A new form of discrimination is beginning to be asserted in court allegations against the big banks. In this case, it is not lending violations that are in question, but rather the way Bank of America allegedly neglects foreclosed and abandoned homes under its care in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
The National Fair Housing Alliance filed a complaint with HUD last week against Bank of America claiming that the bank and some of its subsidiaries were far more likely to maintain and market homes under its control in primarily white neighborhoods than in minority neighborhoods.
The case is based on a NFHA study of 373 foreclosed properties in eight metropolitan areas including Atlanta, Dallas, Dayton, Grand Rapids, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Oakland/Richmond/Concord, Phoenix and Washington, DC. The REOs in minority communities studied showed that foreclosures were 42% more likely to come with 15 different types of maintenance deficiencies than those foreclosures managed for BOA in non-minority neighborhoods.