Housing

Activists Confront Financial Titans Larry Fink And William Gross

Two activists who have been on the front lines of the battle against Wall Street's predatory practices confronted two of the world's wealthiest and most powerful financial titans -- BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink and PIMCO founder William Gross -- on Tuesday, pressuring them to discuss their corporations' attack on the working class families of Richmond, CA who are trying to salvage their lives and their homes from the disaster of foreclosure. The activists were calling on BlackRock and PIMCO to negotiate the sale of troubled loans to the city of Richmond, so that the loans can be fixed and foreclosures can be avoided. Peggy Mears (a leader of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment) and Jono Shaffer (an organizer with the Service Employees International Union) tried to educate Fink and Gross about the everyday lives of people who live month-to-month on working class incomes. They confronted the two financiers during a talk they were giving at the Beverly Hilton Hotel sponsored by the UCLA Anderson School of Management and distributed flyers to the upscale crowd.

This Week In Pictures

October 5, 2013 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Education, Energy, Environment, Government, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Israel

Each week we are collecting photos from twitter of actions around the country and around the world. Here are photos from Sept 28 to Oct 5. Many of these events were not covered by articles on PopularResistance.org. This week includes BDS protest in London against Sodastrean, a fracking protest in Texas, Tea Time in the streets of Berlin to stop evictions, Arab women calling for safe abortions, health benefit cuts to women health services, First Nation's peoples taking back their lands to stop fracking, government workers on furlough sitting in at the Capitol, Light Brigade pink's slips Congress, free health care attracts over 1,000 in Virginia, immigration reform protests outside ravaged Sandy building, students and workers unite at UCLA for better schools, and protest in Spain against the "political mafia." It is great to see so much happening!

Searching For Occupy

October 2, 2013 Crystal Zevon, www.indypendent.org Organize! Environment, Housing, Indigenous Rights, Media, Occupy, Poverty

I can still recall my sense of ‘shock and awe’ when, at home on a break from four months of ‘occupying’ a tent, two General Assemblies (GAs) a day and multiple protests each week, I watched on live stream as the police charged through the Washington, D.C. encampment at Freedom Plaza. They tore down our tents, took apart the kitchen and issued threats to the Occupiers still standing their ground. From home, I did the only thing I could do and responded to tweets that the Occupiers were hungry and put out a call to send them pizza. When all was said and done, a few symbolic tents remained, but the Occupy movement was declared (according to mainstream media) ‘dead.’ I sat at home for months, depressed, deflated and yet unwilling to be defeated. In July, 2012, I was in Paonia, Colorado to scatter my parents' ashes, when a local guy named Sid and I decided to protest the younger Koch brother, Bill’s, WWII tank that was to lead the July 4th parade.

Solar Decathlon 2013: The Potential Of Green Homes

September 30, 2013 Staff, www.latimes.com Create! Energy, Environment, Housing

I've been to two Solar Decathlon's held on the mall in Washington, DC. It is always an inspiring event. Teams of students compete to build solar homes. It is always great to see what would be possible if the United States put its resources to this type of innovation rather than to war, militarism and the intelligence-security state, while subsidizing carbon and nuclear energy sources. The potential to transform to a carbon-free, nuclear-free energy economy is evident in these competitions. Ladies and gentlemen, start your photovoltaics! When the green flag drops Sept. 23 on the Solar Decathlon competition, 20 teams consisting of students from 30 schools around the world will race to build the most energy-efficient, water-wise, affordable and design-savvy house possible.

