Thursday, May 28, 2009

Homeowner dies resisting eviction

Cops enforce illegal bank foreclosure
Published May 27, 2009 1:55 PM

Mark D. Fussner died May 22 after an hours-long shoot-out with police following the bailiff’s unsuccessful attempt to evict the 44-year-old homeowner. Two 24th District Court officers had come to Fussner’s home on Anne Street, in the working-class downriver Detroit suburb of Allen Park, to carry out a writ of eviction after foreclosure.

Fussner reportedly ordered the bailiffs to leave his property and said he would open fire to defend his home. They left but returned with armed cops determined to carry out the eviction. The bailiffs’ provocation led to the shoot-out.

Fussner was the author of the 2004 book “The Zen of Permanent Weight Loss,” which chronicled his struggle and method of conquering obesity. A short biography of the author on Amazon.com states: “Educated in public schools, Mark designed his first invention at 16 years of age. In 1989 he received an Associate’s [degree] in Science from Henry Ford Community College. Working his way up from the bottom, he has made his career in Design and Project Engineering. ... He has owned and co-owned several businesses.”

After a five-hour stand-off, Fussner was found dead in his basement from a gunshot wound. It is not yet clear if the fatal injury was self-inflicted or if a police bullet killed him. The homeowner had barricaded himself inside his dwelling and exchanged dozens of rounds with cops from at least five cities, including Detroit’s “special response teams” and Michigan State Police. An Allen Park police officer was shot in the arm, leg and stomach early in the stand-off and was released from the hospital the same day. (Detroit News, May 23)

Neighbors and cops reported anywhere from several dozen to hundreds of shots fired by Fussner and police during the incident. People were told to stay in their homes, and schools in the area were put on lock-down. The state police have taken over the investigation, and the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s office will perform an autopsy on Fussner.

Moratorium must be enforced

What is missing from the limited stories in the big-business local media is that Fussner’s death and the entire eviction situation should not have happened under the law.

On May 20, two days before the visit from the eviction bailiffs and the ensuing gun battle that ended Fussner’s life, President Barack Obama signed public law no. 111-22, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. By placing a moratorium on subject foreclosures, the law enhances provisions of the Making Home Affordable Program instituted in March.

The MHAP already requires Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other major lenders–which together hold approximately 75 percent of home mortgages in the U.S. and which have been bailed out with hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars—to work out loan modifications in order to avoid foreclosure. These lenders are to lower at-risk homeowners’ monthly payments—including property taxes and insurance—to no more than 31 percent of gross income.

Some of the 14 banks and lenders included under the program are Bank of America, Chase Home Finance, CitiMortgage, Countrywide, Ocwen and Wells Fargo. The MHAP guidelines apply to any homes that are owner-occupied, including homes that are already in foreclosure. (financialstability.gov)

Section 401 of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act states that it is “the sense of the Congress” that there be a “foreclosure moratorium” in that “mortgage holders, institutions, and mortgage servicers should not initiate a foreclosure proceeding or a foreclosure sale on any homeowner until the foreclosure mitigation provisions” of the Hope for Homeowners program and Obama’s “Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan” have “been implemented and determined to be operational by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Secretary of the Treasury.” (thomas.loc.gov)

Where were the headlines on May 21 in the capitalist-owned press about the just-signed Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and its foreclosure moratorium? There were none or very few.

Jerry Goldberg, a Detroit-based attorney who represents homeowners and renters in foreclosure and eviction cases, told Workers World: “The Register of Deeds records show that Mark Fussner’s mortgage was owned by Chase Bank, which had a duty under federal law to work out a solution that should have prevented the bailiff from coming to his home on May 20 to evict him.

“This eviction should not have happened. Fussner’s death should never have happened. It was entirely preventable except that banks and lenders don’t follow the law until they are forced to.”

It took a protracted struggle by activists around the country to win the new federal moratorium on foreclosures. It will take even more struggle to publicize this law and stop more deaths from occurring, as well as other drastic actions by homeowners who face the life-altering, heart-wrenching process of losing their homes in record numbers to foreclosure and eviction.

E-mail: khamel@workers.org.


