What It's Like to Lose a Home

By now, everyone knows the dismal facts on foreclosure: Almost 8 million families are behind in their mortgage payments, and more than 8 million are expected to lose their homes over the next four years.

Sobering, indeed. But to read the testimony behind these figures is shattering: The mother who sank all of her savings into a dream house and walked away with nothing; the father, forced to move into a far-away rental, who now drives an hour each night to retrieve his son from daycare.

Foreclosure has hit Latinos in disproportionate numbers (an estimated 400,000 are believed to have lost their homes in 2009 alone) so last week the National Council of La Raza published a report focusing on their experience. For those anticipating a dry recitation of facts and figures, “The Foreclosure Generation” will be a shocker.

Here, speak Latino families from Texas, Georgia, Florida, California and Michigan, reeling from dislocation and disillusionment as they describe layoffs, shattered dreams and banks that refused to help.

“…the house that you’ve been wanting for your life. You know, you – that's something you want to accomplish and you accomplished it, and you put all your money into it, that you worked hard for and commuted every day for five years, and set all my money up and to lose it, it was depressing,” said a mother from California.

Among the Latino families profiled, homes generally represented two-thirds of total wealth so home loss rocked their entire economic foundation. Most families reported marital discord, depression and poor school performance for children as a result of foreclosure. Young people, in particular, were deeply affected.

“Did you say goodbye to the house, Grandpa?” a little boy asked his grandfather as the family prepared to move away.

“And I was like, “Yes, I did. I said goodbye to the house.”