WW photo: Bryan G. Pfeifer

Activists fighting to stop the ongoing epidemic of home foreclosures came together here on March 31 at a national conference initiated and organized by the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions & Utility Shutoffs. The endorsement and participation of other organizations was reflected in the speakers and presentations at the gathering, held at the historic Central United Methodist Church in downtown Detroit.

Conference organizers said 130 registrants attended. Beside Detroit and other cities in Michigan, people came from Los Angeles, Central Point, Ore., Chicago, Milwaukee, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and New York City. International guests registered from Paris, Jerusalem and Austria.

The entire conference was broadcast live via Ustream. The recording can be viewed at nationalmoratorium.org.

Steve Babson, of the local People Before Banks Coalition, kicked off the meeting with an informative Powerpoint presentation. Babson vividly outlined the foreclosure crisis in Detroit and around the country, its origins, the criminal scope of the banks’ actions, and why a national moratorium to stop foreclosures is necessary. Babson’s presentation is being posted for viewing at peoplebeforebanks.org.

A strong theme throughout the event was the criminal and racist role played by the banks and financial institutions in the capitalist economic crisis that laid off millions, lowered wages and spawned the home foreclosure epidemic in the United States. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, 7.5 million homeowners have faced foreclosure since 2007, with a projected 10 million foreclosures yet to come.

Participants discussed the criminal role of the federal government in bailing out the very banks and financial institutions that created the crisis for workers and the poor. Activists demanded an end to the silent but continuing bailout that occurs with every loan owned or backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Federal Housing Administration. These add up to approximately 75 percent of all mortgages in the U.S.

Homeowners and their families get foreclosed by the banks and thrown out onto the street. Meanwhile, the government rewards the banks, reimbursing them for 100 percent of the inflated loan value, plus the banks’ exorbitant fees.

Detroit, the banks & takeover threat

Abayomi Azikiwe, a leading anti-foreclosure organizer and co-founder of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice, chaired the first session. Azikiwe welcomed the attendees to Detroit and reported on the banks’ attempted takeover of the city through an emergency manager.

Throughout the conference speakers’ comments showed that the struggle to stop Michigan’s governor from imposing the emergency dictator was paramount on the minds of Detroiters. Residents have already suffered waves of destruction as the auto industry closed plants, and the predatory banks and lending institutions targeted the city with racist subprime mortgages, devastating whole neighborhoods.

Detroit has lost one-quarter of its population in the last 10 years due to these factors. The conference demanded repudiation of the government’s debt service to the banks, and for government to use taxpayers’ funds instead to pay the workers and keep city services going.

Speakers included Detroit City Councilperson and people’s representative JoAnn Watson; Wayne County Commissioner Martha Scott, author of a county moratorium bill; Michele Finley, who led the fight to save the home of her parents, Bertha Garrett and William Garrett, from Bank of New York Mellon Trust; Belva Davis, a Detroit homeowner who defeated Ocwen and Wells Fargo’s attempts to evict her from her home; and Vanessa Fluker, a leading anti-foreclosure attorney and fighter against the banks.

The second session was chaired by Andrea Hackett, a Detroit city worker who lost her home to foreclosure. The session focused on reports from around the country on direct actions to stop foreclosures and occupy homes.

Speakers included the Rev. Ed Rowe, of Central United Methodist Church, a longtime leader in struggles for social and economic justice; Occupy Los Angeles and Occupy Fights Foreclosures activists Cheryl Aichele, Carlos Marroquin and Matt Ward; and Occupy Detroit anti-eviction committee organizer Joe McGuire.

Also Brittany Scott, housing coordinator of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative; U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke, author of state and federal moratorium legislation; Nancie Koerber, of Project REconomy, which has brought homeowners and attorneys together to challenge foreclosures across the Northwest; and Jerry Goldberg, a Moratorium NOW! leader and long-time advocate for a national moratorium on foreclosures.

Among other speakers were Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign organizers J. R. Fleming and Patricia Hill; Steve Wyatt, coordinator of the United Auto Workers’ social unionism education project; Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement activists Bryan Pfeifer, Tommy Cavanaugh, Cody Misiak and Brian Woods; Bob Day, Detroit attorney and anti-foreclosure fighter; Shawndrica Simmons, Secretary-Treasurer of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO; Cecily McClellan, Detroit city worker and union activist in the Association of Professional and Technical Employees; and Mike Shane of Moratorium NOW!

