Get Sick, Lose Your Home?

This past Tuesday American Friends Service Committee joinedOccupy Our Homes Atlanta at IBM's Atlanta office for struggling home defender Zannie Jackson. IBM owns Seterus Inc., a mortgage servicing company that is refusing to make a deal Zannie can afford to stay in his home. While all this is going on, Zannie is fighting for his life as his kidneys have failed. Zannie is kept alive through dialysis machine he has to hook himslef up to 4-5 times a week.

We spent time passing out flyers outside the building to folks driving by.

Zannie's story is unfortunately nothing new. When everyday people get sick they often times lose their home. In Zannie's case the lender could easily make a deal that would not only be profitable for them, it would keep Zannie in his home.

It's been a tough week for Zannie. Seterus let him know that they were unwilling to offer a deal he could afford, and he found out the his prospects for a new kidney weren't looking good as he wouldn't be able to afford the medication that he would need to take after the surgery.

Please sign and share Zannie's online petition

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

Bringing the Movement to Florida Pt 2

Over the last three days I've visited residents in Lake Worth, Miami, and Florida. Each stop is part listening project, part housing justice workshop with one goal; to build the housing justice movement in Florida and the South East in general.

This trip has been extremely inspiring. With very little notice or outreach groups of homeowners facing foreclosure/eviction have come together to learn how to use public pressure and direct action to stop financial institutions from taking their homes, and taking their neighbor's homes. It's been especially exciting to see the conversations about affordable housing, challenging the commoditization of housing, and local strategies to build a sustainable movement in Florida.

At each stop the discussion eventually went to what communities believe they need to build a local housing justice movement with a focus on using nonviolent direct action and public pressure. I feel confident we will be seeing not only a handful of new housing justice campaigns launched all over Florida, but I believe that we have at least two strong new groups emerging, maybe more.

Florida has consistently been on the top of the list with foreclosure rates, and one or the most underwater. Florida has also become ground zero for Wall Street's new strategy of buying up bank owned vacants for a fraction of what they were worth just a few years ago.

One of the goals of the tour is to encourage folks to attend a South Eastern Housing Justice Academy organized by American Friends Service Committee and Occupy Our Homes Atlanta. At the academy we hope to provide trainings and direct action experience designed to help folks come up with an action plan to get work started in their communities.

Tomorrow I will be making one last stop In Orlando before heading back to Atlanta.

Bringing the Movement to Florida

We know that the only way to hold Wall Street accountable is to come together and organize--to create a world where people, not banks, have control over their communities.

In October, American Friends Service Committee and Occupy Our Homes will bring people together to do just that by hosting our first ever Housing Justice Academy. We’ll come together to learn how we can fight back, strengthen our connections to each other, and build a movement that has the power to fight back against these institutions. From October 26 through October 28, trainings and actions will be taking place in at the CWA hall at 279 Logan St, SE, Atlanta 30312.

As the academy approaches it’s been an opportunity to explore putting more energy into building a stronger South Eastern Housing Justice Movement. Florida is a key state and I know a lot of Floridians have faced serious challenges building housing justice work that’s sustainable.

  This past weekend I took the time to meet with folks interested in Housing Justice Work in Tampa and Jacksonville. Both communities have been rocked by the housing crash. I took a driving tour in both cities and was hard pressed to find one street that didn’t have at least one bank owned vacant, many of which had been sitting there for years. Both cities have seen an explosion in their homeless populations and have seen new measures but their city governments to further criminalize homelessness.

One extreme example of this in the hot city of Tampa was the fact that the downtown area has one public water fountain. In Jacksonville I had the pleasure of meeting Jeffery Noice who has been fighting Bank of America around his foreclosure. It was exciting to spend a few hours with Jeffery planning his campaign, which he hope to launch in the next few weeks.

                    I'm going to be rolling through Florida over the Saturday October 5th-Monday October 7th . My goal is to listen to folks on the ground, hear the challenges Floridians have faced and continue to face, and explore what resources you think might help spark sustainable work in Florida. 

Schedule:

Saturday at 2pm 301 N Dixie hwy, Lake Worth Fl 33460

Saturday Evening: Would LOVE to meet folks South of Palm County, close to Miami! Please email tfranzen@afsc if you are interested!

Sunday is wide open, would like to visit to locations between Miami and Orlando. I can definitely visit at least two locations. I Could go to Sarasota, Port St. Lucie, Cocoa or surrounding areas.

Monday Evening: 5pm Millers Filed,  7958 Via Dellagio Way, Orlando, FL 32819

To register for the housing Justice Academy click here.