December 6, 2011, was a national day of action targeting homes facing foreclosure, organized by a coalition of community groups behind the movement Occupy Our Homes. Protests were held across the country, in cities such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Portland, OR, and more.
Actions included "reclaiming" houses that banks are leaving vacant, and "home defense" to stop banks from foreclosing and accept payments from the homeowners, which banks like Chase and Wells Fargo are refusing to do in some cases.
Some of the groups involved in the community resistance effort include ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment), The New Bottom Line, ReFund California, New York Communities for Change, Occupy Wall Street, Take Back the Land, SOUL (Chicago), SEIU, and The Coffee Party.
In South Gate, CA, twenty minutes south of Los Angeles, dozens of supporters rallied around the home of Ana Casas Wilson, with several pledging to camp out in her front yard while she defies eviction, and face arrest if necessary.
Ana shared her story with the assembled media and demonstrators: living with cerebral palsy and battling stage four breast cancer, she was stalked by loan reps assuring her they could lower her payments for the home she has lived in with her family since 1975. After relenting to get more money for her health care and refinancing in 2005, Ana eventually found that her loan was acquired by Wells Fargo, who has since refused to make any modifications or accept make up payments.
ACCE leader Lynn Motley asked the crowd to take out their phones and call the CEO of Wells Fargo, John Stumpf, and ask that he stop the eviction of Ana Casas Wilson and her family, and work to modify their loan, since they have three steady incomes in their house. An activist and advocate for other disabled Angelenos, Ana has held off the eviction order from being enforced for the time being. Now, she is not alone.
This video covering the South Gate action shows the media interest and community support for this cause, as well as the energy building from the Occupy movement.
The Occupy Our Homes actions came on the same day that the Attorney Generals of California and Nevada announced a joint investigation into bank practices that precipitated the housing crisis as well as the handling of foreclosures.
John Wellington Ennis is following the financial crisis and those that are picking up the pieces for his upcoming film PAY 2 PLAY: Democracy's High Stakes.
Follow John Wellington Ennis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johnennis
George Goehl: President Obama Holds The Keys On Preventing Foreclosures
You will be required to follow decisions handed down by: Florida 5th DCA 2004, Florida 4TH DCA 1989, and the Florida 1ST DCA 1998, Florida Supreme Court decision of Feb., 11, 2010.
Here in Florida we demand that they validate the debt according to the above laws.
Since they can't prove they ever loaned any real money, they back off. The foreclosure scams and frauds are killing us. You need to learn about the frauds and how they work against us. They are in treason against the American people.
THE RONBOT HUNTER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I am the proud owner of a house in suburban Tampa that is worth exactly 53% of what I paid in 2005. $80,000 equity gone. Poof. 20+ years of savings and investment disappeared within months of closing. Now, I live in a $400/month apartment in NE WI making 1/2 of what I used to make and yet somehow, I am managing to make sure everyone is getting paid what I owe.
Nobody held a gun to my head and made me buy that house. I made a bad decision. I assumed that since values had increased on every home I had owned for the last decade, the value of this one would go up too. I was wrong and it cost me everything I had. If I lose my current job and it falls into foreclosure, I certainly won't be breaking in and claiming it was anyone's fault but my own.
It is a very small, miniscule number of foreclosures that are the result of anything other than a bad financial decision by the home buyer.
Times are tough. If you can't afford to live where you are, do what I did. Load up your car with whatever fits, rent out your house, and move somewhere cheaper. You do what you have to do in order to meet your responsibilities. That is what being an adult is about.
I am embarassed that these people are representing my generation to the world.
If the banks were bailed out the home owners should have been as well; and if that wasn't going to happen, then nobody should have been bailed out for their own poor decisions.