Tactics, actions & furthering the struggle

Among the many tactics used and discussed were home occupations; home defenses and blockades; eviction stalling methods; disruptions at auctions of foreclosed homes; protests and actions at banks and loan service providers; email and telephone campaigns directed at bank executives; turning back eviction dumpsters; training homeowners to assist others in obtaining loan modifications and sustainable workouts; antibank campaigns and pulling money out of banks; establishing eviction-free zones; and putting people in vacant homes.

U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke announced that he has drafted and will soon introduce legislation in Congress for a three-year federal moratorium on foreclosures, along with mortgage loan principal reductions to reflect true market value for underwater homeowners — those who owe more on their mortgage than the current market value of the home.

An open mic allowed other participants to ask questions and make comments.

Chicago activist Jill Hill chaired the third and final session on action plans to fight for a foreclosure moratorium. Speakers included Debbie Johnson, of Moratorium NOW!; Larry Holmes, of the national Bail Out the People Movement and Occupy 4 Jobs; and Andy Koch and Lamont Lilly, activists from North Carolina, who announced plans to demonstrate at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in September.

Action proposals adopted included supporting all May Day actions and the call for a May 1 general strike; organizing to protest the NATO summit in Chicago on May 20 and supporting the call by the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign to occupy 100 homes during the summit week; holding an international tribunal during the Democratic National Convention in September to investigate the criminal actions of the banks; and organizing a march on the DNC to demand President Barack Obama use his executive authority to impose a national moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.

Following the conference, participants adjourned to 1515 Broadway, a popular coffee house and theater that was recently saved from foreclosure thanks to a broad-based community struggle against Citibank. Dinner, cultural presentations and lots more discussion rounded out the day-long event.

• Keep families in their homes
• Preserve neighborhoods
• Maintain home values and a strong tax base
• Stop home abandonment and neighborhood blight

Please support Congressman Hansen Clarke’s H.R. 4848, “The Save Our Neighborhoods Act of 2012″, by signing the online petiton at http://nationalmoratorium.org/nationalmoratoriumpetition.shtml.   H.R. 4848 would put an immediate pause in the foreclosure process for distressed homeowners and suspend the foreclosure process for up to three years.The bill would require the bank to meet with the homeowner in foreclosure to discuss modifying the mortgage.  The bill provides an incentive for banks to modify the mortgage: if the modification does not occur, the foreclosure would be stopped for three years and the court would determine a reasonable amount that the homeowner must pay each month.  Once this three-year period is over, the court would reduce the principal of any underwater mortgage to its fair market value.

• The court must suspend the foreclosure process for a period of 60 days for any homeowner who requests such action.
• The lender must meet with the homeowner within 30 days of the beginning of the 60-day foreclosure suspension to discuss a modification of the mortgage.
• If the homeowner and the lender do not agree to a mortgage modification within 60 days, then the court may stop the foreclosure process for up to three years.
• A homeowner is eligible for a foreclosure suspension of up to three years if:

1. The homeowner has a federally related mortgage loan (as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which includes the vast majority of home mortgages);
2. The homeowner has suffered a financial hardship but has the ability to pay some rent for the property
3. The property in question is the homeowner’s primary residence.

• During this foreclosure suspension of up to three years, the homeowner must pay an amount determined by the court.
• When the foreclosure suspension of up to three years ends, the court must order an appraisal of the property. If the property is underwater, then the court must lower the mortgage principal to an amount determined by the court, taking into consideration the fair market value of the property. If the fair market value is greater than the principal on the mortgage loan, then the court must order payments set at a reasonable interest rate.

For more information, please visit http://nationalmoratorium.org/

“The Save  Our Neighborhoods Act of 2012″ details

DETROIT — Congressman Hansen Clarke announced April 12 the introduction of a federal bill that would place a three-year moratorium on foreclosures and mandate principal reductions.

Ashley Lewis, Clarke’s Communication Director, says the bill would stop the foreclosure process for most homeowners with a federally-backed mortgage.

“Next, the bill would require the bank to meet with the homeowner in foreclosure to discuss modifying the mortgage,” says Clarke. “The bill would also provide an incentive for banks to modify the mortgage.”

Clarke believes the plan will keep families in their homes, keep neighborhoods safe and spur economic recovery.

Clarke made the announcement at the Southwest Detroit home of Willie Delbridge who is currently facing eviction. Delbridge has been fighting Wells Fargo for several years even though his foreclosure has been set aside. Most recently Wells Fargo sold his home, for a second time, to a hedge fund for $5,000.

