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Subscribe to RSSRachel Maddow reports on an offshoot of the Occupy movement dedicated to defending struggling Americans for foreclosure and eviction.
‘Occupy’ protesters and housing rights activists are planning to help families resist eviction from foreclosed homes and take control of vacant properties in some 25 U.S. cities on Tuesday, an effort aimed at focusing attention on the ongoing housing crisis and giving the movement a new focus after the dismantling of many of its encampments.
The protesters have been crafting proposals – often quietly to prevent police from learning about their intentions beforehand -- to defend families facing eviction or return others home. In Minneapolis, for example, they plan to help a Vietnam War veteran stay in his home, in New York, protesters will try to help a family get back into their house, and in Chicago, two sisters and their seven children will be moved into an abandoned single-family home, activists said.
"It’s part of a national day of action that we hope will kick off a wave of defenses and home re-occupations,” Max Berger, 26, told the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly late Thursday while requesting $6,400 in funding to buy tools for the project. "This is not just about one event; this is a huge frontier for us. We can do these kinds of actions all the time, and we should. And it doesn’t have to be just us. We got to do this one right so we can inspire people to do it theirselves.”
‘Occupy’ protesters already have been squatting in vacant houses in cities like New York, Seattle, Portland, Oakland and London, where protesters have taken over an abandoned office block bought by UBS several years ago and dubbed it the "Bank of Ideas." They also have made scattered efforts – some of them successful -- to help families facing eviction defend their homes, including in California and Minneapolis.
One of those efforts is “Occupy 477,” where protesters joined families facing eviction from a West Harlem building and restored heat and water to the building, activists said.
Housing rights groups and ‘Occupy’ encampments have long been in talks about a national day of action, with regular conference calls involving dozens of activists, said Rob Robinson of Take Back the Land, a national network of organizations focused on housing rights and securing community control over land.
"As part of the 99 percent, we feel like corporations, big banks, are what's holding us back, what’s keeping us impoverished. This is folks' way of fighting back against those institutions," Robinson said.
Banks are expected to repossess some 800,000 homes this year, down from more than 1 million last year, said RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio. But the number of U.S. homes that received a first-time default notice during the July to September quarter increased 14 percent compared to the second quarter of the year, according to the firm.
Massachusetts AG sues five banks over foreclosures
The increase is a sign that banks are now moving more aggressively against borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments following industrywide foreclosure processing problems that emerged last fall. Those problems resulted in a sharp drop in foreclosure activity early this year.
The "ultimate message" of the anti-foreclosure protests is "bank reform," said Anthony Newby, a community organizer with Neighborhoods Organizing for Change in Minneapolis.
The focus on the housing crisis could also give some new direction to the Occupy movement, which has faced evictions from their camps across the country.
"In some ways, it's a natural progression for lots of reasons for this whole Occupy movement to get away from the plaza and actually start doing things on Main Street ... that are affecting individual people's lives in a very direct way," Newby said.
There also are some practical reasons for more scattered occupations.
Adam Carolla calls OWS protesters 'self-entitled monsters'
A group of "Occupy" protesters in Minneapolis is looking for an empty building that they can take over for their winter encampment after authorities attemped to evict them from their current headquarters three times in the last 36 hours, said Nick Espinosa, a 25-year-old unemployed social worker and protester.
“We’re really looking right now to take a vacant space that … we could use for an occupation," he said, noting they would be scouting properties later Friday. "Ideally it would be a space where we could do both (help a family keep their home and occupy) to keep the message really sharp about why we're doing this and about homelessness and people who don't have homes as a result of the foreclosure crisis.
"But, you know, at the end of the day, we do need some sort of a space here where we can meet and continue to organize and ... grow and build our community here through the winter."
At Occupy Wall Street, Berger noted that protesters had been frequently asked when they would begin engaging in politics, to which he said: "We are."
"The great thing about housing is it’s macro and it’s micro," he said. "People don’t understand a thing about proprietary trading … but they know they have a mortgage that they're behind on."
“This movement is about taking back this country for regular people and that’s exactly what we’re doing with these actions," he later added. "We’re not going to let the power of the banks keep people from having what they need."
