Hundreds of Indignant Homeowners Will Occupy a Foreclosed Home, Followed by a Demonstration at the Home of a Leading Financial Executive

A Press conference will be held at the home of Sabrina Morey, a working class mother facing eviction by Freddie Mac.

Sabrina and her family have been living in this home for two years – a home  that would sit vacant and be subject to vandalism if not for Sabrina. Vacant homes attract violence and drugs, and decrease the value of homes around it.

The press conference will be held Saturday,  July 26, 2014 from 2 P.M. to 3 P.M. at 3014 N. Monitor Ave., in Chicago.

Sabrina Morey will be talking about her experience occupying this home and requesting Freddie Mac to donate the home to Casas del Pueblo Community Land Trust.

The Centro Autónomo de Albany Park/Casas del Pueblo Community Land Trust, Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign, Communities United Against Foreclosure and Eviction, Occupy Homes Minnesota, and Detroit Eviction Defense will demand that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the federal overseer for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, place a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures and keep families in their homes.

Newly-appointed FHFA Director Mel Watt is currently in the midst of a national tour promoting the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), a loan modification program directed at wealthy and middle-class households who may be considering “strategic defaults.”  For the working poor, Director Watt has implemented the Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative (NSI) in Detroit, but there is no set date to implement a similar program in Chicago or any other city.  The Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative promises to donate homes to community groups and arrange loan modifications for severely distressed properties.

Working class families all over the nation cannot wait any longer. Across the Chicagoland area, thousands of families need immediate relief from foreclosure and eviction. One-third of US families live in housing that costs more than 30% of family income or in substandard housing, a strong indication that the current housing paradigm is failing the working poor.  We are pressing Director Watt to implement well-researched, community-based measures that will keep families in their homes.  Such measures include principal reduction, buybacks for homeowners, and housing donations to nonprofit organizations and community land trusts.

When: July 26th, 2014 from 3 PM to 4 PM

Where: The details of this second location will be revealed the day of the action.

At 3 P.M. protesters will depart for a second location where they will stage a protest, taking their  message directly to those responsible for implementing policies that have pushed so many hard working families out of their homes. There will be buses to take everyone attending the press conference to the second location for a non-violent protest.  The second location will be the residence of a financial executive. They will go to the home of this executive because they are “tired of financial institutions sending sheriffs to our homes to evict us!,” saying they’ll  see how much he likes it when hundreds of demonstrators show up at his doorstep.  The buses will bring protesters back to the first location at 3014 N. Monitor Ave. before 5 P.M.

For more information contact Antonio Gutiérrez 773.803.0810 , Toussaint Losier 773.236.0559 and Gerardo Calvillo 979.575.6640.