Mass. activists stop house auctions

[Hannah Bell]

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., --More than 40 protesters joined Noelia Ramos outside her home on December 23 to successfully prevent a foreclosure auction and keep her family in their home for the holidays.

The auction, organized by PHH Mortgage Solutions, would have sold off the home of Ramos, her daughter and her 2-year-old granddaughter two days before Christmas, tossing them onto the streets at the beginning of a bitter New England winter.

Ramos, who was laid off in 2008 from her job teaching in the Springfield Public Schools, made payments as long as she could, through most of 2009, before asking PHH for a loan modification. PHH claimed to be working on the details of a modification, only to tell the Ramos family in July that they planned to foreclose instead.

Though the economy is supposedly in recovery, for homeowners, the crisis is only getting worse, disproportionately impacting Black and Latino working-class families. According to Newsday, "When the books close on 2010, banks will have repossessed a record 1.2 million U.S. homes, up 33 percent from 2009..."

Some 20 protesters gathered on the Ramos family's lawn by 3:30 p.m., and the number grew to more than 40 by the time the auction was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

Ramos stood in front of her home with a sword and shield made of cardboard and tinfoil, joined by members of No One Leaves, Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, the UMass Graduate Employees Organization (United Auto Workers), the International Socialist Organization and other community members.

Shortly after the auction was set to begin, no potential buyers had attempted to get past the line of demonstrators, although protesters did spot two people in a late-model SUV who were parked for a few minutes up the street, but drove away.

An employee of PHH appeared and walked up to Keith Peters, who was leading chants with a bullhorn from the Ramos' front steps... The employee said that he was there to inform Noelia Ramos that the auction was being postponed for one month, until January 25.

With the action at the Peña home one week before, this was the second victory for the newly formed No One Leaves coalition, which one protester pointed out is "two for two."

The coalition is modeled on City Life/Vida Urbana, a grassroots organization with the motto "Building solidarity to put people before profit" that has played a leading role in stopping foreclosures and evictions in Boston.

http://socialistworker.org/2011/01/03/mass-activists-stop-auction

[Angry Dragon]

1. Either Obama needs to force a moratorium on foreclosures

or holder needs to start arresting these bankers for fraud

[Demeter]

2. Don't Hold Your Breath

Obama needs to be primaried.

[Javaman]

3. What people need to do is what the farmers did during the great depression...

The bid would start off at 50 bucks. no one bid. not one farmer. And if one did, he got his lumps later on.

Eventually the auctioneer would drop the bid to a buck. One person would bid and win.

Then the winner would give the house to the original owners.

Fuck the bank bastards.