Mel Watt Welcoming Party!

After over a year of pressure from grassroots organizations like Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, former head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Ed DeMarco has been fired. There’s a new boss overseeing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and his name is Mel Watt.

Today American Friends Service Committee joined members of Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, including struggling homeowners Zannie Jackson and Nancy Daniell who are facing foreclosure at the hands of Fannie and Freddie respectively, in  throwing a welcoming party for Director Watt at the Atlanta regional office of Fannie Mae. Like any good party there was cake, balloons, and even a great big greeting card for Mel Watt.  

Residents and community members spoke about Mel Watt’s potential to help communities around the country, and what we believe should be his main priorities at the FHFA.

 

We know that Mel Watt has the potential to be a great community partner and work to keep people in their homes. However, we want him to know that we plan on holding him accountable every step of the way. While Mel Watt has already taken steps to distance himself from DeMarco, we want to make sure he starts working on the things communities need right away.

Mel Watt has the power to relief struggling homeowners of dept that insures loans will remain underwater for years if not forever. We hope that Watt will also turn over vacant properties to community groups to be used for affordable/transitional housing units. As city's like Atlanta continue to see the number of homeless increase, it's painful to see empty homes in struggling communities.

 

After we gathered in front of Fannie Mae's regional head quarters, signed our cards, and each shared our hope and dreams for Mel Watt, we decided it was time to deliver our giant greeting card, the cake, and the balloons! Zannie and Nancy also delivery copies of their online petitions to save their homes. Well, it turns out the surprise was on us! Fannie Mae decided to tell the private security force not to allow us in the building, and not to accept our greeting card.

 

Never ones to leave the job undone,  we simply went around the side of the building and delivered our package at the building loading dock, where it was gladly accepted!

Please sign Zannie Jackson and Nancy Daniell's online petition's by clicking on their names.

Nationstar Mortgage Get's a Surprise Deliver!

 Nancy Daniell, a senior citizen in Gwinnett County, has been an active community member at Berkeley Woods Condominiums since 1996, serving on the Board of Directors of her homeowner’s association and using her condo as a communal gathering space. After being laid off from her job in 2008, and facing an abysmal job market, her income from social security and a string of temporary jobs was no longer enough to keep up with her mortgage. She was denied a loan modification by her initial mortgage holder, Bank of America, forcing her to deplete her savings and file for bankruptcy.

Recently Nancy's loan was sold, with millions of other peoples, to Nationstar Mortgage. Not that we've linked to Nationstar's Facebook page instead of their regular website just so folks can get an idea of how difficult the mortgage holder is to work with. One reason why Bank of America has unloaded so many mortgages to Nationstar is because Nationstar isn't accountable to the National Mortgage Settlement like Bank of America is; of course this is very troubling.

After several months with major communication problems including the accidental foreclosure sale of Nancy's home and the inability to get a single point of contact as promised by Nationstar, we decided to escalate by organizing a demonstration outside Nationstar. But there was a problem in Georgia.

Luckily the housing justice movement is growing in this country, and we have allies almost everywhere. Turns out Folks in Dallas Texas, where Nationstar's headquarter are, we more then happy to organize a solidarity action for Nancy!

So last week about a dozen folks delivered Nancy's petition(which you should sign if you haven't already). They held a demonstration outside Nationstars headquarters and passed out fliers to folks passing by. 

Now while this fight isn't over yet, Nancy had this to say, " I am overwhelmed with gratitude for these friends & apparently Nationstar was a bit overwhelmed as well. I got a phone call later that afternoon from Taylor Pettigrew, a public relations specialist at Nationstar, who very politely assured me that Nationstar wanted to work with me in every way possible & asked for some more documentation regarding my loan application. I am now putting together that documentation & we shall see what happens next.
Many thanks & Happy Holidays to all those who have signed my petition, sent good wishes or participated in any positive way with my fight to remain in my home!"

Struggling Residents From Across the Southeast Storm Senator Isakson's Office to Demand No Filibuster of FHFA Director Confirmation Vote

Today struggling homeowners fighting mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with housing justice activists from across the southeast, converged at the office of Senator Johnny Isakson in Atlanta to demand that he does not block a vote to confirm a permanent director for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

 This group includes Mark Harris, a Desert Storm veteran evicted at gunpoint by Fannie Mae last August from his home in Avondale Estates, Nancy Daniell, a senior citizen whose Duluth home was wrongfully foreclosed on by Nationstar on behalf of Freddie Mac, and Zannie Jackson, a Fannie Mae homeowner and dialysis patient worried about keeping a roof over his head in addition to fighting for his life. Monday's action is the culmination of Atlanta's Housing Justice Academy, a three day training in home defense and non-violent direct action, attended by homeowners, renters, and activists from around the Southeast organized by the American Friends Service Committee and Occupy Our Homes Atlanta.  

