<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Dominic Desiata</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ddesiata@clvu.org">ddesiata@clvu.org</a>></span><br>Date: Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 4:02 PM<br>
Subject: Tomorrow: Two anti-eviction rallies at Metro-Boston court houses<br>To: <br><br><br><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start">Anti-eviction rallies to support Metro-Boston residents fighting Fannie Mae</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start">
<br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start">Thursday, August 9th, 8:30 AM</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start">Malden District Court, 89 Summer Street, Malden, MA</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start">Info: <span style="text-align:center">Dominic DeSiata, Community Organizer, City Life/Vida Urbana -</span><span style="text-align:center"> </span><span style="text-align:center"><a href="tel:%28857%29203-2393" value="+18572032393" target="_blank">(857)203-2393</a>, <a href="mailto:ddesiata@clvu.org" target="_blank">ddesiata@clvu.org</a>, Twitter: @NorthSide_BTA</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start"><span style="text-align:center"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start">and</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start">
Dorchester District Court, 510 Washington Street, Dorchester, MA</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start"><span style="text-align:center">Info: Maria Christina Blanco, Organizer, City
Life/Vida Urbana – <a href="tel:617-524-3541x313" value="+16175243541" target="_blank">617-524-3541x313</a>, <a href="mailto:mcblanco@clvu.org" target="_blank">mcblanco@clvu.org</a>, Twitter: @CityLife_CLVU</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:start">
<br></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Communities say NO
to bank evictions funded with tax dollars – Two simultaneous courthouse rallies
for occupants of Fannie Mae-owned properties, responding to FHFA principal
reduction refusal announcement</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Malden</b> - Residents will come out to show support for Malden resident <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Gary Rogers, before his Summary Judgement hearing in court. Gary has been fighting Fannie Mae in order to repurchase his home after foreclosure. He was approved for a new mortgage by non-profit lender Boston Community Capital, but instead of accepting BCC's cash offer to buy at current value, Fannie Mae is evicting. Gary is determined to keep his family in their home. If the bank will not sell at a fair price, he is willing to pay rent while they entertain other offers. The North Side Bank Tenant Association, which offers support and solidarity for area residents in foreclosure, will lead a rally in support of Gary and other residents whose cries for fairness seem to fall on deaf ears with the nation’s largest mortgage companies.</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.25in"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(34,34,34)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Gary is a well known community member in Malden and has broad backing. He grew up in his home on Warren Avenue, and today coaches football at Malden High School in addition to his job at the MWRA. Last year he joined the Bank Tenants Association after other attempts at gaining assistance failed. At a rally at his previous court date last month, Malden Mayor Gary Christenson spoke out in his support.</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="RU"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Boston</b> - Neighbors, homeowners, childcare workers, and
tenant activists will rally on the steps of Dorchester District Court where
Yolanda Nova has a hearing on her eviction case, asking “<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Why is government-run bank </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Fannie Mae </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">using </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">our tax dollars </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">to </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">evict</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"> a small business owner's </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">family</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"> and </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">daycare
program </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">from their </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">home</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">?” </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Yolanda
is a tenant </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">whose </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">elderly father
and 7-year-old granddaughter</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"> live with
and depend on her financially. She paid her rent every month, but in March 2012
</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">her landlord lost the
house to the bank. The property passed
into the hands of </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">the Federal
National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”).
