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We are the 99 percent

Articles tagged occupy our homes

Light Up the Streets! Occupy Chicago and the Overpass Light Brigade

Posted 11 years ago on Oct. 19, 2012, 10:59 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags: direct action, chicago, occupy our homes

'Occupy Our Homes' in LED sign display

On Monday, October 15th 2012, Occupy Chicago and the Overpass Light Brigade Light Up the Streets in Solidarity with the Occupy Our Homes Movement.

Hot on the heels of Occupy Chicago's court victory over last year's illegal eviction from Grant Park (all charges for the 305 arrestees have been dropped) the group teamed up with the Wisconsin-based Overpass Light Brigade in a joint action Monday night. It served to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the eviction and raise awareness of the national foreclosure crisis.

With 14 million home foreclosures recorded in the last five years, we cannot lose track of the fact that those homes contained people – mothers, fathers, kids and grandparents – many of whom could have remained in their homes if the banks were willing to work with the families to come up with some kind of shared financial sacrifice. But no, the bailed-out institutions who streamlined their mass-robbery with predatory lending, robosigners, and mortgage-backed securities still have little interest in fixing the problems they created. That leaves it up to citizen activists in the growing home defense movement to find creative techniques to draw attention to this national disgrace.

Occupy Chicago and the OLB marched through downtown Chicago with their beautiful light message before gathering at "The Horse" statue in Grant Park for a speak-out against the banks. It was a fine example of the power of peaceful and playful protest.

Interested in organizing your own LED-powered resistance action? Start here:

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#D6: Reclaim Our Homes, Reclaim Our Future - Occupy Our Homes Kicks Off Year Two of Housing Justice Organizing

Posted 11 years ago on Oct. 17, 2012, 3:11 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags: occupy our homes, atlanta, foreclosure defense, los angeles

occupy our homes atlanta at the home of Jacqueline Barber

via Occupy Our Homes. Be sure to check out their website for more information on how you can support on-going occupations to save homes from foreclosure, including active campaigns like this one to save the home of cancer patient Jacqueline Barber in Atlanta, the Hernandez family currently being harassed by LAPD in Los Angeles, and many more!

Four years after an economic meltdown precipitated by Wall Street greed, fraud, and recklessness in the housing market, Americans continue to face an epidemic of unjust foreclosures. While homeowners and renters seek help to keep their homes, banks have rushed to foreclose and evict, and in too many communities, homes remain vacant while neighbors sleep on the street.

But homeowners, housing justice activists, homeless advocates, and occupiers have come together to fight back under the banner of the Occupy Our Homes movement. Community organizations and occupy groups came together last December to challenge the housing crisis and confront the crooks at the banks who are stealing our homes. On December 6, 2011, scores of groups around the country participated in a day of action for housing justice, launching the Occupy Our Homes movement.

Homeowners, renters, and the homeless joined forces to fight the banks and reclaim our communities. All over the country, activists declared housing a human right. We came together, occupying our homes to prevent eviction, disrupting foreclosure auctions, restoring vacant homes to community use, and protesting the banks that caused this mess in the first place.

And we showed time and again that when people fought for their homes, they could win.

But the fight is far from over. Despite dozens of victories for homeowners around the country, banks are still choosing to foreclose instead of taking payments. Banks are still refusing to negotiate with families who seek only a fair solution that keeps them in their home. Banks are still using fraudulent tactics like robo-signing to speed through illegal foreclosures—months after a weak settlement meant to stop this practice. Bank-owned houses continue to sit empty and untended, destroying property values and pushing more and more families underwater.

A year since the start of the Occupy Our Homes movement, we are recommitting to reclaiming our homes and our futures. On Thursday December 6th 2012, we call on communities to turn the spotlight on the crisis that continues to hold our neighborhoods and our economy hostage.

We will take action together:

  • Eviction defenses/home occupations
  • Reclaiming vacant homes for the homeless
  • Establishing foreclosure and eviction-free zones
  • Foreclosure auction sit-ins
  • Marches on the banks

Occupy Our Homes started with a simple idea: bring the bold, creative energy of the Occupy movement into hard-hit communities and build power through victories for the 99%. We've won homes, churches, community landmarks, and stopped evictions while relieving debt and reclaiming land along the way.

On Thursday December 6th, 2012, we’ll re-invest in this movement to defend our homes, hold Wall Street accountable, and affirm the human right to housing. Join us in solidarity with homeowners, tenants and the homeless to build a just housing system—for the 99%.

If you as an individual or any Occupy group or community-based organization are interested in participating in the D6 actions, please complete this form and someone from Occupy Our Homes will be in touch.

occupy LA reclaiming our homes

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Tomorrow in Atlanta: The People vs. Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. Homes Are For People, Not Banks!

Posted 11 years ago on Sept. 9, 2012, 7:09 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags: fannie & freddie, occupy our homes, atlanta, foreclosure defense

There are 6 vacant homes for every 1 homeless person in America

Where: Meet at the Buckhead MARTA Station in Atlanta, Georgia
When: Tomorrow at 10:30am
RSVP on Facebook

On September 10, 2012, HUNDREDS of people from all over the southeast will converge on Fannie Mae's regional headquarters in Atlanta to demand an end to their abusive practices and to declare housing as a human right.

BUSES ARE SET TO COME IN FROM CHATTANOOGA, MIAMI, CHARLOTTE, AND ORLANDO.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac control over 60% of the mortgages in the US. After gambling with people's money, and buying up subprime mortgages during the housing bubble, they were placed under conservatorship of the US government in 2008, receiving billions of taxpayers dollars. Now, 4 years later, they continue to put people out of their homes, and are the biggest obstacle to fixing the housing crisis. Edward DeMarco, who currently oversees both Fannie and Freddie through the FHFA, refuses to offer principle reduction to help over 16 million underwater homeowners find relief and stay in their homes. They are more cruel than even the big banks when it comes to evictions, and post foreclosure options, and to top it all off, have begun selling off foreclosed properties in bulk to the same investors and hedge-funds that crashed the economy in the first place.

Its time to put a stop to this, and to demand the wealth that was stolen from our communities be restored. Thousands of people are fed up are ready to fight back, and are coordinating actions across the country against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to occur in the same week.

Our demands include:

  • Principal Reduction for all underwater homeowners to real market value
  • an end to Fannie and Freddie Evictions, and the right to rent after foreclosure
  • the sale of foreclosed properties to occupants and non-profits at the same discounted rate they are offering to shady investors
  • that they turn over vacant and abandoned properties to community controlled entities to provide long term affordable housing

Click here to read the stories of people fighting back: http://wearethefanniefreddie99.tumblr.com

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