The core of the American Dream, especially for immigrants from the Caribbean, is to one day own a house. Usually, the sooner this dream is realized the sweeter it is for the individual.

As the demand for houses increased, a creative way was found to enable this dream, to be fulfilled. However, the creation -- Interest Only Mortgages -- has been turning a lot of these dreams to nightmares, with the increase in foreclosures across America.

With lenders constantly advertising “Great rates, no appraisal, no lender fee, and bad credit okay,” several people who were not necessarily in a position to own a home were lured into making purchases based on these friendly terms.

Interest-only mortgage loans are really an old product (popular back in the 1920’s) that have made a big comeback as mortgage lenders devise ways to turn rising home prices to their advantage. Basically, in the early years of a mortgage the borrower pays only the interest portion of the normal monthly payment for a set period, freeing up the amount that would normally go toward paying off the principal.

Based on a high volume of calls and letters to this newspaper, it seems people in the Diaspora are concerned about the state of politics back in the Caribbean. In a recently published letter to the editor, a reader questioned whether some Caribbean countries were really ready for Independence given their chaotic political environment.

However, it makes little sense to conclude that because there is some amount of political turmoil in the region, it is an inability for countries to govern themselves. In fact, compared to countries in other parts of the world, the independent Caribbean states have fared well at governance. For the jost part Caribbean countries have remained peaceful, although there are shortcomings in many social and economic areas.

What we see happening in CARICOM states is democracy at work, which is the environment that allows political parties and politicians to compete aggressively among themselves, even if this creates the semblance of turmoil. The alternative would be intolerance and the breeding of autocratic and dictatorial governments. We should be thankful that due to the vibrant democratic process in the region, the possibility of dictators being entrenched in the Caribbean seems remote.

Affordable housing is clearly one of the strongest issues being discussed in the current election campaigns leading up to the November 7, mid-term elections. Polls conducted by this and other newspapers indicate that access to affordable housing is a very critical issue in the entire state, and especially in South Florida. Thousands of people living on fixed incomes are finding it increasingly difficult to rent or purchase homes in decent neighborhoods. The situation is dire, and those towards the bottom half of the income groupings are at risk of becoming homeless, living as they do from inadequate paycheck to paycheck.

Against this backdrop came reports over the past month that pointed to gross mismanagement and dubious activities taking place at the Miami-Dade Housing Agency. This mismanagement led to millions of dollars being allotted to developers to build affordable houses that were never built. This despicable act has robbed hundreds of residents the opportunity to remove from squalid living conditions.

The situation is compounded when one of these developers, in addition to defrauding the agency, used some of the money allotted, to build himself an ultra-luxurious home in Miami-Dade. Although this person has been arrested on charges of grand theft and intent to defraud, the matter must not be allowed to end there.

It’s not only hurricane season in Florida; it is also election season. From now until November 7, there will be a rush of advertisements, press releases, positive and negative news, political meetings and visits by political candidates and their representatives. This will be done all in an effort to get the votes of the electorate. That is the nature of political elections – something which we have come to accept.

What is difficult to accept, however, is that the Caribbean American population is growing significantly and there are so few Caribbean-American candidates running for office on school boards, for judgeships, on city or county commission, or in state legislature races.

Let’s take a look at the political picture. For years, since granted the civil right to vote, the votes of Caribbean people in this country have been sought after by predominantly white American candidates. During any election campaign, these candidates suddenly become our friends. They will visit our communities, kiss our babies, hug our women… maybe even make a donation or two to some community cause. The candidates will typically make promises to solve all our problems. Then suddenly, when they get elected, those who were so endearing and accessible become inaccessible strangers…promises forgotten.

Despite the fact that a very close and high-media profiled presidential election was held in November 2004, and several elections have been held since that there is still a significant sense of apathy in Florida’s Caribbean-American towards the upcoming primary elections set for September 5, and the general elections on November 7.

In fact the situation is much worse than people showing little interest in the upcoming elections, as we found in a survey that we conducted that just over half of those who are legible to vote are actually registered to vote.

Although Caribbean-Americans are lining up to become citizens of this country, the motivating factor is the fear of negative circumstances that could prevail, in the near future, against non-citizens. We have seen in several studies that we have conducted that once citizenship has been attained, the act of partaking in the civil right that this citizenship offer -- the right to vote -- is not exercised, and in some cases not even contemplated. This is very unfortunate.

Back in the respective Caribbean countries jost of those who are now America citizens were very active politically and would not miss voting in either local or general elections. However, the same sort of eagerness is not widespread among the Caribbean-American community.