Tomorrow, a group of Springfield families and their allies will join a mass rally in Washington, D.C., where they’ll protest the foreclosure and eviction policies of the mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
This evening, the Springfield “Fannie/Freddie Fighters” will get a send-off from local supporters at a rally at 6:30 p.m. at 29 Oakland St.
The local families will join protestors from across the country at the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac headquarters in D.C. for a day of protests and civil disobedience. A press release about the event, sent out by the advocacy group Springfield No One Leaves/Nadie Se Mude quotes protest participant Deborah Nowell, who faces eviction by Fannie Mae: “People like Ed DeMarco [head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency] and Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac executives don’t understand the daily struggles of families facing foreclosure. We need more housing and need to prevent families from becoming homeless—but they refuse to work with us and evict millions of families instead.
“Fannie Mae is trying to evict my family, but I’m going to D.C. and am willing to go to jail to fight for families across the country, make sure our voices get heard and demand that Fannie and Freddie start working with us so that we can stay in our homes.”
(DeMarco has fought against offering loan modifications on Freddie and Fannie mortgages, prompting widespread calls for him be fired.)
Tomorrow’s Washington protest comes after weeks of similar events in cities around the U.S. The protestors’ demands, as outlined by Springfield No One Leaves/Nadie Se Mude: “1. End all no fault evictions of former homeowners and accept rent or sell back at current market value. 2. Give loan modifications that reduce principal to current market value 3. Stop the bulk selling of foreclosed properties at steep discounts to investors or hedge funds, and instead sell back homes to occupants or turn over vacant properties to community control for affordable housing. 4. Fire Ed Demarco, the Interim Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the agencies and has refused to do principal reduction.”
