An offshoot of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) aimed at saving homes from foreclosure is getting results through a nationwide initiative called Occupy Our Homes (OOH). Last week, protestors across the country “reoccupied” vacant properties, moved homeless families into abandoned properties and, in some instances, negotiated with lenders, bidders and auctioneers to prevent the sale of foreclosed homes[1]. In one instance in Atlanta, GA, a man successfully removed his house from the auction block with help from a lawyer. In other instances, lenders agreed to revisit loan modification applications before selling homes at auction. OOH protestors are different from OWS protestors in that they have clear complaints, plans of action and goals. They believe that lenders encouraged risky loans, allowed “highly speculative investing,” took taxpayer money for bailouts without passing that leniency on to the taxpayers themselves, and carried out illegal evictions. In response to these problems, OOH protestors believe that they are in the right when they “occupy” properties to prevent foreclosure sales or protest denied loan modification applications. This process is known as “liberating” a home[2].
While at first, this new manifestation of the OWS movement seems to be mostly positive, critics argue that the movement could be slowing the housing recovery. In many cases, OOH is occupying homes that have been sold and that are moving through the housing recovery process. In effect, they are stalling the recovery by occupying properties under contract. And the owners of the properties are not going to take the occupation lying down, either. As Fannie Mae spokeswoman Keosha Burns reminds California occupiers, “Any action or event that attempts to delay the sale of a foreclosed property destabilizes the neighborhood and hinders marketing recovery. We will work with local officials to remove anyone who is inside our properties illegally.” Occupiers have argued in at least one case with Fannie Mae that they are actually doing would-be buyers a favor because “the federal government needs to find them another house that’s suitable for a family to actually live in instead of giving them a house at the bottom of the barrel.” The buyers of that house purchased it at a discount as a fixer-upper in order to save money for their daughter’s college fund. It was not gifted to them by the government.
Do you think OOH will have a lasting impact on the housing market? On lending practices? Are they better, worse or the same as the OWS movement?
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[1] http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/12/10/occupy-our-homes-targets-big-banks-over-shady-mortgage-practices/
[2] http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/11/MN6K1MAODT.DTL&type=business
It seems like our government and law enforcement have just given up. They seem to think the 1st amendment gives people the right to break the law. I say, if people trespass, arrest them. If people infringe on other peoples rights, that is not freedom of speech, that is criminal and they should be arrested. If you create an atmosphere of fear or hate, that is terrorism. They are just anti-American socialists and communists who wrap themselves in the flag all the while trying to destroy the very fabric of American life. The funny thing is they come to America looking for a better life and then try to change America into the country they left.
Join us in all 50 States! We STOP THE BANK! KEEP FAMILIES IN THEIR HOMES!!
Thank you all, for helping me with my conclusion that this organization is a front for Tea Party activists and heartless 1% wanna-bes. (Multi-millionaires, give us a minute alone here)….Only a delusional, misinformed person can denigrate the people who are out there standing up (for ALL of us) in a way that commands attention.
If you prefer to remain at the effect of dysfunction inflicted on us by decades by people who manipulate your fear, that’s your business. I’m out of here, Bryan Ellis…..on my way to ensure that my successful real estate business remains fair, just and socially conscious.
Millionaire wanna-bes, talk amongst yourselves….
You all are still only dealing with the SYMPTOM and current situation vs the REAL Problem that started it all. When our govt began making it less and less desireable (and almost impossible) for corporations to STAY IN THE USA and EMPLOY Americans, people slowly, then feverishly began to lose their jobs…then their food, their homes, etc. I do not think anyone expects a free “handout”. People want to work again and feel good about contributing. However, the BOTTOM LINE is that there are not enough decent paying jobs for everyone who is unemployed and now homeless. No one can BUY these Vacant homes and many of them are being demolished because the bank who owns them now cannot keep them up properly. So, we are demolishing homes while millions of children and adults remain homeless, on the streets or in tents in the freezing cold winter months….
AND YOU FOLKS are still arguing about $ and who makes it. That is the SYMPTOM. The real issue is the GREED that started the downturn MANY MANY years ago. And that GREED is really MASKED FEAR (fear of losing what one has – the 1% and the 99% share this fear- playing itself out differently).
From what this post stated, the OOH groups are not just moving people into vacant homes…they are working with the banks and lenders to re-negotiate fairly AND put people in these vacant homes. There is no reason why a homeless family/person can’t occupy a vacant home (and maybe pay some rent- if they have SOMETHING to pay it with!), while it is being sold…and maybe exchanging some of their labor for keeping it up or even fixing it up, while they are living there.
Psychologically, we do things for ONE of two reasons…out of LOVE or out of FEAR. Many emotions stream from each of those: anger, resentment, joy, bliss. Which one are you feeding? Which one is the world economy feeding? Which one are the banks feeding?
PEOPLE….think BEYOND the STORY…get to the CORE…Connect to your HEART and stop trying to BE RIGHT based on old programming just because that is how you were taught or raised. WAKE UP! It could be you…and may be if your heart remains closed!
A quick note: Although some facets of the OOH movement are targeting lenders and negotiating loan mods, there are also a number of highly-publicized cases in which OOH is actually preventing the new owners who purchased the home from moving into that home. While negotiating loan mods is one thing that could be considered positive, stopping up the foreclosure pipeline and exacerbating the problem may turn out to be less than productive in the long run. Do you agree or disagree? ~Carole
Anyone who can actually believe that there will EVER BE a Housing Recovery must have some source that has not been revealed to the rest of the Economics and Finance World! There is a pentup demand for Houing, Houses, but too many McMansions are on the market, overpriced and built with no market in mind to begin with! Had George II spent the money he used to rescue B of A again, directly on the Homes and Homeowners to relieve the burden, it would have; #1,cost less, #2, saved many of not most local banks in US communities, and #3, generated a recovery of both the Housing market AND the US economy. Rescuing the Banks that caused the problem did NOTHING to resolve the difficulties that resulted from the loss of Glass-Stegal, Banking Act of ’33
BEREL wants our views on Occupy Our Homes–will they slow foreclosures or slow progress toward housing market recovery? Given that nobody sees such a recovery on a near horizon, I suggest that any action that slows foreclosures and highlights financial misbehavior may help focus our politicians on that misbehavior long enough for them to do something to keep it from happening again, to remove the dastards from the system, and bail out people who played by the rules and still got shafted by the banks. During the Great Depression, similar actions got us some of the regulations that got so perverted over the past few administrations. So OOH is part of a great American tradition, community involvement, not some commie import or a bunch of people looking for government handouts.
This is so much more of a productive pursuit for Occupy Wall Street. Hire a proficient, trained attorney and prosecute a Broken Chain of Title case. That will do so much more good than sleeping on the street – plus it will educate a judge.