At around 1pm fourty home defenders, many of whom are at risk of losing their homes, entered Johnny Isakson's office building where we were immediately told that we would not be allowed into his office despite the fact that folks had driven hundreds of miles to meet with someone from the Senator's office. Finally we decided to go up to the senator's office anyway. Once outside his office we were refused admittance and told no one would meet with us today, which didn't stop us. We stood outside the office until someone met with us. A staff opened the door and offered to meet with us in the doorway without allowing us through the door. They basically wanted to take whatever information we had on paper and be done with us, instead we had a line of struggling residents ready to tell their stories and let Senator Isakson's staff understand what appointing a permanent FHFA director could mean for folks. After several residents shared their story's we then unrolled a large banner that said "#not1moreeviction".

The group spent another hour or so outside the senators office holding signs and granting press interviews.

A vote in the Senate to confirm a new director of the FHFA will happen early this week.  As this confirmation hearing approaches residents are advocating for a confirmation of a permanent Director of the FHFA. Since Senator Isakson and his fellow Republican congresspeople have threatened to filibuster Watt's confirmation, the residents staged a "filibuster" at Isakson’s office, by sharing the laundry list of violations and injustices of the FHFA. The confirmation of a permanent director FHFA  could mean principal reduction for hundreds of thousands of struggling American homeowners. It could also mean the turning over of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac vacant properties over the community organizations for the use of affordable housing.

Similar protests will be taking place around the country on Monday as part of a national day of action to demand that there is "Not 1 More Eviction" until a new permanent director is confirmed by the Senate. These actions are part of the larger movement to "Dump Ed DeMarco," acting Director of FHFA, and reverse his policies that have been devastating to both homeowners and renters.  More than half of all mortgages in the US are managed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Even with all the current talk of housing recovery, 13 million homeowners are still underwater.FHFA’s continued  refusal to reduce principal to current value has hurt the economy, pushing millions of homeowners into the streets.  

Click here for Mark Harris' story and petition. 

Click here for Nancy Daniell's story and petition. 

Click here for Zannie Jackson's story and petition. 

Click here for Sherri Joubert's story and petition.

Click here for more information on the Housing Justice Academy. 

Senior Citizen's Home Foreclosed Due To Mortgage Servicer's Mistake.

Nancy Daniell, a senior citizen in Gwinnett County, has been an active community member at Berkeley Woods Condominiums since 1996, serving on the Board of Directors of her homeowner’s association and using her condo as a communal gathering space. After being laid off from her job in 2008, and facing an abysmal job market, her income from social security and a string of temporary jobs was no longer enough to keep up with her mortgage. She was denied a loan modification by her initial mortgage holder, Bank of America, forcing her to deplete her savings and file for bankruptcy.

Two weeks ago, just days before her home was scheduled to be auctioned off on the Gwinnett County courthouse steps, Nancy attended an Occupy Our Homes Atlanta meeting at our AFSC Atlanta office, scared of losing her home and seeing her belongings put out on the street. With some last minute phone calls and help from the Rainbow Push Coalition, our coalition was able to get the foreclosure sale postponed indefinitely, giving Nancy more time to work out a solution. Her new servicer, Nationstar Mortgage, even sent her a letter confirming the sale was cancelled, and notifying her of her new single point of contact. From there, everything has gone downhill.

When Nancy tried to call the single point of contact listed, she was transferred from one person to the next, all of whom told her that her home had been sold in foreclosure and there was nothing they could do to help. Freddie Mac, who owns Nancy's mortgage, sent out a real estate agent to post a notice on her door, offering her cash for keys to get out. A few days later she received a loan modification package from Nationstar. Although it seems impossible for Nancy to know what's going on, one thing is clear- the banks are still up to the same old tricks, misleading homeowners down a rabbithole that all too often results in foreclosure.

Nancy's story is just one of thousands that prove that the banks are still using the same deceptive practices that the multiple government settlements were supposed to put an end to. The big banks have repeatedly violated the settlement terms, using every loophole they can find to prevent them from complying with the new rules, or transferring servicing rights to specialty companies like Nationstar, who collect more profits from foreclosing than from completing successful loan modifications. 

Now instead of planning for retirement, Nancy like so many other seniors in her situation is faced with the threat of losing her home. American Friends Service Committee stands with Nancy Daniell, and over 3,000 supporters have signed an online petition calling on Nationstar Mortgage and Freddie Mac to do the right thing and work out a deal that keeps Nancy in her home so she can continue to make her community a better place for all it's residents. 

Sign and ShareNancy's Petiton