Rising LI Foreclosures: Latinos & African Americans Hit Hardest

In the 44 months of foreclosure studied by The Times, nine Long Island communities had more than 10 percent of homes in foreclosure. All but two of them — Islandia and Mastic Beach — had a mostly minority population at the time of the 2000 census.

The communities cut a swath from Freeport, Roosevelt, Uniondale and Hempstead in Nassau County to Wyandanch in Suffolk County, then east to Brentwood, Central Islip, Islandia and Mastic Beach.

As has occurred elsewhere in the region, foreclosure has hit African American and Latino areas hardest. In Long Island’s mostly African American and Latino census tracts, more than 13 percent of homes were in foreclosure at some point since 2005 — more than four times the rate for white tracts, raising questions among housing advocates about “reverse redlining” and concerns about the long-term impact of the foreclosure crisis on neighborhoods and the loss of wealth.

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