LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to the American Association for Retired People, about 600,000 people aged 50 years or older are in foreclosure. IN addition, about 625,000 in the same age group are at least three months behind on their mortgages.

About 3.5 million or 16 percent of older homeowners are currently "underwater," owing more than their homes are actually worth, the AARP says.

"The Great Recession has been brutal for many older Americans," Debra Whitman, AARP's policy chief says. "This shows that home ownership doesn't guarantee financial security later in life."

Over the past five years, the proportion of loans held by older Americans that are seriously delinquent leapt by more than 450 percent.

While homeowners who are younger than 50 have a higher rate of serious delinquency than their older counterparts, that rate is increasing at a faster pace for older Americans than for younger ones, according to AARP's analysis of more than 17 million mortgages.

While 8 in 10 own Americans older than 50 own homes, many live on fixed incomes, have little savings or have already burned through much of their retirement savings. Even worse, they have fewer working years left to build back what they may have lost.

Seniors who are forced to re-enter the workforce often find they can't command the same salary that they did in the past.

There are greater rates of foreclosure among Americans along socioeconomic and racial lines. Among older African-Americans, 3.5 percent were in foreclosure at the end of 2011, and the rate was 3.9 percent for Hispanics. Just 1.9 percent of white homeowners were in foreclosure.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland has his office hold regular foreclosure prevention workshops. Cummings said the federal government can do its part by promoting principal reduction and loan modification programs.

"These are people who in many instances have never missed a payment in 20 years," Cummings said. "You see grown men crying because of the potential loss of a home."

Homeowners who are 75 or older are in the worst shape when it comes to foreclosures, the report showed. In 2007, one out of every 300 homeowners 75 or older was in foreclosure. Five years later, about one in 30 face that same fate.

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