Supporters
gather at the Occupy Homes event celebrating their fending off the
first eviction attempt against the Ceballos home last week. (Photo/Mark
R. Brown via Occupy Homes)
UPDATE: After successfully fending off the first eviction
attempt against the Ceballos home last week, Occupy Homes celebrated
Monday night with a concert and community gathering attended by 250
people.
Brother Ali performs a set at the event. (Photo/Mark R. Brown via Occupy Homes)
Hip-hop artists
Brother Ali and
Haphduzn performed at the celebration as participants geared up for the
ongoing defense of the property. The Ceballos family seeks a loan
modification from JPMorgan Chase, which the family says violated key
provisions of the national mortgage settlement.
The celebration follows a report from Occupy Homes that
30 police officers
attempted to evict occupants during an unannounced raid on the
property. Two were arrested, but the Ceballos family was able to retake
their home with the help of 75 community members who removed boards
after the officers left.
Original article, “With Banks Unwilling To Help, Victims Of Foreclosure Turn To Unconventional Tactics,” from July 22:
Last week, housing rights advocates in 15 U.S. cities delivered
10,000 petition signatures
to Chase Bank branches demanding justice for Sergio Ceballos, a
Minneapolis resident who faces what advocates believe is an unjust
foreclosure proceeding.
Despite being one of five major banks to agree to the
$25 billion
National Mortgage settlement last year, Chase continues to practice
“dual tracking,” a process in which the bank negotiates a loan
modification while carrying out foreclosure and eviction proceedings
against a homeowner. It’s one of many practices explicitly banned by the
settlement.
As the summer weather heats up across the U.S., so do the
actions in defense of besieged homeowners like Sergio, a father of
three.
Internationally recognized hip-hop artist
Brother Ali joined dozens in demonstrations this week both to defend the Ceballos home and to demand a change to Chase policies.
“We all know that something is very very wrong. We read in
the news about people losing their homes, we hear about people losing
their jobs, we hear about the common people getting more and more poor,
having less and less while the people at the top enjoy more — record
profits, record bonuses and all these things,” said Ali in a statement
to Mint Press News.
Occupations heat up
Ali has lent more than just his name to helping defend
homes in the Twin Cities. When he isn’t touring, Ali often speaks at
events, attends demonstrations and even got
arrested last year while peacefully defending a home against foreclosure.
“When people open up their lives so that we can come and be
activists it’s something that does make a difference. We’ve seen a lot
of families fight and win,” Ali said. “There has been the Homeowners’
Bill of Rights. The legislators that passed that let us know that this
work was a huge motivation and helped a lot. If everyone knows that
there is a group of activists in the streets going to jail forcing the
issue, forcing banks to renegotiate it makes it easier to pass
legislation.”
Minneapolis passed a
Homeowners’ Bill of Rights
earlier this year joining California among just a handful of states and
cities to have laws protecting homeowners from predatory foreclosure
practices. The results have been dramatic in California, where
foreclosure proceedings have
dropped 75 percent between January 2012 and February 2013, according to statistics from RealtyTrac.
Jonathan Ceballos, Sergio’s son, tells Mint Press News that
the ongoing battle dates back to 2010, when his father struggled to
obtain a loan modification after a divorce made it more difficult for
him to make payments.
“This battle has been going on since 2010, before we found
Occupy,” he said. “Once my parents got divorced, it was a little harder
for my dad to make payments. Right away we tried to get on board with
Chase and let them know that we needed a loan modification.”
Since then, the family has received the runaround, filing paperwork only to be told that the bank lost or misplaced papers.
“We’ve had to resend over and over,” Jonathan Ceballos
said. “We would speak to one person and every time it would be someone
else. This went on until now. At this point we are waiting for another
modification.”
This violates a key point of the national foreclosure
settlement, which stipulated that banks must maintain a single point of
contact for those who are trying to obtain a loan modification.
Things became more complicated when Sergio would request to speak to someone in Spanish, his native language.
“When my dad would call and I wasn’t around he would need
translation or something in Spanish, that wasn’t involved either, they
couldn’t help him out with that,” Jonathan Ceballos said.
Now, there is a round-the-clock presence in the home, with
sometimes 10 or more people who have barricaded themselves inside,
waiting for the police to arrive at any time to carry out an eviction.
Using non-violent resistance, supporters have moved a 1,500-pound barrel
filled with debris into the living room. They plan to lock themselves
to the barrel — slowing down any eviction or deterring it altogether.
Occupy Homes rolls on reclaiming properties
As the Ceballos family continues its battle with Chase, another home defense is occurring just down the street.
The home originally belonged to Michael McDowell’s
grandmother, who lost it when she lapsed into financial trouble. She and
her husband lived in the house for 10 years. McDowell is now one of
four people who have reclaimed the home.
“I just don’t want to see it go to waste. That’s why I have
people here occupying it, that’s why I’m moving in,” said McDowell to
Mint Press News.
Lawrence Lee, one of McDowell’s new roommates, was
connected with the house by Occupy Homes, which helped him find a decent
place to live after weeks on the street.
“I was sleeping outside in the streets for two weeks
straight. It was a little family dispute so I chose to sleep outside and
then my sister’s boyfriend hooked me up with the people to talk to and
from that I have been on my feet and going,” said Lee to Mint Press
News.
Moving poor and homeless into vacant or abandoned homes
sounds like a simple concept that would help solve an epidemic across
the U.S. With
18.5 million vacant homes
across the U.S. and more than 3.5 million homeless, the solution to the
housing crisis appears self-evident, but it remains out of reach
because of current property laws.
McDowell and his fellow occupants say they are fixing up the property and pay utilities.
“We pay the utilities. I have the light bill in my name and
we have the water bill about to come in my name. We plan to pay taxes
on the house,” Lee said.
“We’re fixing up the house. We’ve done a lot of repairs on
the piping. We’ve got the water back on and the electricity because all
of that was turned off. We’ve done a lot so far,” said McDowell, a cafe
manager and an employee at his uncle’s catering business.
A vacant home can be a blight to any neighborhood. Without
regular occupants, a property can fall into disrepair or become an area
that attracts crime. By moving into vacant homes, McDowell and his
friends appear to be killing two birds with one stone — reducing
homelessness while making good use of a property that would otherwise
have a negative presence in the community.
“I think the neighborhood is loving it. The neighbors don’t want an abandoned house in the area,” Lee said.
But instead of encouraging this type of positive community action, Lee reports that the police responded with hostility.
“They dragged me out of the house starting being
disrespectful. The sergeant came up and told me that he wanted to kick
my butt and take me in the alley and beat me up and all this,” he said.
“I thank everyone for helping me out. If it wasn’t for them I don’t know
where I would be. I could be dead, in the hospital, or whatever. I have
three kids to live for so I’m just trying to do it for my kids.”
Minneapolis police arrived and issued two trespassing
citations Wednesday. Minutes later, a local elected official had the
citations thrown out, according to Nick Espinosa, an Occupy Homes
spokesperson.
A study by the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless found more than
13,000 homeless people across the state in 2009.
Protesters marched for International Workers Day on May Day in Minneapolis, Minn. (Photo/Fibonacci Blue via Flickr)
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