Occupy Homes: New Coalition Links Homeowners, Activists in Direct Action to Halt Foreclosures

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A loose-knit coalition of activists known as "Occupy Homes" is working to stave off pending evictions by occupying homes at risk of foreclosure when tenants enlist its support. The movement has recently enjoyed a number of successes. We speak with Monique White, a Minneapolis resident who is facing foreclosure and recently requested the help of Occupy Minneapolis. Now two dozen of its members are occupying her home in order to stave off eviction. We are also joined by Nick Espinosa, an organizer with Occupy Minneapolis, and Max Rameau, a key organizer with Take Back the Land, who for the past five years has worked on direct actions that reclaim and occupy homes at risk of foreclosure. "The banks are actually occupying our homes," Rameau says. "This sets up for an incredible movement, where we have a one-two punch. On the one hand, we’re occupying them on their turf, and on the other, we’re liberating our own turf so that human beings can have access to housing, rather than them sitting vacant so that corporations can benefit from them sometime in the future."

AMY GOODMAN: Bloomberg News is reporting U.S. foreclosure filings rose 7 percent in October to a seven-month high. It attributes the spike to lenders speeding up action against delinquent borrowers.

Well, we turn now to an offspring of the Occupy Wall Street movement: the Occupy Homes movement. The loose-knit coalition of activists aim to stave off pending evictions by occupying homes at risk of foreclosure when tenants enlist their support.

The movement has recently enjoyed a number of successes. In New York, Occupy Wall Street protesters occupied a derelict Harlem building’s boiler room until the landlord agreed to provide adequate heat and hot water to tenants. Meanwhile, in California, Occupy Los Angeles protesters held a vigil outside a home at risk of foreclosure, then organized a sit-in at the Pasadena regional office of Fannie Mae. The bank eventually called off the eviction and agreed to renegotiate the homeowner’s mortgage.

The rest of the transcript is at Democracy Now. Direct action with an immediate impact -- love it! It's action that is an excellent representation of what OWS is about. Is the M$M covering it? HELL NO! :mad: :grr:

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1. This is the truth of the matter..."The banks are actually occupying our homes,"

"The banks are actually occupying our homes," Rameau says. "This sets up for an incredible movement, where we have a one-two punch. On the one hand, we’re occupying them on their turf, and on the other, we’re liberating our own turf so that human beings can have access to housing, rather than them sitting vacant so that corporations can benefit from them sometime in the future."


This is an awesome action.... K&R

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2. Except if Fannie and Freddie own it that actually rips off the taxpayer, not the banks.

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3. I’m glad the evictions are being challenged but much earlier action is needed.

Homeowners who are faced with a foreclosure suit, should fight that foreclosure either with an attorney or on their own. It is doubtful that the party bringing the foreclosure is truly the party who owns and holds the Note. It is doubtful that any of the documents presented to the court or filed in our land records are valid.

Homeowners need to acquire a better understanding of securitized mortgages and how they differ from traditional mortgages. When that happens, such homeowners stop focusing on a supposed default or supposed mortgage balance and start concentrating on the many ways they have been defrauded. I’ve read that contested foreclosures have risen from 5% to 10% and that there has been an increase in the number of Quiet Title actions filed.

It is entirely possible that some party somewhere actually owes the homeowner more money than the homeowner might owe on a property. Mortgage fraud was rampant so most mortgages actually contain fraud. MERS and the securitization scheme has broken the chain of Title on properties and clouded those Titles. Homeowners need to start filing suit and holding the banks accountable in court.


I’ve been researching mortgage/foreclosure fraud for 3 years. At the end of May 2011, I filed a Quiet Title action against my mortgage servicer along with 299 other homeowners in PA and NJ. In 297 of those cases, the homeowners won by default and either their mortgage servicers are voluntarily withdrawing the invalid and fraudulent liens from our land records, or they will be stricken by the court. Only 3 cases are going to trial and mine is the closest to trial, presently scheduled for May of 2012. We challenged the authority of the persons who signed MERS documents, since MERS has never created any officers in accordance with Delaware state law where MERS is incorporated.

The battle can be won, if only homeowners would fight.

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4. recommend

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5. finally.every town in america is suffering because the banks have not worked with homeowners

this is a 99% issue...i'm in...any idea how to find these folks..would like to help get this started in my town..i can only find the info on democracy now..so far