We will honor Dr. King’s legacy by continuing the fight for economic justice!
Join us to protest the Foreclosure Auction Protest of the Medina family home on MLK Day!
Medina Family Auction Protest
MONDAY JANUARY 16TH, 2012 – 1:30 PM
187 Connecticut Avenue, Springfield, MA
Alba Medina lives with her son Edwin at their single family home in Liberty Heights in Springfield. In January, 2008 she bought her home with a predatory subprime mortgage from Bank of America for $112,000. The mortgage broker signed her into an loan where her two mortgage payments would equal 58% of her stated income on her application. Further, the second mortgage included a balloon payment of more than $15,000 that would be due after 15 years. This type of loan is a classic example of the types of predatory loans that banks like Bank of America gave out that caused our economic crisis. Eventually, the payments became to difficult for Ms. Medina to keep paying as she struggled to balance her bills with her mortgage on a fixed income.
Now Bank of America wants to foreclose on her home on a state & federal holiday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
We will gather to protest this foreclosure auction in honor of Dr. King’s legacy and make clear that we will fight any attempt to displace the Medina family from their home! JOIN US!
Other upcoming actions in the Bank Tenant Movement:
THURSDAY JANUARY 19TH @ 12:30 PM
PUBLIC FANNIE MAE/FREDDIE MAC SHAREHOLDER BOARD MEETING
OUTSIDE OF THE WESTERN MASS HOUSING COURT (37 ELM ST, SPRINGFIELD)
Taxpayers bailed out Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac with hundreds of billions of our taxpayer money. Fannie & Freddie are now 90% taxpayer owned. Fannie and Freddie should act in the best interest of their stakeholders & owners – us! Join us for a public shareholder board meeting to hear testimony from victims of Fannie & Freddie and vote on proposals that are in the best interest of the majority shareholder of Fannie & Freddie – The People! We will take a public vote on the following proposals to deliver to Fannie & Freddie:
- Fannie & Freddie should suspend all no-fault evictions after foreclosure and accept rent from residents after foreclosure immediately!
- Fannie & Freddie should reduce principal in loan modifications for underwater homeowners
- Fannie & Freddie should agree to sell back homes to former owners at the current value to keep homes occupied!
More info to come on this action, but mark your calendars.
Peace and much love
Springfield No One Leaves/Nadie Se Mude Campaign
They’re actually 79.9% taxpayer-owned, because any more than that would require the government to put the obligations on its books and neither the Bush administration nor the Obama administration wanted or wants to do that. But I think you’re missing something here: under conservatorship, the policies of the GSEs (Fannie and Freddie) are directed by their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). They don’t make their own decisions anymore.
That makes your efforts in this regard kinda pointless, because you can’t shame, connive, or convince the GSEs to do anything at all; they don’t have the power. Your protests and ideas need to be brought to FHFA, which can direct the GSEs to implement them. That’s how the refinancing modifications got put forward in December.
Another thing to understand: although FHFA is an executive agency, the President does not have authority over its director, whose Congressional mandate is to conserve the capital of the GSEs above all else. The HARP mods from December were made only because the FHFA director agreed that they were in the best interests of the GSEs, not for any reason to do with the homeowners.
Then there are the practical matters. The GSEs are utterly unequipped to collect rent. If they tried, they’d have to contract it out to a thousand or more tiny management companies — and do you think that’d be better? People would still be evicted, and frankly with far more efficiency than Fannie and Freddie can manage, because management companies are *good* at that and the GSEs aren’t.
I understand your motivations. They’re good motivations: you want to keep people in homes. But you can’t accomplish anything with this action, and you should redirect your attention where it can have results.
This is an important comment.. However, this is just one action in a local area that our member-based organization planned, and given where Springfield is and who we could target locally that are part of FNMA/FHLM’s eviction/foreclosure machine, and that so many of our families are being evicted by FNMA/FHLM, this action seemed appropriate. On a statewide, regional and national level, we are discussing with various allied groups the prospects of targeting FHFA policies regarding FNMA/FHLM – but for this particular action, specifically, in a 1 page press release, detailing the complex oversight of FNMA/FHLM didn’t seem appropriate.
Nonetheless, its an important comment regarding strategy.
As to the practical matters regarding rent – its just simply false. FNMA & FHLM said the same thing prior to the passage of the Tenants Protection Act in Mass. in 2009 (http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleI/Chapter186A), and immediately following the passage they instituted (along w/ all other banks w/ REO properties) practices to be able to accept rent from those tenants. Further, both have announced policies that they will in fact accept rent from former owners – they just haven’t actually followed through on those promises. (http://www.freddiemac.com/homeownership/after_foreclosure/reo_rental_options.html) (http://www.knowyouroptions.com/options-to-stay-in-your-home/deed-for-lease-option)
Lastly, the argument against FNMA/FHLM has to be two fold- first and foremost what is in the best interest of the GSE, BY LAW HAS TO BE in the best interest of the US Taxpayer while FNMA/FHLM are under receivership. (see the congressional hearing regarding this issue here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPyT1lcXmWs), but second that we have to win this fight w/ both the economic AND the moral argument. Thus Rose’s quote in our press release discusses how rental and principal reduction programs are good for the homeowner, the neighborhood, the economy AND the majority shareholders of these institutions.
“We’re not asking for anything for free,” explains Springfield resident Rose Webster-Smith, who is facing eviction by FHLM. “We are all offering to pay rent or pay the same amount for the house that Freddie or Fannie would sell it for on the open market. If they take our money, they can still market the property, but at the least we will have a home and our neighborhood won’t fall victim to another vacant home, increased crime and reduced property values.”
peace and much respect