Occupy Homes MN has been busy in the Twin Cities for over a year and has a number of homes saved from foreclosures under its belt. Today was the kick-off of an expanded effort: the Foreclosure & Eviction Free Zone.
We began with an inspirational song, it may have been original, but definitely in the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger
One of the organizers, Caylin Crawford, shared her story of nearly losing her home. She had a snowboarding accident and was out of work for a few months, she contacted her lender for help and was told not to pay her mortgage so she could get a modification. Then they proceeded to foreclose on her! She filed suit against them for this, but it was going nowhere until she contacted Occupy Homes MN last fall. The public pressure organized by Occupy Homes MN got Freddie Mac to negotiate with her and she got her final settlement this past Monday.
Organizer Ty Moore explained more about the situation Powderhorn and Central neighborhoods are in -$52 million in negative equity! and the political background that got us to this point. In short , banks got bailed out after creating the housing bubble, we got sold out, none of the settlements or aid programs state and federal governments have come up with are very effective. They either offer too little or help too few as I know well from my own experience.*(And speaking of politics, Ty is running for Minneapolis City Council)
Then we heard from more homeowners in the neighborhood who have vowed to stay in their homes and fight. Unfortunately I did not get good pictures of all of them. They are not looking for "free gifts"; they want justice- homes at a fair price. The stories alternately made me furious or heartbroken. One woman got caught in a squeeze of loss of her 2nd job and rising property taxes. Another woman and one of the men had been screwed over by bad financial advice that caused them to take out 2nd mortgages. The good news is the first woman's lender is finally negotiating with her thanks to Occupy's efforts. Mark Freeman spoke about the need for solidarity; he had gone through a similar situation with his lender before Occupy started. So though he was no longer living in this neighborhood, he offered his support because it's a terrible thing to go through alone.
A young mother's story got to me the most. She has already lost her home. She asked us to imagine a typical homeless person we may have met, what did they look like? smell like? Then she reminded us 1 in 45 children are homeless, so a typical homeless person is 3 1/2 feet tall and smells like baby shampoo. Her own 4 children are part of this sad statistic now, thanks to a divorce, and jobs that don't pay her a living wage. Occupy Homes MN is helping her find shelter too.
Then we were asked to sign the declaration, especially homeowners from the area, but also supporters.
Then there was a little time for break out groups to work on next steps. (MFE=Minnesotans for a Fair Economy)
Since I belong to a couple organizations that should be in line with goals of Occupy Homes MN, I went to the breakout about reaching out to other community groups. Put down my contact info and tossed around a few ideas about how to get started working together. Then it was time for me to go grocery shopping, and while I don't have quite enough money in checking to pay for my food this week, at least I still have a place to cook it for now.
*postscript: My own mortgage is unaffordable, part of the reason I was so interested in Occupy when it began in 2011. Like many of the homeowners we heard from today, I became hopeful when I heard about Making Home Affordable only to find it has no teeth. Lenders and counselling agencies were given money without having to produce any results. Pursuing a loan modification with my current lender has been an exercise in frustration, they have repeatedly "lost" paper work or made up new demands for documents. HARP 2.0 got me to try again, but again I hit road blocks last fall. The rules have changed, I can go to another lender now, but ones that will handle my particular situation are rare , and the only one I could find then was too backed up with applications. So I finally went to Occupy Homes MN for help myself. While researching facts to add to my petition, I stumbled across another broker interested in doing HARP 2.0 and I may finally have a refinance in the works. If it does not come to pass, an Occupy campaign is still an option.
Wed Feb 13, 2013 at 10:12 AM PT: Much better, professional photos from Christopher Mark Juhn , more quotes in here too
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