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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Moratorium needed more than ever

As foreclosures hit new high

Published May 25, 2009 11:05 AM

Home foreclosures soared in April to a record-high rate. One of every 374 homes, or 342,000 homes in the United States, received a foreclosure filing: a notice of default, auction or sale notice, or bank repossession. Filings were up 32 percent from April 2008. (realtytrac.com)

This happened despite predictions by analysts of a lower rate for the month because of high foreclosure activity in March. Rick Sharga, a spokesperson for RealtyTrac, stated: “April was a shocker. ... We had been predicting 3.4 million filings for [all of 2009], but we’ll blow those numbers out of the water.” (cnnmoney.com)

Nevada is the hardest-hit state. One in every 68 housing units received a foreclosure filing in April, more than five times the national average. Filings in the state were up 111 percent from a year ago. In Las Vegas, one in every 56 homes is in foreclosure.

Florida has the second-worst rate in the U.S., with a 37 percent month-to-month increase in foreclosures and a 75 percent increase from last year. In the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area, one in every 57 homes received a foreclosure filing during April. Foreclosure activity in April increased 31 percent from March.

California rounds out the top three states, with one in every 138 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in April. Total foreclosure activity in California was up 42 percent from April 2008.

The six California metro areas of Merced, Modesto, Riverside-San Bernardino, Bakersfield, Vallejo-Fairfield and Stockton are included as having the top 10 highest documented foreclosure rates in the country. Las Vegas is on top, with Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Miami and Orlando, Fla., completing the list.

The top 10 states for foreclosure filings in April accounted for 75 percent of the national total. California had the highest total (96,560), followed by Florida (64,588), Nevada (16,266), Arizona (16,245), Ohio (12,324), Georgia (11,521), Texas (11,314), Michigan (10,830) and Virginia (6,254).

Filings overall were up 32 percent from April 2008 but rose less than 1 percent from March. At the same time, the number of bank repossessions, known as REOs, fell on a monthly and yearly basis, down 11 percent from March.

According to James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, “This suggests that many lenders and servicers are beginning foreclosure proceedings on delinquent loans that had been delayed by legislative and industry moratoria. It’s likely that we’ll see a corresponding spike in REOs as these loans move through the foreclosure process over the next few months.”

Moratorium on foreclosures NOW!

What can stop the crushing home foreclosure crisis in the U.S.? The first thing that should be done by the Obama administration is a declaration of a state of emergency on the national level, or at least in the top 10 states wracked by the disaster.

The federal government easily steps in when natural disasters occur. When a federal disaster area or state of emergency is declared after a tornado, for example, part of the emergency measures include a moratorium on government-backed mortgage foreclosures.

The president is also empowered to take executive measures when a “man”-made catastrophe happens. The same actions should apply to the “foreclosure tsunami” engulfing the U.S. A moratorium on all foreclosures must be put in place immediately to allow homeowners a chance to save their homes.

The quasi-governmental companies referred to as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own half the residential mortgages in the U.S. Both were bailed out by the federal government in 2008 to the tune of at least $400 billion.

Fannie and Freddie, along with other major lenders, which include JPMorgan Chase, CitiBank and Bank of America, are required by federal law as well as by the terms of their bailouts and pursuant to the Making Home Affordable Program, to work out mortgage loan modifications. They are supposed to lower at-risk borrowers’ monthly payments, including property taxes and insurance, to no more than 31 percent of a borrower’s gross income in order to avoid foreclosure.

The South Carolina Supreme Court, on the initiative of Fannie Mae, recently issued a temporary restraining order on all foreclosures of participants in the Making Home Affordable Program, to give homeowners a chance to take advantage of the loan modification provisions.

This moratorium should be extended to every state for all loans covered under the Obama/Treasury plan. The moratorium should include unemployed workers’ loans, as well as those of seniors and disabled people, who are disproportionately affected by the foreclosure crisis.

Under the federal Making Home Affordable Program, an unemployed worker must verify that he or she will be receiving unemployment benefits for at least nine months in order to count those funds as income for purposes of negotiating loan modifications. Because of this, many unemployed workers are or will be excluded from being able to take advantage of the program. In a state like Michigan, where the unemployment rate is expected to hit 17 percent by the end of the year, this means unemployed workers who have exhausted or are soon to exhaust their unemployment benefits will continue to lose their homes at record rates.

In addition, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and all government agencies have programs or regulations mandating that tenants be offered rental options to stay in properties subject to foreclosure. These programs are routinely being ignored by these government bodies.

In Detroit, for example, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are the leading evictors of tenants, many of whom don’t even know that the properties have gone through foreclosure.

