Today, Occupy Atlanta took part in a national day of action through a coalition called Occupy Our Homes. This was part of a push to shine a light on the outcome of Wall Street’s irresponsible lending practices, and to stand up and fight for our communities’ homes.
We started the day by taking on the draconian practice of auctioning off people’s homes on the county court house steps every month. In Georgia, foreclosure laws are particularly harmful.
Lenders are not required to obtain a court judgement in order to foreclose on a home, and can start the process after just one missed payment. These homes are then offered up for sale every month on the courthouse steps while struggling families are still attempting to work out their situation. Once a home is sold, there is no right to redemption, meaning the family legally has no chance to get the house back.
We think this process is wrong and today we tried to disrupt it as much as possible. Over 200 Occupy Atlanta protesters descended on the Fulton county courthouse steps with whistles, sirens, drums, and blow-horns and made it as difficult as possible for the auction to continue. This resulted in many potential buyers giving up, and a number of the auctioneers found it increasingly difficult to continue selling off the homes. Many protestors were assaulted both verbally and physically, yet the only police confrontation came when one occupier was arrested for having a megaphone on the sidewalk. Rev Dr. Joseph Lowery also joined us there and made a call for the big banks to hold a moratorium on all Foreclosures for 6-9 months. Overall it was a successful action that led to at least a few confirmed homes being saved for the month. Similar actions took place in Gwinnett and Dekalb counties as well.
We didn’t stop there. After leaving the auction, we arrived at the Pittman family home. Eloise Pittman bought her home on Glen Iris Dr in 1953. After working in the education system for years, she finally settled in to a life of retirement. At 62 years old, Eloise heard her church needed help. Being a woman of faith, she went to the bank to see if she could take out a loan and was approved for a $312,000 loan. This loan would have cost her a million dollars to repay. As a senior living on a fixed income she never should have been offered this loan in the first place. The bank gave her this predatory loan knowing she wouldn’t be able to pay it back.
Eloise Pittman passed away last week. Her family is now left with a mountain of debt, and are trying to save a home that’s been in their family for over 50 years. Chase bank refuses to work with them and they’re running out of options. Today we occupied the home to try to save this family from being put out on the street. We stand with the Pittman family and will continue to fight to save this home.
We also occupied another home today. Brigette Walker enlisted in the army right out of high school in 1985. She is a decorated staff sergeant who has served in Bosnia, Korea, and Iraq. In 2007, Brigette suffered injuries in Iraq that caused her to be medically discharged from the military. After serving her country for 21 years, she came home to find herself living on a fixed income and unable to find work. She has made countless attempts to remodify her loan in order to stay in the home, but Chase bank refuses to cooperate. Now Brigette and her girlfriend are in danger of being put out on the streets after she put her life on the line for her country. This is a travesty that no American family should have to suffer through, especially not our nations veterans.
We will also continue to occupy Ms. Walker’s home until Chase can work out a reasonable solution.
Chase bank received billions of dollars in taxpayer funded bailouts. It’s time that they start paying that back by keeping people in their homes.
This is only the beginning of the fight against Foreclosures and lack of housing in America.
Pictures and videos to be posted soon. Check out www.occupyourhomes.org to see what other cities around the country took part in too!
