DeKalb Sheriff’s deputies attempting to serve an “intrusion warrant” on Toni Furman

Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, American Friends Service Committee, and Civil Rights leader Joe Beasley to held Press Conference today at Toni's home.

 On May 7th of this year, Toni Furman was in her Lithonia home when she heard someone breaking down her door. It was DeKalb Sheriff’s deputies who came to evict Toni from her home of almost 20 years. Toni was a victim of wrongful foreclosure by a notorious mortgage lender called Cenlar.

After working with Occupy Our Homes Atlanta Toni decided to lead a march to her to her home and move back in on June 10^th of this year, Since then there have been at least 1000 calls, countless emails, over 5,000 have signed an online petition,  and media inquiries to Cenar with zero response.

Last week officers under  Sheriff Browns jurisdiction showed up with an Intrusion warrant and tacked it on Toni’s door. They have been back several times since. Toni and several of her neighbors have made it clear today, she will not be leaving her home, even if it means risking her freedom, she is taking a stand.

American Friends Service Committee's Atlanta Economic Justice Program is proud to stand with Toni and we continue to be inspired by everyday Americans who risk everything to stand up to the financial giants that have ravaged communities all over the country with impunity.

Community Cook Out Brings Neighbors Together In DeKalb

Today we held another community cookout at Toni Furman’s house. The last one was a smash hit with the neighborhood. Since then neighbors have been pouring forth sharing their housing justice struggles and joining in the movement!

Organizing in Toni’s neighborhood has been exciting. Each time another community member shares their struggle publically others feel inspired to do the same. Toni’s crisis and courage has drawn together her neighborhood in a way it’s never been before. People who didn’t know each other at all or very well have formed life long bonds over the last month. It’s been a real privilege to be a park of this exciting process.

Cenlar, the mortgage company that wrongly foreclosed on Toni has refused to open any line of communication with her community despite many attempts.

Please sign Toni's online petition.

McCalla Raymer Law Firm Wins Family Displacement Award!!

Occupy Our Homes Atlanta  and American Friends Service Committee showed up unscheduled at the law firm of McCalla Raymer today to present them with the prestigious Family Displacement Award!

McCalla Raymer has been instrumental in assisting banks in their effort to steal wealth from hard working Georgia residents. McCallaRaymer has excelled at putting people out of their homes and into the street.

Today we congratulated McCalla Raymer for going the extra mile to swiftly remove  people from their homes so that banks can claim massive inventories of vacant homes, collect insurance, and then sell homes to private equity firms at record rates.

McCalla Raymer also played a key role in the robo-signing scandal. In fact many fraudulent robo-signed signatures were signed by McCalla Raymer personnel.  Robo signing may not have been possible without the tenacity of McCalla Raymer.

Several homeowners with first-hand experience with MacCalla Raymer's zeal for home theft were on hand to present the prestigious award, including Toni Furman who was wrongly foreclosed on and evicted May 7th of this year.

With the help of Occupy Our Homes Atlanta and her community,Toni Furman reclaimed her home and has been living in it since June 10th in defiance of the eviction. Toni is excited to be a part of the award ceremony stating, “McCalla Raymer's total disregard for my dignity gave me the exciting opportunity to experience being totally homeless.”

Here at Occupy Our Homes Atlanta we believe in celebrating other’s hard work and determination. Few law firms have worked harder to ruin lives than McCalla Raymer has, and they certainly have profited greatly as a result! Congrats! Being number #1 at anything is no small feat. 

Huge Support For Toni Furman's Home Liberation

A month ago Toni Furman was evicted from her Lithonia home. Since being evicted she has been fighting and organizing to get back into her home. This past Monday, June 10th, she moved back in and liberated her home with the help of Occupy Our Homes Atlanta.

The outpouring of neighborly support has been amazing. After moving in Toni and her community started cleaning up her house and organizing to get Cenlar, the bank that wrongly evicted her last month, to work out a deal that keeps Toni in her home. Last night about 50 people cycled through a community cookout hosted at Toni’s house. Neighbors gave words of support and empathy, said they would stand with Toni, and many even shared their own stories of housing struggle.

Today neighbors are dropping by the house to call Cenlar CEO Gregory Tornquist on his personal cell phone at (609)-462-0090 and Cenlar VP of Communications Denise Vaccaro at (609)-883-3900 ext. 3292 to demand that Cenlar speak with Toni to work out a deal that keeps her in her home.

On Saturday June 15th neighbors and activists will gather at Toni’s home for a community clean up, with residents of the community choosing a site they feel needs some TLC.

- See more at: http://occupyourhomesatl.org/toniupdate/#sthash.cxhWMXju.dpuf

"I'm Home! The Chains Are Broken!"

Day two for Toni Furman's home liberation and she's still standing strong. Today there was a wave of communtiy support for Toni. Dozens of neighbors stopped by to offer help and stand guard in the yard. Cars drove by and gave supportive honks all day.

There was so much support that we decided to have a community cookout Tomorrow(6/12) at 6:30 at Toni's house(1420 Stoneliegh Hill Road Lithonia). We hope to create space to answer questions the communtiy has about Toni's story, her action, how her story connects with others in the community, ways people can support, and what folks in the community might want to do to improve life in the neighborhood.


There was one reminder today that things at Toni's home can change very quickly. A repair man for Cenlar came by and when he realized that Toni had moved back in he said he was calling the police. The police never came, but is was a reminder that another forced eviction attempt is a real possibility that could happen.



Please sign and share Toni's online petition!!

Evicted Dekalb Teacher Reclaims Her Home Today!

On May 7^th of this year, Toni Furman was in her Lithonia home when she heard someone breaking down her door.

“They kicked the back door in,” she said in an interview with Crossroads News. “I was in an upstairs bedroom trying to call for help and they told me to drop everything and show my hands.”

“They” were the six DeKalb Sheriff’s deputies who evicted her from the home on Stoneleigh Hill Road where she had lived for more than 20 years.

“They ordered me to get my clothes on and to leave,” said the substitute high school science teacher. “And they started to take my things out into the street.”

Toni hit hard times five years ago when she experienced a difficult divorce. She and her husband had lived in the home for 18 years. The divorce left Toni with the house, nothing more.

Toni immediately started to contact Cenlar, a loan servicing company, to see about getting a loan modification with no results. Eventually Toni got an extra job so that she could get closer to affording the mortgage payment.

Cenlar continued to refuse to work with Toni. Toni’s home wasn’t any foreclosure , Toni had around 100k in equity, which made for a very attractive foreclosure for Cenlar. In the end Cenlar refused her modification because he ex husband refused to sign modification paperwork, despite the fact that Toni had won the home in a divorce settlement.

Because Cenlar refused to work with Toni she became homeless and was staying with a neighbor in her community. Toni is ready to take bold action to reclaim her home despite the consequence. Toni is ready to be a voice for others struggling to simply have a place to call home.

Today at around 6:30pm Toni marched to her home at 1420 Stoneliegh Hill Road, Lithonia, with the support of other Atlanta residents active in Occupy Our Homes Atlanta and reclaimed her home of over 20 years from Cenlar. This was a brave, bold, risky move for Toni, who had never been involved in any social justice movement prior to her crisis.

There's no telling how this story is going to end, but we know it's starking lots of conversations in her community and is being covered on several local news outlets. 

Please consider signing and sharing Toni's online petition click here

Great article by Crossroads News.