My cousin Meg Fidler, executive director of the Petra Foundation, brought this article in  New American Media to my attention. This story origianlly appeared in El Diaro/La Prensa, and was produced as part of NAM’s Stimulus Watch coverage and was funded with a grant from the Open Society Institute. It is part three of a three-part series. You can read part one here. and part two here

Elba Reyes, from Puerto Rico, and her husband thought they had found a home to raise their five children when they bought their house five years ago in Bushwick on 59 Harman Street, an area of two-story houses.

However, Reyes, 44, is now having nightmares about intruders breaking into her home and harming her children.

“Once again you can see drugs being sold on the streets; you often hear gun shots,” Reyes said. “I am at home with my children and I hear helicopters and police sirens.”

The economic crisis has left an epidemic of foreclosures in Bushwick, especially in the southern area, where many Hispanic homeowners like Reyes live. Just on her block, three houses have “for sale” signs; another five are abandoned, with boarded-up doors and windows, accumulating trash and graffiti.