Fannie Mae Wastes Taxpayer Money Prosecuting Nonviolent Home Defense of Veteran Mark Harris

Yesterday former congressman Mel Watt took office as the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Today, Fannie Mae is taking four people to court with charges of criminal trespassing for working peacefully and nonviolently  to keep Desert Storm veteran Mark Harris in his Avondale Estates home of 16 years.

Under the direction of Ed DeMarco, the former interim director of the FHFA, Fannie Mae refused principle reduction to current market value for many struggling homeowners like Mark, resulting in an unprecedented rate of foreclosures across the nation. Instead of helping struggling homeowners, Fannie Mae chose to waste public tax dollars on expensive eviction procedures. In August, Fannie Mae had Mark Harris evicted at gunpoint at spent tens of thousands on 24/7 private security. This money could have gone to helping Mark work out a deal he could afford. Fannie Mae is now set to spend even more taxpayer money to prosecute four people that, along with over ten thousand people who have signed petitions supporting Mark Harris, didn't want to see another veteran on the streets.

In court today, the four arrestees plead not guilty to charges of criminal trespassing levied against them by Fannie Mae, forcing Fannie Mae to justify their actions in a court of law.

Fannie Mae, under the direction of Mel Watt's FHFA, has a choice to make. We ask that Mel Watt direct Fannie Mae to drop the charges against our peaceful and nonviolent arrestess who fought to keep a veteran housed and save American taxpayers and homeowners billions by correcting mortgages to current market value.

We are grateful for the legal assistance from the Davis/Boazman law firm who continues to tirelessly step up for the Atlanta community good over and over again.

Sign Mark Harris' online petion