#homesnotjails

"In what is fast becoming the most prominent, and promising, new front in the Occupy Wall Street movement, the effort to forestall foreclosures is taking center stage as Occupations from Los Angeles to Minneapolis to Atlanta to Boston are turning empty and unused buildings into commonly held resources for local communities.

The defense of homes from foreclosure and forcible eviction could cement OWS’s relevance in a new post-encampment period. That’s why December 6, the National Day of Action to Occupy Our Homes, is shaping up as one of the movement’s most important actions to date. Hopes are riding high that the day can galvanize a new frontier for the occupy movement: the liberation of vacant bank-owned homes for those in need.

The new Occupy Our Homes movement also aims to shed light on the housing and mortgage crisis which precipitated the great recession in 2008. Activists say that the Obama administration’s efforts to help homeowners with “underwater” properties is woefully inadequate and drastic action is needed to prevent more human suffering from this persistent recession.

Numerous actions planned take place in some of America’s most impoverished urban neighborhoods. In my hometown of Brooklyn, activists will gather in East New York (L train to Livonia) to tour foreclosed properties for the growing Occupy REAL Estate Listing Service, donate holiday gifts and food, and connect with allies at a house warming and block party.

Find an event near you this Tuesday, take the “Pledge in Defense of Our Homes and Neighborhoods,” and find out how you can otherwise help stop wrongful foreclosures and evictions."~(TheNation/Peter Rothberg/Thanks to Epic)

Police evict #OccupyMN from foreclosed home #ows #homesnotjails

"Minneapolis police kicked in the door of a foreclosed home and evicted seven to eight Occupy MN protesters just after noon today. A dozen or so squad cars and the fire department were called to the home of an University of Minnesota professor in South Minneapolis who owned the home until U.S. Bank foreclosed on it. There were no arrests made today.

Today’s raid follows an unsuccessful attempt by police last night to evict the protesters. Two protesters were arrested during that failed eviction last night, one for trespassing another for resisting arrest. Police arrived at the home just three hours after protesters occupied it.

Last night police were thwarted as more than 100 activists linked arms around Sára Kaiser’s foreclosed home and successfully prevented Minneapolis police officers from boarding up the house and kicking them off the property, with chants of “You can’t evict them all.” Within minutes, the officers left the scene with their two arrested demonstrators in tow, and the demonstrators re-entered the house at 3334 25th Ave. South.

In the video provided by Occupy MN of Saturday’s failed eviction, police are asked why they are blocking entry into the house. “We’re doing an investigation” says one of the officers “We’re making sure that no one can come in because it’s a numbers and it’s a safety issue right now….because you guys outnumber us right now by a lot.”

When police returned to the home today at 12:30pm, they were greeted by a much smaller crowd of seven to eight demonstrators. The demonstrators left peacefully and police began the process of boarding up the house. Occupy MN has called a 4:30pm meeting for it’s members to plan its next moves.

This is the second foreclosed home to be “occupied”

Earlier this month, Occupy MN moved into Monique White’s foreclosed home in North Minneapolis to prevent U.S. Bank from evicting her. The move arguably made the local Occupy movement both more ethnically diverse, and more relevant.

Yesterday, dozens of activists expanded their reach by staging a rally outside Sára Kaiser’s home, which was also foreclosed upon by U.S. Bank. Kaiser is a Hungarian immigrant who has lived in the United States for 13 years: she is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota and also teaches Cultural Anthopology at Metro State University. The single mother fell victim to an adjustable home loan and lost legal possession of her home.

Unlike Monique White’s home in North Minneapolis, Sára Kaiser’s home is officially on the real estate market, with a “for sale” sign out front that the Occupy activists removed yesterday and stashed in the back yard before the rally began. Hours before the rally, the first heavy snowfall of the year descended on their heads.

About an hour and a half before the police arrived to make arrests, a squad car was seen circling the block. According to a report in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, the two activists arrested were Devin Lee Wynn-Shemanek and Michael Anthony Bounds, both 19 years old. Bounds was charged with burglary, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s jail roster; Wynn-Shemanek was arrested for obstruction of justice, Minneapolis Police Sgt. John Sullivan told the Pioneer Press. The mortgage company that owns the house reportedly alerted the police department and asked them to remove the protestors.

"Last night Occupy Oakland's General Assembly did something that is likely to catch on with occupations across the country.

They voted to encourage the occupation of foreclosed properties across their city. After all, the bursting of the property bubble is part of why they're on the streets right now.

There is a movement similar to this under the overall Occupy umbrella, It's called Occupy Vacant Properties, and it has been most visible in San Francisco, where families are even reclaiming their old homes post-foreclosures this could provide spots to house protesters and maintain the occupations.

And according to Raw Story, there is at least on member of Congress supporting this move. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) has been calling for families to squat in their foreclosed homes since the beginning of the crises. While what Occupy Oakland is suggesting isn't exactly the same thing (as the protesters will probably stay in homes they never bought), Kaptur likes the idea all the same."~Business Insider

Thank you very much Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) Toledo. "Kaptur has been one of the leading homeless advocates in Congress, going so far as to call for people facing foreclosure to squat in their own homes and demand their bank produce the home’s title before kicking them out. She’s advocated a strategy known as “produce the note,” which challenges foreclosing banks to prove that they own the mortgage. During the years leading up to the financial crash of 2008, most mortgages were bundled up into debt-based derivative investment schemes, then sold and resold again. This has led to an epidemic of missing or improperly completed paperwork, something that many people can leverage in order to stay in their homes longer."~Rawstory