Homelessness amidst the boom is a scandalous situation. According to a 1999 study by the Urban Institute of Washington, D.C., about 65 percent more people in the United States spent time being homeless in 1996 than in 1987. It is hardly unheard of for a worker with a steady job that pays minimum wage, or just above it, to become homeless. Given rent inflation, this phenomenon threatens to become rather common. But the housing crisis is not confined to apartment dwellers.
Home prices are also on the rise.
Minorities are less likely than whites to obtain mortgage financing and, if successful in obtaining a mortgage, tend to receive less generous amounts and terms. Some lenders take a harsher stance in foreclosure decisions against minority customers than against whites. In extreme cases, some lenders may even increase their profits by making loans that encourage defaults, initiating foreclosure proceedings as soon as payments are missed, and selling the property for profit. Across the country, the struggle to stay adequately housed in the face of high costs is leading some to make desperate investments. People who have been denied loans from conventional lenders are particularly vulnerable to a new breed of usury.