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never seen so many trolls on a thread before...
pretty lame response.
I was referring to people like you, specifically, who say they would be happy if such people were being killed. Maybe move to Syria? You'd like it there.
I think the occupiers are already getting a taste of police brutality, and for very little reason. I have watched several different versions of the videos of protests on college campuses recently, and I have been absolutely frightened by the unnecessary violence and brutality of the police toward student protesters. The police seemed to get real pleasure out of pepper spraying the group of students who were sitting in a single row across the sidewalk. At another protest the students were backed into a clump of bushes where they were beaten with batons.
I also watched livestream video of the demolition of the OWS encampment in Zucotti park. The police officers acted like it was really fun to take knives and slash equipment which the occupiers had not been given time to remove. The police said the personal items could be picked up the next day at the city maintenance barn. When the People's Library organizers went to the site to retrieve their 5500 books, computers, shelves, etc., they found author-signed 1st-editions wet and torn, computers mangled and ruined, and less than 1/3 of their fine book collection was ever located. I understand that the encampment was set up on private property, and that the OWS group knew there was a risk of a police invasion, but the police response was, as usual in these cases, total overkill to the point of brutality.
More power to the Occupy movement! Banks happily kick families out of their homes, but won't help them refinance, would rather let a home sit and rot, losing value and bringing the value of other homes in the neighborhood down. A solution is allow the unemployed to refinance or defer payments, stretch mortgages out to 40 or 50 years - the bank earns more interest, families get affordable payments and they can stay in their homes, and sell when home prices stabilize or pay up when they finally find employment. Everything the banks do is designed to compound the debt, and the despair and makes it worse for every level of society except the hallowed 1%. The solutions are simple - and profitable - but if the economy rebounds, who will have the power?
JCA my guess is most people would still walk away from their debt, I know many people who can afford their homes but choose to walk away, the hell with the neighbor's home that they devalue by doing so. Greed is a human condition, wake up!
Jeff dus- Why should anybody do anything that doesn't net them a profit? Is that really all life is about? What about human compassion, decency, common sense? Do those count for nothing in our world today? I am not promoting the idea that everybody with any money needs to just hand it over to those without, but there really is more to life than netting a profit, even for banks. If banks have no other function than to make a profit by any means possible, then it is definitely time for everyone to take their money out and put it in a credit union. I did that several years ago, and have never regretted it for a minute. My credit union treats me like a real live human being.
As long as we have this Democrat vs. Republican / MSNBC vs. Fox News mentality things will continue to get worse.
If part of the 99% are Democrats, the other part are republicans, the other part are libertarians and Independents they are still a part of the 99%. The 1% have got to be very entertained watching the tug of war within the 99% and not concerned one bit, for the 99% are to busy knocking each other around to be a threat to any cause.
When I read these comments of both sides attacking each other it reminds me of the movie Liar, Liar when Jim Carey was asked what he was doing, he replied "I am kicking my ass."
Until you start learning to communicate with one another, nothing will ever be accomplished. Whipping on the other side is whipping on yourself if you are all part of the 99%. Congress has got to love this entertainment. The media definately does.
And who is acting in the interests of the victims here? The COURTS?! HAHAH NO! THEY ARE OWNED BY THE BANKS!
Jenncoofla,
If your busy fighting each other, nobody is. As much as you might want to pretend, nobody. The 1% know how to work together, the 99% are defeating each other. Instead of name calling and political, or news attacks. Try communication. It is a start. Do you really believe having a picture of you flipping the bird is really going to help your cause? Are you in sixth grade? just curious.
Foreclosed houses are the property of the banks/mortgage companies. The "Occupy" people should be arrested for trespassing.
what callous people Americans have become.
Callous for saying that trespassing and destroying property is wrong?
I agree- what callous people Americans have become! It makes me wonder what this country has turned into. We have become so concerned about obeying every tiny little letter of the law that we have no space left in our hearts for compassion, rational thought, or logic. What the occupiers are doing is civil disobedience, usually done purposely to increase awareness of an issue that needs attention.
