Fellow progressives, this is one of the most exciting grassroots responses to the foreclosure crisis at the heart of our economic meltdown yet.
From tomorrow's edition of the New York Times:
As resistance to foreclosure evictions grows among homeowners, community leaders and some law enforcement officials, a broad civil disobedience campaign is starting in New York and other cities to support families who refuse orders to vacate their homes.
The community organizing group ACORN unveiled the campaign with a spirited rally on Friday at a Brooklyn church and will roll it out in at least 22 other cities in the coming weeks. Through phone trees, Web pages and text-messaging networks, the effort will connect families facing eviction with volunteers who will stand at their side as officers arrive, even if it means risking arrest.
About. Damn. Time. Join ACORN's "Home Defenders" here, and learn more after the link, as well as analysis of how this great news will help the Obama housing strategy.
The Obama housing plan is set to be unveiled tomorrow in Phoenix, and so far, it looks really good. After Obama has repeatedly demurred from pushing for bankruptcy protection legislation last year in the TARP debate and recently in the recovery debate, he has STRONGLY reiterated his support for this critical legislation. Expect an emphasis on this tomorrow. Press reports have also indicated that Obama will require bailout recipients to use sensible foreclosure prevention protocols, and spend between $50 and $100 billion in incentives to promote truly affordable modifications to mortgages that are unaffordable. This is ALL GOOD.
But will it be enough, on its own? Of course not. And in particular, these mirage moratoriums that banks are announcing don't cover ANY securitized loans, which tended to be the worst of them. That's why a movement of communities saying enough is enough is so important. Again, from the Times piece:
"You want to haul us out to jail? Fine. Let the world see how government has been ineffective," Bertha Lewis, Acorn’s chief organizer, said in an interview. "Politicians have helped banks, but they haven’t helped families in the way that it’s needed, and these families are now saying, enough is enough."
This effort will help draw critical attention to the families whose suffering is at the heart of our national economic malaise. And, most importantly, it will build pressure on the mortgage servicers to use the tools Obama is offering, as well as on Congressional Republicans and industry-friendly Democrats to stand up and do the right thing on bankruptcy and other priorities that can only be accomplished legislatively. Plus, helping families stay in their homes prevents another vacant property from bringing down the neighborhood and another family from facing homelessness. This campaign really has the power to take off and grab hold of the American public.
So, are you ready to fight back? Join the Home Defenders today.
UPDATE BONUS: ACORN's Austin King was recently on Fox Business News defending the group's civil disobedience tactics and help for struggling homeowners in the onslaught of unbelievable ignorance from the hosts, but I think you'll agree that ACORN dominates this debate in a way these hosts probably weren't used to (Facebook video b/c not available for embedding from YouTube):