Minorities hit hard by Recession

Many Americans became poorer during the great recession, losing the value of assets like homes, investments and savings accounts. But a new Urban Institute study finds minorities were hit harder, especially blacks and Hispanics. As of 2010, white families, on average, were about six-times as wealthy as black or Hispanic families. Before the recession, white families were only about four-times wealthier. The Urban Institute’s Caroline Ratcliffe co-wrote the study and says the recession didn’t cause the gap, but exacerbated it. She gives two examples.  “Hispanics lost the most in housing wealth and African-American families had large declines in retirement assets.” Ratcliffe offers this explanation for why Hispanics lost the most in housing wealth.  “It looks like Hispanic families were trying to live the American Dream and buy their first home and many of them got caught up and pulled down by the great recession and the housing crisis.” Federal policies have not helped, concludes Ratcliffe. “When you look at federal long-term asset building policies, the cards are stacked against low-income, low-wealth Americans and minorities fall into this group.” To read the complete report from the Urban Institute, visit www.urban.org.