Banks Find Appalling New Way To Cheat Homeowners

September 29, 2013 David Dayen, www.salon.com Educate! Finance and the Economy, Housing

Homeowners victimized by big-bank servicers, who were supposed to get a commitment to honest treatment as part of the National Mortgage Settlement, instead got their servicing rights sold to companies no longer bound by the terms of that settlement. So homeowners lose all of their protections, and often have to start back at square one with their new servicer. For example, if a borrower was in process on a loan modification with their old servicer, the new servicer can choose to simply not recognize that modification, and demand the full monthly payment under threat of foreclosure. This is a very common practice. What’s more, this new breed of non-bank servicers scooping up all these servicing rights has proven themselves as a bunch of cheats profiting off their customers. Green Tree Servicing has a terrible record of ripoffs. Ocwen has been sued in state court over its practices, including an innovative scam involving sending homeowners a check for $3.50, and claiming that cashing the check automatically enrolls the customer in an appliance insurance plan, which costs $54.95 a month.

Judge Lifts Order To Keep NYC Sandy Hotel Program

September 28, 2013 Margaret Chan, www.bigstory.ap.org Educate! Housing, Human Rights

"About 300 people made homeless by Superstorm Sandy could be forced to leave the York City hotels they've been staying in after a judge lifted an injunction Friday that preserved the program. The displaced residents who began sleeping in city-funded hotel rooms after the late-October storm will have to find new housing by next Friday. Federal funding for the program ends Monday, however the city has paid for the hotels through Friday, said Heather Janik, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Homeless Services."

Gentriﬁcation Equals Racism To Me

September 28, 2013 R. B. Jones, www.indyreader.org Educate! Housing, Poverty, Racism

Where Lexington Terrace’s foreboding high-rises once glared at travelers along the Expressway that goes nowhere along Franklin and Mulberry Streets, now stand The Terraces a community of renters and owners. South of there is the neighborhood of Poppleton, which is being gentriﬁed which, usually means moving in middle-class white people. My old neighborhood is now called Heritage Crossing. George Street is gone and the streets in that neighborhood that is almost surrounded by a wall are named after prominent African Americans. The question that must be asked is,“where are all the poor people who used to inhabit that area?” Gentriﬁcation, when it comes to black people means their removal with little or no input or compensation. The biotech park north of Hopkins is a perfect example.

“How We Took My Home Back”

September 24, 2013 JJeffrey Boyette and MaLychi Caspe, http://socialistworker.org Resist! Housing

"I sent a loan modification application to Bank of America, and they reviewed the documents. They sent me three letters stating that they were going to work on my case. Then in July 2012, I received a document stating the house had been sold to DMG, which was really sad for me. Three days later, I got another letter from the bank saying that they were still reviewing the loan modification. I tried to call the bank, but they never answered the phone. Two weeks later, I got another letter from DMG's lawyer saying that we had 30 days to quit and vacate the house."

Stop Criminalizing Homelessness: International Boycott Of Palm Restaurant

September 16, 2013 Darren O'Connor, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Homelessness, Housing, Human Rights, Poverty

On Saturday, October 19th, an international protest will take place at The Palm restaurant locations to raise awareness of this chain’s support of criminalization of homeless people. In 2012, Denver’s Palm restaurant manager Wendy Klein spoke on behalf of business groups in support of the Urban Camping Ban. The ban made it illegal for people in Denver to sleep with anything covering them, including a blanket, a jacket (if not worn), or a piece of cardboard. In early 2012 I was a nascent member of the Occupy movement here in Denver, Colorado. My frustration with giant banks crashing our economy and getting rewarded with bail-outs by the American taxpayer had led me to participating in Occupy Denver’s Foreclosure Working Group, now the Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition.

Eminent Domain – A Gift Horse Or Trojan Horse?

September 15, 2013 Dave Petrovich, www.opednews.com Educate! Finance and the Economy, Housing

"If protecting my company's best financial self-interest helps you out, fine. If it doesn't, that's fine, too. To us, you are a cash cow. You see, we get paid whether you make your payments or not. In fact, we get paid more when your loan is delinquent, in default or in foreclosure. If by foreclosing and kicking you out of your home our profit increases by a dollar more than if we allowed you to keep your home, you had better start thinking about packing. But before we kick you to the curb, and in order for me to earn a quarterly bonus, you and your family are gonna ride an emotional and financial roller coaster to hell until I've squeezed every dollar from your pocket, and every dime in fees I can outta this. Then we'll foreclose. Even if my company has no legal right to do so." But such honesty would result in that employee's immediate termination. Under capitalism, profit-first corporations are duty-bound to preserve, protect and expand upon their own best financial self-interest.