There should be an immediate moratorium on evictions of tenants in foreclosed properties owned or backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or HUD.

The twin catastrophes of high unemployment and delinquent home loans mean millions more workers still face losing their homes as the economic crisis continues. It is time for activists to continue fighting for and begin enacting a foreclosure moratorium on the street, in the neighborhoods and at every level of government.


Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

National Summit moves to the General Motors HQ

Fannie Mae seeks foreclosure freeze only in S.C.

By Ashley Fletcher Frampton
aframpton@scbiznews.com
Published May 6, 2009, Charleston Regional Business Journal

Mortgage-backer Fannie Mae said it singled out South Carolina for an unusual court-ordered freeze on home foreclosure sales because the state gives local judges the authority to dismiss delayed cases, which other states do not.

Fannie Mae isn’t seeking a similar temporary freeze in other states, said Brian Faith, spokesman for the mortgage company.

“In South Carolina, judges have the discretion to cancel an ongoing foreclosure process if there is a significant delay between the foreclosure judgment date and the actual foreclosure sale,” Faith said in a statement.

If masters-in-equity — the special county judges that usually handle foreclosures in South Carolina — were to dismiss delayed cases, “the process begins anew, which leads to higher costs and losses,” Faith said.

“The court ruling effectively addresses this situation,” he said.

Fannie Mae suspended its foreclosure proceedings in late 2008 and during the first of quarter of 2009 while it reviewed cases for potential workout strategies, Faith said. In some cases, that created significant delays.

At Fannie Mae’s request, the S.C. Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order late Monday afternoon on foreclosure sales for some homes. It targets properties that could be eligible for a mortgage modification program that President Barack Obama’s administration is rolling out. The program offers more affordable mortgage payments to homeowners whose loans are backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and who meet certain other criteria.

Fannie Mae did not want homeowners potentially eligible for the program to lose their homes in foreclosure before they had a chance to participate. The mortgage company estimates that more than 1,000 homes in South Carolina were headed to foreclosure sales this week. It filed the petition for a temporary restraining order on Friday.

Obama announced the Home Affordable Modification Program in February, but details were not outlined until April 6.

Masters-in-equity say they are still sorting through the implications of the S.C. Supreme Court order, which requires lenders seeking foreclosure to submit affidavits by May 15 stating whether loans in default are eligible for the modification program.

Homes not eligible will continue in the foreclosure process, according to the restraining order.

Mortgage Meltdown: Ruling buys troubled homeowners tim

By KRISTY EPPLEY RUPON - krupon@thestate.com, The State
Wednesday, May. 06, 2009

Homeowners facing foreclosure could get a little extra time to work out a new payment under a ruling Tuesday by the S.C. Supreme Court.

But if borrowers can’t afford a reasonable mortgage payment, their homes still will be headed for the auction block, said Rhonda Marcum, executive director for the Mortgage Bankers Association of the Carolinas.

The court agreed to suspend until May 15 foreclosures on homes in South Carolina whose loan servicer has agreed to participate in a federal modification program. President Barack Obama rolled out a $75 billion mortgage relief plan in February designed to keep up to 9 million Americans out of foreclosure.
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The decision halts legal proceedings on all homes undergoing foreclosure.

South Carolina has an estimated 6,291 homes in some stage of foreclosure, said Rick Sharga, senior vice president for RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing service.

It’s unclear how many of the homes would be eligible for the federal restructuring program.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which requested the injunction, had suspended foreclosure proceedings nationwide through March to give lenders a chance to work with homeowners who might qualify for the program.

The request for a ruling in South Carolina was because of an unusual state law.

South Carolina’s temporary suspension is designed to give servicers more time to evaluate homeowners’ circumstances before approving a modification.

“Doing a modification that’s not going to help the consumer doesn’t stop the bleeding; it just slows it down,” Marcum said.

Studies have shown that as many as 50 percent of loans that are modified end up in foreclosure again, she said.

If a homeowner has lost all income and has no prospects for employment, they likely would not be approved for a restructured loan, she said. But if someone loses a job and has a spouse still working, they potentially could cut expenses enough to afford a reduced mortgage payment.

“A payment has to be factored into what the consumer can realistically pay,” Marcum said.

Fannie Mae asked for the injunction in South Carolina, said spokesman Brian Faith, because the state has a rule that allows judges on a county-by-county basis to set aside foreclosure proceedings if too much time passes between a foreclosure judgment and a foreclosure sale.

