Talking about the foreclosure crisis isn’t simple because that crisis has a lot of levels. Early on, the favorite scenario for bankers and developers to put forward depicted the family who bought a house they could not afford, lived in luxury for a year or two, made few or no payments, then mailed the bank the keys and walked away. According to this narrative, the freeloaders had gotten housing for free and then left the bank holding the bag.
There were cases like that, but they weren’t what made the situation a crisis. From the Northeast to Detroit, Minnesota and California, what’s led to the formation of groups like Springfield’s No One Leaves/Nadie se Mude Campaign are situations like the one described by this Springfield homeowner in a letter to his mortgage company’s lawyer, forwarded to us by No One Leaves:
“I fell behind on my mortgage after I lost my job of 17 years in the fall of 2008 at Bridgewell, a residential facility for mentally challenged individuals. Bridgewell is primarily funded by state and federal grants, and as a result of the economic crisis their budget had been severely cut….I was able to establish a temporary agreement [with the mortgage company] based on my wife’s income. During this time I worked several temporary jobs while dedicating myself to the youth of Springfield coaching basketball and summer camps, football with the local Pop Warner team and teaching video at one of the city’s top performing arts schools… Last year my modification was abruptly ended and within months my house was foreclosed on…
“It has taken some time, but I have finally secured stable employment at the RFK children’s Action Corps Girls Treatment Program in South Hadley, Massachusetts. My wife has stable employment at Baystate Hospital in Springfield. We are offering to pay rent over the next several momths in hope to re-establish good faith…
“I am asking that Fannie Mae allow my family and I to stay in our home as rent-paying tenants, and work towards an agreement to sell us our home back at real market value. If Fannie Mae agreed to sell the home back, we would even agree to share any equity appreciation.”
At press time, No One Leaves was planning a march to housing court April 28 to prevent this family’s eviction. Protests by the group (www.springfieldnooneleaves.org; 413-734-4948) have won delays of auctions and otherwise assisted owners of other foreclosed homes. The model for No One Leaves is City Life/Vida Urbana, a grassroots group in Boston that has prevented foreclosures and evictions there.