Pardon me but isn't occupying private property called trespassing? Destruction of private property and host of other charges could await the OWS people. It's about time too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is something terribly wrong with this country when Bankers can decide who lives who dies who works and who begs for scraps of change. As a veteran. As a FORMER republican... as a hardworking American I SUPPORT the OCCUPY movement... This is a disgrace that families, the elderly, the veterans, the SICK are being THROWN OUT onto the streets! In this time of the year it is UNACCEPTABLE!
STAND UP.. WAKE UP AND WAKE EVERYONE AROUND YOU UP! THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO YOU AND I!
jenn: Hyperbole as its finest. When mortgages aren't paid, the house reverts back to the bank.
WRONGO Lazy... do your homework it was the bankers... Wall STreet wonks... politicians bought and sold while those of us busting our asses have no chance at retirement only to work harder. We are enslaved by this corrupt political and consumption driven society! ENOUGH is ENOUGH!
GO USA - when the contracts are written to TARGET the poor and minorities only trying to get ahead and they are TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF so the banks and brokers make BILLIONS who is really to blame? THE BANKERS! THEY KNEW IT WAS A PONZI SCHEME... SHAME SHAME SHAME!
Jenn - We don't all get a free house. If you agreed to borrow money for a house and you cannot pay for it, you don't still get the house. It's so simple, really.....
So sorry, wrong. The bankers may have written the home loans, government bought the loans and buying anything that was put in front of them,
............GSE s backed by barney fruit and the democratic party that wanted everyone to own a home regardless of if they could pay(a grate socialist dream,did not work out that well for the working class).But lets not forget are Hebrew brethren on wall street that can smell a dollar the government is wasting a mile a way.They re-packaged the mortgages and sold them off as collateralized dept.Inept government,plus greedy jews,plus stupid Americans equals the United states in the year 2011.I wish you all the best in 2012 your going to need it.
YEAH BANKERS did bring down the economy.They lent GARBAGE LOANS,to people who couldn't really afford them.The Banks had NO BUSINESS MAKING GARBAGE LOANS TO PEOPLE WHO COULD NOT AFFORD THEM.
The FING BANKS knew this but they continued to peddle their poison, telling low income people it was their chance to own a home.What the hell do any of you people think these low income people were going to do,say No?
Then these FING BANKS bundled up these Garbage Mortgages stamped triple A on them and sold them to unsuspecting investers.
NOW YOU TELL ME THAT THESE BANKS DIDN'T BRING DOWN THE ECONOMY!IT JUST WAS'NT THE MORTGAGE INDUSTRY.
No bankers did to they had all the Money!Any friggen bank with any common sense would not lend to people who could not afford it and they did.
It seems that many of the comments written here are by Pro-Nazi's/Republican Party members.
Yeah, all Rebulicans are Nazi's, just like all Democrats are Communists? Nice way to lower the standard of conversation.
I am a republican but I am not pro-Nazi. However, breaking and entering is against the law. It isn't freedom of speech. The right to peaceful assembly doesn't mean that groups can break into privately (yes, even bank owned) homes. They should be arrested for breaking the law.
I'm an independent.
After yesterdays vote it turns out there are 93 Nazis in the Senate sitting on both sides of the aisle
Breaking and entering is a felony. Good luck with your new strategy, #OCCUPYEMPTYHOUSE.
Delusional liberal leftist-communist thinking. Let's start taking names of these FLEA baggers and drop any more federal, state or local subsidies to them and their families.
I've got to agree that there is an occasional foreclosure that seems unjust and makes it into the media, but for the most part if you can't pay your mortgage then eviction is appropriate. Moral of the story is don't borrow beyond your means to repay.
So much F-ing compassion on these posts... shame on all you kicking those down and out... as winter approaches... HOW do you sleep at night? And I bet you go to church too! HAAHAHAH that's the BEST part!
Jenn - every person made homeless by this tragedy deserves our compassion and our help, including shelter and food. They do NOT, however, get to keep the house they knew they could not afford in the first place. No one gets a FREE HOUSE. Unless you want to start building them...........?
I say hell ya! Power to the people!
This group doesn't encourage people to get jobs, pay back student loans, pay for health insurance, food, shelter, taxes and now mortgages. Once these spoiled, degenerate, bottom-feeders have extricated themselves from all of life's "burdens," then what?