Judges can make all parties start the process over from the beginning, which costs more for everyone involved, Faith said. He said South Carolina is the only state he is aware of that has this rule so Fannie Mae will not be seeking similar rulings in other states.

Dave Whitener, a real estate lawyer and adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, said he had never heard of judges using that rule and that it doesn’t make logical sense since it would add extra work.

Whitener applauded the Supreme Court for taking the action to suspend foreclosures to give struggling homeowners extra time to work out a modification plan.

“Our Supreme Court is saying, ‘Let’s slow this train down until we make sure whether or not these people can be protected,’” Whitener said. “I think that’s very impressive.”

Reach Rupon at (803) 771-8308.

South Carolina Supreme Court halts thousands of home foreclosure sales

SC court halts thousands of home foreclosure sales

By MEG KINNARD, The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina's highest court on Tuesday temporarily stopped thousands of pending foreclosure sales in the state to give homeowners more time to take advantage of a new federal program to help them refinance mortgages.

The injunction — which mortgage experts said appeared to be the nation's first court-ordered stop for an entire state — prevents judges in South Carolina from finalizing foreclosure sales on properties guaranteed by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae or any other mortgage company that has signed on to a federal assistance program.

RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing firm, says the ruling could affect 5,000 South Carolina homes facing foreclosure.

The ruling was in response to a request from a Columbia attorney representing Fannie Mae, who had argued that it was necessary to keep homeowners who might be eligible for federal assistance from being shut out of the process.

"Absent the injunction, mortgagors eligible for relief ... could be denied their right to participate because their property was sold at the foreclosure sale," lawyer Ronald Scott wrote in his three-page motion. "This qualifies as irreparable injury for which the court should provide redress in the form of a temporary injunction."

Fannie Mae said the ruling was necessary because of a South Carolina law meant to ensure that foreclosures sales are conducted in a timely fashion. Under the law, judges can cancel a foreclosure case and start over if the sale is delayed for too long.

The company argues that South Carolina's law gives lenders an incentive to speed up foreclosure cases because of the threat the process could be restarted, which would cost lenders more money.

"This ruling will allow us the flexibility to evaluate problematic mortgages in the state for possible eligibility for the (Obama) Administration's modification program and reduce the overall borrower and company costs associated with the foreclosure process," Fannie Mae said in a statement.

The Obama administration announced a plan in March to provide $75 billion in incentives for the mortgage industry to modify loans to help borrowers avoid foreclosure. Freddie and Fannie also rolled out a refinancing program for homeowners who owe up to 5 percent more than current total value of their home with an application deadline of June 2010.

Scott had asked the court to address about 1,000 South Carolina homes facing foreclosure and backed by Fannie Mae loans. But in her order, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal expanded the stoppage to foreclosures backed either by Fannie or Freddie — together, the government-controlled companies own or guarantee almost 31 million mortgages, more than half of all U.S. home loans — or any other lender who has agreed to participate under the Obama administration's plan.

Toal also set a May 15 deadline for plaintiffs in foreclosure actions to notify other parties if the loan is subject to modification under the federal program. If it is, those foreclosure proceedings will remain on hold. But if not, the sale can go forward.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had suspended foreclosure sales through the end of March to evaluate whether borrowers could qualify for the Obama program.

A spokesman for Freddie Mac, Brad German, said Tuesday the South Carolina ruling was the first he'd heard of in the country by a court with statewide jurisdiction.

"We're not aware of anything like this, anywhere else," German said.

Nationally, the number of homes facing foreclosure grew 24 percent in the first three months of this year from a year earlier. The total in 2008 was 2.3 million households that received foreclosure filings. In South Carolina, more than 13,700 homes are in some stage of foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing service in Irvine, Calif.

RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist also said the ruling appeared to be a first.

"There have been some piecemeal things, but nothing that broad statewide," Blomquist said.

Associated Press Writers Katrina A. Goggins and Alan Zibel contributed to this report. Zibel contributed from Washington.

On the Net:
* Making Home Affordable program: http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

All out for People’s Summit in Detroit

Activists to convene at economic ‘ground zero’
All out for People’s Summit in Detroit

By Workers World Detroit bureau
Published Apr 30, 2009 7:28 PM

Organizing for the June 14-17 People’s Summit and Tent City in Detroit is building fast. A planning meeting April 25 was attended by representatives from a broad base of progressive organizations. They included the Autoworkers Caravan, which has been in the forefront of challenging the massive attacks on auto workers’ wages and benefits; the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions; disabled activists from Warriors on Wheels; Call ’Em Out; the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization; the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality; and the National Lawyers Guild. Two UAW members from Toledo, Ohio, also attended.

