The impact of the housing slump on minorities have been severe since they are the ones likely to have gotten subprime mortgages during the Real Estate industry’s heyday. Today I caught on an article published by the Times Herald about a group of Filipinos effecting change amidst this crisis.

Members of the San Diego-based Mabuhay Alliance, Inc. said it’s clear that the financial bleeding in this country must be stanched, and since the problem started with the housing market, the nation’s mortgage lending institutions must change the way they operate, said spokesman Bob Gnaizda.

“The banks can voluntarily agree, or the FDIC can say that any bank that gets bailout assistance must have a moratorium on foreclosures,” Gnaizda said. “They’ll have to make sure people aren’t paying more than about 30 percent of their net income on housing, and to do that, they can lower the interest rate and/or increase the life of the loan and/or lower the amount of the loan.”

“Solano County could be the first area to bring this up in the face of the $700 billion bailout,” he said. “When the Vallejo City Council and the Solano Board of Supervisors ask for this moratorium, they’ll be sending a message to Wall Street and to Congress and the banking regulators that there’s a grassroots movement afoot.”

The movement is already spreading, he said.

[read the full article]