Cities and police departments need to grow a pair and start clearing the parks, streets, building and homes that these parasites have stolen from society.
wow....how incredibly stupid of the "movement". They should go occupy the congresspeople (mostly Demo's....Barney Frank, Peloisi) who forced the banks to give loans to people who couldn't afford them in the first place. But that would make too much sense, instead they want more of America to turn against them
I checked Move-On.org, and even they aren't pushing to illegally enter foreclosed homes. I predict this will fizzle out pretty quickly once the "protesters" learn that B&E is a felony.
Isn't this waste of time and money over yet, geez, lets move on already.
why dont the occ radicals and losers pick up around the foreclosed homes while they're @ it? nobama/ACORN strategy=place a born renter into a house they cannot afford or deserve, then protest to keep them living in there rent free! gotta spread the wealth....
Good OWS crowds are going to take up offerings and hand them out to people having their homes foreclosed on, is that what this article is saying? Well now they are doing something concrete. I guess we forgot how greedy us middle class americans were when we thought home prices would skyrocket forever. Can you spell ponzi scheme OWS? Where was the love from the have's (homeowner's) for the have not's (renters) back then?
The way the Occupiers have been treated by police as well as that defense bill that was passed yesterday should make Americans very worried about what is happening to their country. Last time I checked you were still the land of the free, I sure hope it stays that way
Land of the free until you break the law like these morons have been doing.
they should get the prison hose and lice power! hear they smelled pretty bad
Have you never heard of civil disobedience, Robert? Breaking property laws like the ones the Occupiers have been is fine if they are willing to take the consequences passively. If they want to throw rocks then whip out the pepper spray. If they want to sit on the ground and you still whip out the pepper spray then that's not cool
I hope the occupy movement keeps this up! This really makes the Democrats look back for the up coming elections. Let's vote all these socialist rat bastards out.
Just wait until the taxpayers find out how much these loosers cost them in police overtime pay and cleanup costs.
The bills for police overtime and clean-up would be very little if several cities hadn't gotten all hyped up and scared, deciding to send in hoards of out of town police dressed in riot gear to evict protesters who were totally peaceful and causing little if any trouble. The city mayors dreamed up reasons to send in their troops to chase occupiers out- "the encampments were a fire hazard", "a safety concern", etc. The only safety concern was what the police did to the occupiers- not the opposite. Tear gas, pepper spray, baton beatings- yes, that caused a lot of overtime hours, but was showy overkill. If anything however, it raised the ire of larger groups in the cities involved, causing increased crowds at subsequent gatherings. The clean-up bills would not have been a problem if the police had not slashed and trashed everything they could get their hands on when they attacked.
OWS = Outfit of Whiny S***heads.
I'm tired of you morons. Either go down to Washington DC where you should be, or just go home and leave everyone alone. It's pathetic already.
Not saying the banks don't have any culpability given they were giving loans to people who really should not have qualified, but how many stepped back to think - "can I really afford this"?
Not only that, in how many of the foreclosures did homeowners roll credit card debt into a 2nd mortgage? I know a TON of people who did that, with serious amounts of debt.
This was nothing more then greed by people who knew they couldn;t afford the house, becasue they put nothing down and were paying interest only loans on the hope they could flip the house and make a payday.
krazymop - exactly!
Actually, you hit on the common sense part of the equation. The other part, and apparently most people don't understand this, is that the federal institutions MUST follow federally imposed guidelines. If they don't, they lose their ability to be a federal institution (in other words - a big boy federal S & L). This is where Barney Frank and Chris Dodd come in. They are the architects of this whole mess. Remember, they are politicians. The rest is history and the reality they created is more like a pandemic in a very real sense. It could be that alturistic thing but, more likely, it was driven by their desire to be permanently entrenched into the political infrastructure. I guess that didn't work out the way they had planned and have the "chicken in every pot."
Why don't the OWS folks go to Jon Corzines house where he had Obooba campaign fund raising dinner and ask him where the 1.2 billion in missing money is?
One good screw job deserves another I suppose.