“People came by my house and told me I should have been gone,” Delbridge said. “I didn’t know them but they told me they had sold my house for $2,375.”

“People are afraid,” Delbridge said. “They are leaving their homes.”

Attorney Vanessa Fluker, who specializes in foreclosures, says many of the lending institutions’ foreclosure practices are fraudulent.

“Sometimes we don’t know who owns the property,” Fluker said. “Just because something has five stamps on it and is in the right format doesn’t make it legal. Sometimes, we’re dealing with entities that don’t even exist except to take away a home.”

Clarke plans to introduce the bill April 20, or the first part of the following week. He said he would like the bill to become law but is more interested in the relief it would offer homeowners. He said the President and/or Fannie Mae can enforce the same measures. “People are demanding elected officials do something and I’m responding,” Clarke said. “I’ve been told we have to let it (foreclosures) run its course. I respond, ‘At what price. People are losing their homes, sleeping in their cars.’”

Central United Methodist Church Pastor Ed Rowe, who also attended the demonstration at Delbridge’s home, said it was going to take more than bills to stop runaway foreclosures. Pastor Rowe believes campaign contributions, to politicians from the banks and financial institutions, is a problem.

“We need to occupy the lobby of these banks doing business in our community. Their business is moving us into shelters and then into dumpsters,” Rowe said. “This city has more churches, mosques and temples than anywhere. But they are not standing up to the banks nor standing up for the people.”

Rowe said parishioners should strongly urge their pastors, rabbis and imams to fight against the “legal loan-sharking that is decimating the country.”

Contact Marcus Wright at marcuswright@michigancitizen.com

By Eric T. Campbell
The Michigan Citizen  http://michigancitizen.com/bank-forges-signature-homeowner-gets-temporary-victory-p11072-1.htm

DETROIT — A metro Detroit homeowner received a temporary victory in court April 16 against a possible illegal eviction.

Attorney Vanessa Fluker argued in Wayne County Circuit Court that Deutsche Bank is using forged documents to claim ownership of her client’s home. Fluker’s client, who asked that her name not be released to the press, is facing eviction despite seeking loan modifications and attempting to buy her home after a sheriff’s sale.

Deutshe Bank is one of several large financial institutions foreclosing on homeowners without knowing who legally possesses the title, Fluker argued before Judge John MacDonald. Fluker was in court to defend her client from Deutsche Bank.

Fluker says her client is a victim of an epidemic of robo-signings — the practice of banks signing thousands of documents and affidavits without verifying the information.

“The whole issue is that the homeowner was at the eviction stage and they actually challenged the legitimacy of the ownership/interest of the plaintiff, which is Deutsche Bank,” Fluker told the Michigan Citizen. “One of the reasons and rationale for this is that there were numerous assignments, one of which was done by a ‘Linda Green,’ a nationally known robo-signer.”

Fluker argued the assignments were improper and therefore would affect the bank’s standing to initiate a legitimate foreclosure and subsequent eviction.

Judge MacDonald ruled in favor of Fluker’s client, saying a period of discovery was required before he could establish the “assignment of mortgage” and the case could move forward.

But the circumstances leading to her client’s court challenge are not rare, according to Attorney Fluker.

“She’s a hardworking individual who has been fighting to save this home. They’ve done everything they’re supposed to do — tried to get a modification, tried to purchase the home back after the sheriff’s sale. They want to stay in their home as most homeowners do,” she said.

Reports are now surfacing indicating that during the height of the foreclosure crisis — when banks were making billions from the sale of mortgage-backed securities — banks and lenders lost track of vital paperwork. Now, many believe they are using fraudulent practices to replace the missing documents.

An April 3 edition of CBS’ “60 Minutes” indicated that banks such as Deutsche used temp agencies to hire hourly workers for the purpose of signing off on documents as bank vice presidents and other officials. The name “Linda Green” was traced to a Georgia company hired to apply forged signatures to mortgage assignments.

“60 Minutes” sources said the agencies are “sweatshops for forged mortgage documents.” “Linda Green” has appeared thousands of times on mortgage documents nationwide.

Detroit Attorney Jerry Goldberg, of Moratorium NOW!, says cases like this will continue to plague Detroit unless a two-year moratorium on home foreclosures is implemented, either by the federal or state government. He adds that recent figures reflect a loss in home equity in Michigan of over $50 billion since 2005.

“You can imagine what that’s done to the tax base,” Goldberg says. “In the Black community especially, where most of the wealth is concentrated in home equity.”

