AFR’s foreclosure working group has appealed to the monitor of the national mortgage settlement to include race, ethnicity, and geography in a public process of evaluation. In a letter to Joseph Smith of the North Carolina-based Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight, the working group pointed out that the mortgage meltdown had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, “due to the predatory lending practices that fueled the subprime bubble… Unfortunately,” the letter continued, “we are seeing signs that these communities and families will once again be left behind.”

The working group wants banks to be required to report – and the monitor to make public – demographic and geographic data on homeowner relief.” The letter also asked the monitor to “review fair lending compliance in its audit of consumer relief activities.”