Black Homebuyers In Chicago Lost Billions To Predatory Housing Contracts

By Nereida Moreno
Demonstrators protest housing discrimination by Chicago real estate dealers in 1966. A new study says the city’s black families lost between $3 billion and $4 billion in wealth because of predatory housing contracts during the 1950s and 1960s.
Demonstrators protest housing discrimination by Chicago real estate dealers in 1966. A new study says the city's black families lost between $3 billion and $4 billion in wealth because of predatory housing contracts during the 1950s and 1960s. AP Photo
Demonstrators protest housing discrimination by Chicago real estate dealers in 1966. A new study says the city’s black families lost between $3 billion and $4 billion in wealth because of predatory housing contracts during the 1950s and 1960s.
Demonstrators protest housing discrimination by Chicago real estate dealers in 1966. A new study says the city's black families lost between $3 billion and $4 billion in wealth because of predatory housing contracts during the 1950s and 1960s. AP Photo

Black Homebuyers In Chicago Lost Billions To Predatory Housing Contracts

By Nereida Moreno
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Black homebuyers in Chicago lost at least $3.2 billion dollars because of racist and predatory housing contracts between 1950 and 1970, according to a new study.

In a report titled “The Plunder of Black Wealth in Chicago: New Findings on Predatory Housing Contracts,” researchers found that between 75 percent and 95 percent of homes sold to black families during the 1950s and 1960s were sold through home contract sales.

Those who bought on contract paid an additional $587 each month (in current dollars) than they would have under a conventional mortgage.

Morning Shift talks to WBEZ’s Natalie Moore for more on this issue.

GUEST: Natalie Moore, WBEZ reporter on the Race, Class and Communities Desk

LEARN MORE: Contract Buying Robbed Black Families In Chicago Of Billions (WBEZ 5/30/19)

‘A plunder of black wealth’: Predatory housing contracts gouged Chicago’s black homeowners, new report says (Chicago Sun-Times 5/30/19)