Effects of the Housing Crisis and Unemployment

At the heart of the recession is the housing crisis. Asians in the Bay Area were--and are still--vulnerable to the housing and mortgage crisis. More Asians were able to buy homes in the period just before the meltdown and then more than 204,000 Asian American families lost their homes between January 2007 and December 2009. It is important to note that Asians typically pool incomes across generations or in extended families to live in one household, so more people are affected by each foreclosure. In fact, 41 percent of Asian homeowners were living in unaffordable housing, compared to a 27 percent of whites when the housing bubble burst. 

Looking at unemployment, Asian Americans are the only major racial group in California for whom unemployment worsened every quarter during the first year of the downturn (January 2008-March 2009) and although the unemployment rate is starting to level off, many are still without jobs. 

How does the bad economy affect Asian Americans as a community? To learn more, we interviewed community organizations who closely serve those in need. We learned about the ripple effects of the financial losses that so many of Asians have faced. 

Read the full report here.