During the month of December, I spent a couple of weeks traveling around the country with a video camera again (this time, in a plane). A couple of staff members of Consumers Union and I interviewed nine people from California, Washington State, the Chicago Area and Atlanta who have either lost their home or are facing a foreclosure (click here for the pics).

All but a couple of interviewees broke down in tears while telling the story of getting home loans that, in many ways, reversed their life dreams. I’m editing the videos now which I will soon be posting here.

The photo above is of a home in a low-income neighborhood in Atlanta. During a weekday afternoon drive through, seemed like every third house was up for a bank auction, had a foreclosure or “For Sale” sign. Reminded me of when I went to the ninth ward in New Orleans this past summer. There, only about one in every five houses was occupied. Two totally different disasters – one a hurricane, the other, a sort of economic plight. But both disasters show themselves as vacant houses in mostly low-income neighborhoods of color.