by Soledad Lawrence

Imagine it is 1786. A group of Massachusetts farmers are meeting in the farmhouse of Daniel Shays, a former Continental Army officer. The group has come together to plan a rebellion. Their concerns center around the high costs of the Revolutionary war, costs that have been laid on the backs of small land owners. Farm prices are low and taxes are high; many of these poor farmers are faced with the loss of their land. Together they will lead a rebellion that will impact the formulation of the Constitution of the United States.

Fast forward to 2008, Boston, Massachusetts. A group of about 50 former homeowners and tenants living in foreclosed properties are meeting in the City Life/Vida Urbana offices. They are planning a resistance. Their fight is the same as the poor farmers of 1786: the unjust takeover of their homes. The current foreclosure crisis is hitting these former owners and tenants in record numbers. Trillions of dollars are going to fund a war, leaving no money left over to assist people facing the loss of their homes. Not much has changed in the past 200-plus years.

In the spring of 2007, a group of tenants living in an unlicensed rooming house in Roxbury, Massachusetts received notice that their building had been foreclosed upon. Deutsche Bank told them to move immediately or they’d be evicted. At the same time, allied housing lawyers were seeing an increase in no-fault evictions – those where a tenant is being evicted other than for a breach of the rental agreement or some other “fault” such as not paying rent – by banks in the Massachusetts Housing Courts.

In May of last year, City Life/Vida Urbana organizers began knocking on the doors of foreclosed properties owned by Deustche Bank and inhabited by both homeowners and tenants. The message from City Life/Vida Urbana was simple: “Don’t let the bank take your home away.”

The majority of these former homeowners have been the victims of predatory loans; the tenants living in foreclosed properties become unintended collateral damage. Post-foreclosure evictions are the result of a financial decision that banks have been putting into practice in order to avoid the responsibility of servicing tenants living on foreclosed property. The properties, however, are being sold to at a fraction of what they cost, while at the same time depriving hundreds of families of shelter.

How do you stop the mortgage companies and banks from taking your home away? Resistance, resistance, resistance.

Blocking evictions
In September of 2007, City Life organizers and members planned an eviction blockade to fight the taking of Ghislane Gustave’s Dorchester home. Gustave, a former homeowner, is a single mom working hard to provide for herself and her family. Her daughter’s unexpected illness and subsequent year-long hospitalization led to a loss of income.

Deustche Bank owned the loan on Gustave’s home. When they moved to evict her and her family last fall, City Life moved to block that eviction. We contacted Deustche Bank and then notified supporters, elected officials and reporters that an eviction had been scheduled. We made plans to gather in large numbers the morning of the planned eviction. After much pressure from local politicians and the media, Deustche Bank backed down.

In January of 2008, the mortgage company Ocwen Financial Corporation filed to evict Melonie Griffiths-Evans from her Dorchester home. City Life moved again to block the eviction. Protesters, media and politicians descended on Griffiths-Evans’ home, which she had refused to pack up. Moments before the scheduled time, the eviction was called off.

Ocwen denied that it had yielded, saying there had been a miscommunication with the constable they’d contracted with to evict Griffiths-Evans. They rescheduled the eviction for a few weeks later, but then backed down again.

“The bankers need to know we’re going to do the same thing for everyone,” Griffiths-Evans said.

Since last spring, City Life has mobilized eight eviction blockades against banks and mortgage companies. Each time organizers and community members have been successful in getting them to back down. Sometimes eviction cancellations happen the night before, and the planned early morning blockades become rallies. Sometimes it’s only clear when no one shows up to carry residents and possessions out of the homes.

“We are urging mass resistance to these evictions,” said Steve Meachem, a City Life organizer. “After all these mortgage scams, the banks have no right to disrupt people’s lives like this.”

Last year, bank attorneys were moving people through the eviction courts with ease. Today, most attorneys expect a fight from tenants living in the areas we target. Our goal is to keep people in their homes. We want to see mortgage companies acting as landlords until properties can be sold to nonprofits, which could maintain the buildings as affordable housing, or other entities that will keep the housing affordable. We are seeking an end to the wholesale displacement of neighborhoods of color, neighborhoods that are already bearing the weight of police oppression, rising rents, exorbitant fuel costs and a general lack of services.

Buying… into a nightmare
Despite the challenges, many people have chosen to buy homes in their Boston neighborhoods over the last decade. They sought the American dream. Instead, they bought a nightmare.

Predatory lenders, those who deceptively convince borrowers to agree to unfair and abusive loan terms, or systematically violate those terms in ways that make it difficult for the borrower to defend against, preyed on people, telling them they could make a house “affordable” for them. Buyers were offered teaser loans with the promise that the loans would be refinanced before the higher rates kicked in. Oftentimes, the broker selling the home and loan was someone from the neighborhood. Why wouldn’t you trust someone you’ve known for years? Isn’t it the banks’ job to only give loans that they think you can afford?

In April, Boston Globe reporter Binyamin Applebaum wrote, “The most successful foreclosure prevention program in the state of Massachusetts may be the rolling blockade orchestrated by City Life/Vida Urbana.” We’re certainly proud of our work, work that could not happen without the former homeowners and tenants living in those foreclosed homes. These folks are willing to put it all on the line. They are not going to tolerate the banks pushing them from their homes that they work so hard to maintain.

Resistance is rising
We are protesting. Resistance is rising. Our goal is to force a change in negotiation patterns between banks and residents. Collective resistance can and will force the banks to sell properties at the real value to community non-profit developments or to the residents themselves. This is a fight we can and will win. Progress has already been made.

When we started our work opposing evictions, banks typically offered residents $500 to move out. Now, move out agreements in some cases have reached six figures. Tenants were normally forced out within 30 days of receiving an eviction notice, but those who came to us back in 2007 are still in place.

After many tries to get the Boston City Council to pass legislation that supports tenants and homeowners, we’ve finally succeeded. City Life, along with a coalition of other groups, convinced the Council to vote unanimously in favor of just cause eviction control legislation, aimed at preventing financial institutions from emptying properties after foreclosure if tenants are paying their rents. The legislation now goes to the State House.

And finally, City Life/Vida Urbana has been learning from and sharing strategies with organizers in cities across the country through the newly-formed Right to the City Alliance. Led by community-based organizations, the alliance spans seven cities and includes legal, media, and academic advocates. Working together to build a united response to gentrification, the Alliance hosted a March on the Mayors in Miami, Florida during the U.S. Conference of Mayors in late June. Coming together around affordable housing, public space, transportation and schools, hundreds of organizers gathered to share stories of displacement happening throughout the country and to strategize for joint resistance to foreclosures.

Resistance is fertile and growing!

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Soledad Lawrence has worked as a Tenant Organizer at City Life/Vida Urbana, a former RESIST grantee, for seven years. She is a resident of Roxbury, Massachusetts..

PHOTO by Jonathan McIntosh, www.RebelliousPixels.com.