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[mouseover for completed foreclosures]
NEW HAVEN FORECLOSURES

Bill Rankin, 2012


See the article about these maps in the New Haven Independent.


Most media reports of the recent foreclosure crisis have emphasized the struggles of middle-class families trying to keep their homes. But, not surprisingly, the worst effects of the Great Recession have been felt by the poor rather than the middle class. These maps make the unequal burdens of mortgage debt exceptionally clear.

In New Haven, the largest concentrations of foreclosures are in predominatly poor, non-white neighborhoods like Fair Haven, Newhallville, and Hill. In these neighborhoods, foreclosures are more just than a financial tragedy for individual families; they also create major neighborhood problems. With banks often failing to find new buyers, foreclosed houses will remain unoccupied and deteriorate, quickly becoming sites for prostitution, drugs, and large piles of garbage. In many cases it's unclear whether these homes will ever be restored to livability.


Data from the ROOF project.