The People’s Summit in Grand Circus Park will be an opportunity to link the struggles challenging the war on poor and working people, and to put forward a program for jobs, universal health care and a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, as well as full rights for oppressed nationalities, immigrants, people with disabilities, women and the lesbian/gay/bi and trans communities.

Segments of the summit will be devoted to demonstrations targeting specific struggles such as the massive threats on auto workers. There will be a moratorium on evictions during the People’s Summit as organizers will participate in flying squadrons to aid individuals facing the hated dumpsters and bailiff evictions.

The People’s Summit is a direct challenge to the convening of big-business representatives at the National Business Summit scheduled for June 15-17. That event has been moved from Ford Field to the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center due to lower than expected registrations. More than 40 executives have agreed to speak at this gathering, which is to be co-chaired by Ford Motor Company executive head Bill Ford and Dow Chemical chief executive Andrew Liveris. Other participants will include corporate representatives from Conoco-Phillips, General Motors, Chrysler, Humana, Inc., and the presidents of the National Council of Competitiveness, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.

Exciting developments were announced at the April 25 meeting, including the posting of a new video promoting the People’s Summit on YouTube. Participants discussed logistics and other components of making the four-day event a success. Organizers are out leafleting progressive events leading up to the summit, including May Day activities in Detroit.

The People’s Summit is receiving a solid response nationally from activist organizers who see Detroit as “ground zero” or the “Katrina” of the economic collapse. The call for the summit is posted on numerous progressive list serves and Web sites. The national Bail Out the People Movement and the National Poor People’s Economic and Human Rights Campaign are among a growing list of endorsers.

Donations for the People’s Summit are being solicited. Checks or money orders payable to the Moratorium NOW! Coalition/People’s Summit can be sent to 5920 Second Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202. The next organizing meeting will be held on May 9 at 2 p.m. at 2727 Second Ave. in Detroit. Call 313-887-4344 or visit www.moratorium-mi.org for more information.
Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

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May 1 March and Rally - Detroit

WWJ News: May Day March in Detroit drew 15,000 people this year!








Pictures by Alan

Friday, May 1, 2009

5,000 rally in Detroit for immigrant rights

Photo-BRIAN WIDDIS/Special to the Free Press
A rally for immigration rights flows down Vernor Friday morning, May 1, 2009. The march started at Patton Park and followed Vernor to Clark Park through Detroit's Mexicantown neighborhood.


By Niraj Warikoo
Free Press Staff Writer

from Detroit Free Press, May 1, 2009

Waving Mexican and U.S. flags, thousands of immigrants and their supporters rallied in southwest Detroit today for immigrant rights.

Rally organizers called for comprehensive immigration reform that would offer a path to citizenship for legal and illegal immigrants, and for an end to deportations that they say separate families.

Over the past four years, the number of deportations in Michigan and across the U.S. has sharply increased.

For fiscal year 2008, 7,514 illegal immigrants in Michigan and Ohio were deported, compared to 4,144 in fiscal year 2007, an 81 percent increase. Compared to 2005, when 2,243 illegal immigrants were deported, that’s a 235 percent increase.

The rally started at Patton Park and ended at Clark Park in the heart of the Mexican-American community. Ralliers held up placards that read “Stop the Raids,” “Legalize Hard Work,” and “No Human is Illegal.”

“We need a more humane approach to immigration reform,” said Rosendo Delgado, a co-organizer with Latinos Unidos. This is the fourth annual immigration rally in Detroit. It was smaller compared to previous years when Congress was considering bills that would crack down on illegal immigration.

Detroit police estimated today’s crowd at 5,000 to 7,000.

Jhonatan Ferrer, 19, of Dearborn Heights said many illegal immigrants “live in the shadows of society” and need a path to citizenship so that employers and others can’t take advantage of them. Right now, Ferrer said, “they have no rights.”

Others expressed concerns about deportations and its affect on immigrant communities.

Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the government agency that oversees deportations, said the government has “increased strategic enforcement efforts to identity and remove criminal and fugitive aliens.”

Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO: nwarikoo@freepress.com


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