SF Supervisor Announces Support For Program To Buy Mortgages

September 7, 2013 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Create! Finance and the Economy, Housing

On Monday, September 9, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. (Pacific) San Francisco Supervisor David Campos will announce his intention to introduce a resolution before the County Board of Supervisors expressing support for the City of Richmond’s innovative effort to save hundreds of underwater borrowers (Richmond CARES), and instructing staff to explore opportunities in San Francisco to adopt a similar program. “For the last few years, we have seen Wall Street Banks challenge every effort to rebuild our hardest hit communities from the foreclosure and economic crisis,” stated Supervisor Campos “today we need to show solidarity with bold leaders of Richmond in their effort to break the status quo as defined by Wall Street and rebuild their communities.”

Expecting Arrest For Homeless Protest, They Get Pizza Instead

August 23, 2013 Alfred Lubrano, Resist! Homelessness, Housing

After sleeping two nights on a Center City sidewalks to protest a lack of shelter beds, a group of homeless women and their children intensified the drama Thursday morning by taking over part of a city office. Their activist leader expected to be arrested by noon. Instead, the women and children were served pizza, then offered places in shelters by midafternoon. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease," Cheri Honkala said triumphantly.

Homeowner Groups Call On Administration To Prosecute Bankers

August 22, 2013 Nick Sifuentes, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Corporatism, Housing

On Wednesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released the results of a study detailing massive, systemic failures among mortgage servicers which have led to wrongful foreclosures and evictions. Attorney General Eric Holder also announced plans to file new cases stemming from the foreclosure crisis. The Home Defenders League issued the following statement in response: “Today’s revelations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to the foreclosure crisis—and is especially no surprise to the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who have been illegally foreclosed on as a result of bank error or fraud,” said Cammy Depew, a homeowner and member of the Home Defenders League from Gonzales, Lousiana.

Wells Fargo Locks Out Richmond Mayor At San Francisco Headquarters

August 20, 2013 Mark Calvey, www.bizjournals.com Organize! Finance and the Economy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Housing

Wells Fargo locked its San Francisco headquarters branch at noon Thursday when Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and fellow protesters arrived to speak with CEO John Stumpf over the bank's lawsuit fighting the California city's plans to use eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages. As McLaughlin stood before Wells Fargo's locked doors today, she captured the frustration many feel today about the foreclosure crisis that persists even as San Francisco and other markets see a recovery in home prices. "Nothing has been done for the last five years or more. A fix is needed," she said. When a reporter asked whether the former school teacher, who was elected in 2006 [running as a Green], ever thought she'd be taking on Wells Fargo, McLaughlin responded, "I feel right at home here with my community. I'm committed to taking a stand."

Obama Administration Sides With Big Banks Against Underwater Homeonwers

August 17, 2013 Alejandro Lazo, www.latimes.com Educate! Housing

The nation's top housing finance regulator threatened to choke off mortgage lending in cities that use eminent domain to seize underwater loans from lenders. The salvo from the Federal Housing Finance Agency came Thursday, on the heels of a lawsuit directed by major Wall Street firms and U.S.-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac against the Bay Area city of Richmond. The move would be a "huge blow" to the city of Richmond, said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. "It is pretty much a death sentence these days in terms of mortgage financing," Cecala said. "It is sort of an atom bomb solution, and the real question is would they pull the trigger on it, or is it just a threat? But it is the kind of thing they could do fairly quickly." Executives and legal counsel for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also singled out the eminent domain plan this week during conference calls with journalists to discuss second-quarter financial results.

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