Martinez defends decision on bias study

• When U.S. Senate hopeful Mel Martinez was HUD secretary, he blocked release of a discrimination study now wanted for a federal lawsuit.

As he runs for the U.S. Senate, Mel Martinez promotes his record as a former housing secretary who helped many Hispanics and African-Americans realize the American dream of home ownership.But before he resigned from HUD last year, Martinez blocked release of a study of whether the nation's two biggest mortgage lenders discriminated against minorities. The taxpayer-funded study, still secret, is now at the center of a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of thousands of consumers who claim they were refused credit or charged higher interest rates because of automated credit-scoring systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Martinez said the disparity study took nearly five years, so the results were outdated. He also questioned the methodology. Census data through June shows 49.7 percent of blacks and 47.4 percent of Hispanics owned homes, compared with 69.2 percent for the overall population. One year after Martinez's decision to shelve the study, housing advocates say they wonder what was in the report and why Martinez kept it secret after initially saying he would release it.  [more ]