When Yolanda </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">asked
for a rental contract, she was refused</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">,
because she runs a home</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"> daycare
that serves her neighborhood</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">. Now she
is applying for a loan to make an offer to buy the house where she has invested
her time and money building her small business. But instead of working with
her, </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Fannie Mae is taking her to
court</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"> and wants </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">to throw her family out of their home and shut down
her childcare program</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#222222">Yolanda is a double victim of
the housing crisis. She came to live in
her current home of 5 years as a result of her own foreclosure. In 2008 she
fell prey to a predatory lender and lost her house to a bank. She was given a
$600,000 loan with a high interest rate for an old house in a poor neighborhood
of Boston, and when she fell behind on the payments that rose to $8,000/month,
the house was sold at auction for its real value: only $250,000. A modification of her underwater mortgage
that included </span><span lang="RU"><a href="http://www.housingwire.com/news/fannie-allegedly-killed-cost-saving-shared-appreciation-program-2009" target="_blank">principal reduction to real value</a></span><span style="color:#222222"> – something </span><span lang="RU"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/business/us-agency-bars-fannie-and-freddie-from-reducing-principal.html" target="_blank">the head of Fannie and Freddie opposes</a></span><span style="color:#222222">, along with the Wall St. banks, </span><span lang="RU"><a href="http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/tfg-letter-demarco.aspx" target="_blank">over the objections of the Obama
administration</a></span><span style="color:#222222"> - would
have saved her. Losing her home and
savings was very hard, but Yolanda pulled up and went forward, and moved to her
current house to start over. She has
been a good tenant, and invested her own
resources in maintaining and improving the property, in order to to
comply with state daycare licensing regulations. She has set up her home, inside and outside,
for the benefit of the children she cares for, one of whom is disabled. She has worked hard, as a single mother, for
her family to get ahead, and at the same time to serve her community by helping
kids prepare for school. Now Fannie Mae
wants her to move out and take a big loss all over again. But this time she's fighting back. </span><span style="color:#222222">Yolanda
has joined the </span><span lang="RU"><a href="http://clvu.org/" target="_blank">Bank Tenants Association at City Life/Vida Urbana</a></span><span style="color:#222222">
and is </span><span style="color:#222222">fighting her
post-foreclosure eviction</span><span style="color:#222222">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Yolanda Nova and Gary Rogers' stories are part of a massive pattern of </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">discrimination and displacement</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"> linked to </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">predatory lending</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"> and the </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">housing bubble</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">. </span><span lang="RU"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904480904576498713414380604.html" target="_blank">Hundreds of thousands</a></span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"> of </span><span lang="RU"><a href="http://wearethefanniefreddie99.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">families are in the same situation</a></span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">. Subprime mortgages originally given out by Wall St. banks are ending up with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which now back half of all home loans. But while these </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">banks were bailed out with taxpayer money</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">, small homeowners and tenants are </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">left holding the bag</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">. Foreclosure is robbing them of their homes, their savings, and their small businesses. Communities of color and immigrant communities were unfairly targeted and are </span><span lang="RU"><a href="http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/race-discrimination-after-foreclosure-are-communities-of-color-treated-differently" target="_blank">hardest hit</a></span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">. Fannie and Freddie came under government control and are </span><span lang="RU"><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/18/business/la-fi-fannie-freddie-box-20100818" target="_blank">80% taxpayer-owned</a></span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"> since their 2008 bailout. </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">The suffering caused by foreclosure doesn't end with the family that is put out, but spreads to drag down entire communities, so angry local residents want to know, </span><span lang="RU"><a href="http://www.npa-us.org/fire-demarco" target="_blank">why won't they use the public's funds in the public interest</a></span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">?</span>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The City Life/Vida Urbana and North Side Bank Tenants Associations are
part of a regional movement called New England Workers and Residents Organizing
Against Displacement (<span lang="RU"><a href="http://www.newroad.us/" target="_blank">NEW
ROAD</a></span>). It includes local
groups in nine cities across Massachusetts and Rhode Island.</p><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>-- <br>Dominic DeSiata, Organizer / Organizador<br>City Life/Vida Urbana<br>Office / Oficina:<br><a href="tel:%28857%29203-2393" value="+18572032393" target="_blank">(857)203-2393</a><br><br>
North Side Bank Tenants Association<br><img> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/northside.bta" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/northside.bta</a><br>
Twitter: @NorthSide_BTA<br>
</font></span></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div>"Our goal is a society that prioritizes the needs of all before the profits of the few." passed by Occupy Boston General Assembly 11/29/11</div>
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