Uncategorized

Blacks, Latinos More Vulnerable to Consumer Fraud

Published

6 years ago

July 5, 2019

African Americans and Hispanics continue to be victimized by consumer scams at li slier rates than white Americans but are more reluctant to report their experiences, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) officials lathered in Milwaukee. Wis.

“African Americans are almost twice as likely to be victims of consumer fraud as whites.” said Todd Kossow, FTC’s Midwest Regional Director, noting that Hispanics also are victimized “at a significantly higher rate than whites.”

He listed debt-related scams hat hold out the hope of avoiding foreclosure, paying down student loans, and credit card debt among the leading monetary enticements that lure poor, low-income, or otherwise financially marginal individuals to grasp at the false promises of solvency and freedom from creditors.

Kossow led off a discussion on consumer fraud with other FTC officials and an all-star panel of experts drawn from federal agencies, including 1RS Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Elder Justice Initiative. U.S. Postal Inspector Service, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

They were joined by a representative from Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation’s auto division, other state and Milwaukee city agencies, including the Milwaukee Public School District, as well as local participants from consumer advocacy organizations like the AARP. and the Better Business Bureau. Media also attended the event, held at Milwaukee’s Washington Park Branch Library.

Sandy Close, founder of Ethnic Media Services, termed the symposium “a convening of fraud busters in order to create a community of informed advocates. Local media are vital to this effort.” EMS. a San Francisco organization that serves ethnic media, has cohosted similar events with the Federal Trade Commission for over three years in cities across the country. The magnitude of the crisis is pervasive and daunting.

Kossow said the latest data show that 11 percent of America’s adult population, or approximately 25.6 million people. were victims of scams in one year alone. Though reporting can be done anonymously, African Americans and His- panics have been less likely to report fraud, making it more difficult for enforcement officials to alert consumers to the latest scams. That underreporting prompted an FTC report.

In Milwaukee, and throughout the country, imposter scams comprise the greatest number of consumer fraud events: “any scam where someone pretends to be who they are not in order to get your money.” Kossow explained.

These scams are often initiated over the phone by an individual who claims to be an 1RS agent, or is calling from the Social Security Administration, from a well-known institutional authority or reputable corporation. Also proliferating are technical support scams, where the caller convinces a consumer that a computer or a piece of equipment needs a patch or adjustment of some kind.

Aside from fraudulent schemes that can potentially affect any consumer, there are scams rooted in bitter legacies of discrimination, for example, when banks, through redlining, declined to offer mortgages to African Americans seeking to live in certain neighborhoods or zip codes.

Insurance companies likewise shirked legal obligations behind the veneer of prudently avoiding doing business with “high-risk individuals,” the not so discreet tenu for people of predominantly non-European descent, or. who. if then insured. were charged exorbitant rates.

Jessica Roulette, an attorney at Legal Action of Wisconsin, and a native of Milwaukee, spoke to the ramifications of this history’. “Scammers prey on the effects of structural racism. the fact that minorities have been excluded from our banking system: excluded from home ownership.” She cited the 2008 financial crisis as but one fairly recent example of how financially unsophisticated. low-income consumers, were steered into burdensome mortgages designed to fail.

She outlined how structural inequities have affected minority and poor communities in her city and continue to impede home ownership, the primary means of the transfer of intergenerational wealth in America.

Immigrants also, especially those who have functioned outside the traditional banking system, are vulnerable to these types of scams. Without community members sharing their knowledge and gaining an understanding of their rights, simply put. Roulette said, “it’s easy to be deceived.”

Khalil Abdullah, Ethnic Media Services

Posts by Khalil Abdullah, Ethnic Media Services

Uncategorized

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

6 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

10 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

11 months ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.