Moratorium NOW! hosted a conference March 31 to discuss a national movement on the issue. Representatives from the Chicago Anti-Eviction Committee, Miami’s Take Back the Land, Occupy LA and more met at Central United Methodist Church to further the organizing campaign.

Goldberg told the Michigan Citizen that legislation recently proposed by U.S. Congressman Hansen Clarke, D-Mich., may attract enough attention to, at the very least, push the moratorium agenda forward.

According to the congressman’s spokesperson, Lindsey Schubiner, Clarke will introduce the bill this week.

In an e-mailed statement, Congressman Clarke writes: “Home foreclosures in metro Detroit represent a critical, ongoing crisis and urgent action from Congress is required … If enacted, the bill would stabilize neighborhoods, stop home abandonment, preserve our tax base and most importantly, strengthen our communities.”

Goldberg says a draft bill includes language allowing a homeowner to ask for a three-year moratorium on eviction, if the bank will not come to agreeable payment terms during the 60-day mediation period.

In addition, if the home is “underwater,” meaning the homeowner has negative equity, after the three years, the court will order the principal payment to be reduced to fair market value.

“It’s actually a very progressive bill,” Goldberg says. “We have no illusions that it’s going to pass, but it provides an important lever to help mobilize and help the struggle progress.”

“When Hansen was a state senator, he proposed a moratorium bill here in Michigan,” Fluker added.

“Unfortunately, it was not taken up and passed but it tracked the same terms as the bill he is proposing now, which would allow the parties — the banks and the borrowers — to go into court and arrange a modification. The borrowers would then pay a fair market rent in the interim,” she said.

For more information on the National Conference for a Moratorium on Foreclosures and Evictions, visit www.nationalmoratorium.org or call 313.744.7912.

Eric T. Campbell can be reached at ericcampbell@michigancitizen.com

By Kris Hamel Detroit

By Kris Hamel
Detroit
Published Apr 20, 2012 8:09 PM

Attorney Vanessa Fluker with homeowner Willie Delbridge. WW photo: Kris Hamel

April 12 was not about the legislation, although there has been and still is a crying need for a moratorium on foreclosures for homeowners throughout the U.S. It was not just about U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke of Detroit having the political courage to introduce such a bill in the U.S. Congress. A law putting a national moratorium on foreclosures is past due and beyond necessary. Whole cities and neighborhoods around the country, especially in Detroit, cry out for relief: 7.5 million families have lost their homes to the banks since 2007, and 10 million more foreclosures are yet to come. (responsiblelending.org)

The rally and press conference April 12 announcing Clarke’s bill were about struggle and building a movement against the banks and for the rights of workers and the poor.

Reporters and activists from many organizations gathered on Willie Delbridge’s lawn in front of his home in southwest Detroit. Delbridge faces imminent eviction because his lender illegally sold his home to a hedge fund. Clarke’s bill, called the “Save Our Neighborhoods Act of 2012,” would give homeowners like Delbridge time to make the banks act responsibly and work things out. The banks would essentially be given a three-year “time-out” in which to deal equitably with homeowners.

Speakers stressed that the fight against the banks is paramount, and it is time to move the struggle to a higher level. The Rev. Ed Rowe, pastor of Central United Methodist Church in Detroit, declared, “We’re going to have to occupy the lobbies of these banks, because walking around the outside of them doesn’t always make them listen.” Rowe denounced all the politicians whose campaigns are “paid for by the 1% and the banks” and said it’s “time to stop business as usual.”

Clarke said his legislation “would allow most homeowners facing foreclosure to stay in their homes by suspending the foreclosure process for up to three years. Suspending foreclosures would encourage banks to agree to modify mortgages and make payments more affordable. At the end of the foreclosure suspension period, a court would reduce the mortgage principal to the market value of the home.”

Clarke stressed: “Don’t count on Congress or the President to put a moratorium on foreclosures. It’s up to us. This bill is to generate a movement.”

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WW photo: Bryan G. Pfeifer

On April 14, key activists representing labor, community and student organizations from across the U.S. gathered in Charlotte, N.C., for the National Organizing Conference of the Coalition to Protest at the DNC. Conference participants resolved to call for a major “March on Wall Street South” on Sept. 2 in Charlotte, the world headquarters of Bank of America and numerous other banks and corporations. Look for a full report on this and other developments from the conference in a future issue of Workers World.

—Ben Carroll

http://metrotimes.com/news/fighting-foreclosures-1.1291107