

Notes

1. The Community Reinvestment Act (1977) requires banks to proactively lend to communities where they take deposits.

2. For instance, California state law now requires mortgage brokers and lawyers negotiating loan modification to translate documents into five languages: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean. However, non-compliance fines are low ($2500 for the first offence) and banks and borrowers speaking less common languages and dialects (e.g. Thai or Khmer) are not covered (Shikai, 2012).