Brooklyn Foreclosure Homes Driven by Increasing Poverty
September 23rd, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
Industry experts said that a great number of Brooklyn foreclosure homes were owned by minorities. They blamed the widespread poverty in the area for the increase in the number of foreclosure properties.
Poverty is becoming a serious problem in New York. The worsening situation is more evident in the Hasidic neighborhood at Borough Park in Brooklyn. People looking for food from dumpsters or picking up bird food from the ground are common sights in the neighborhood swamped by a growing number of poor residents.
The kosher soup kitchen, Masbia used to serve about eight meals every night since it opened in 2005. Now, volunteers are serving meals to as many as 200 people a night. Masbia executive director Alexander Rapaport said that the full-service soup kitchen has been serving meals to about 60 children for some time now.
He said that helping other people is very fulfilling but it is very painful to see poverty exists. Poverty has been around in the country but it went out of control due to the economic downturn. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau of Statistics, over 37 million people in the country do not have money to buy or pay for their basic needs such as clothing, food and housing.
The increasing poverty rate is also being blamed for the flood of Brooklyn foreclosure homes on the market. Because many people could not even afford to buy their basic needs, it also follows that they do not have the money also to pay for their mortgage, thus leaving their properties to foreclosures.
Meanwhile, a growing number of Jews are among those struggling financially. Data from the 2001 Jewish Population Survey showed that about 7 percent of American Jewish were living below the national poverty lines, which means a four-member family earning not more than $22,050.
Furthermore, over 14 percent of American Jewish are nearing the poverty line, representing about 700,000 Jews, with 190,000 of them children.
Jewish Relief Agency (JRA) executive director Amy Krulik said that the growing demand for soup kitchen services throughout the area and across the United States is an indication that more and more American Jews were living below the national poverty line.
Industry experts said that current recession has caused widespread unemployment which left many families struggling financially.
