Fannie and Freddie: Profit over People

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the “People’s Banks,” have been hijacked by Corporate
America.

Foreclose_Fannie_1_12_6_11Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the couple from hell. Thousands upon thousands of
homeowners are struggling to keep their homes, and a growing number of renters
are living under deplorable conditions in homes seized from homeowners and now
owned by the dirty greedy couple.

Fannie and Freddie are taxpayer owed and financed. We should control them and they
should serve us not the 1%.

STOP FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS! JOIN US THURSDAY AUGUST 30 IN SF

We’re joining with people around the nation to take them back! This Thursday, August 30 we’ll be in front of the offices of Fannie Mae at 50 California Street in San Francisco at 4pm to let them know we won’t be silenced and watch while they control over half of all mortgages in the country, which totals over 7 million.

The actions being taken to hold Freddie and Fannie accountable are especially timely given Acting Director Edward DeMarco’s defiant refusal to modify loans with principal reductions for struggling homeowners whose homes are underwater. We will be highlighting several cases of homeowners fighting to keep, or get their homes back from Freddie and Fannie.

CJJC, as part of the Right to the City Alliance, is having the SF action in advance of coordinated actions across the country planned for  September.

Our coordinated national campaign is due to Fannie and Freddie’s influence over the entire banking and financial system. Fannie and Freddie have become the government banks and they are the investor/guarantor on 60% of home loans in California. As part of a nationwide Fannie/Freddie campaign the stories of homeowners are being collected at //wearethefanniefreddie99.tumblr.com/

The national campaign kicks off at the Right to the City Member Congress next month in Los Angeles.

Our Demands:

  1. 1. Principal reduction to real value for all underwater homeowners
  2. 2. End all Fannie-Freddie evictions. Accept rent. And respect renters’ rights.
  3. 3. Sell foreclosed property to occupants or non-profits at real value, not to
  4. Investors and Hedge Funds!
  5. 4. Turn vacant Real Estate Owned (REO) property over to community controlled entities/institutions (don’t sell our homes in bulk at steep discounts to Hedge Funds, Big Banks & Investors) in order to convert properties to long term affordable housing accessible to renters, homeless families/individuals, and former homeowners.

SLUMLORDS

Like typical slumlords, Fannie and Freddie allow foreclosed homes to fall into disrepair, lowering property values and creating blight in once thriving neighborhoods.

In July an arrogant Edward J. DeMarco, director of the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) and in charge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, blocked a plan by the Obama administration to allow companies to forgive some of the mortgage debt owed by stressed homeowners. Something that would have helped homeowners such as Manuel de Paz, of Oakland, CA who works 12-14 hours a day, six days a week to keep his home. He is refusing to be bowed under the tremendous pressure on his shoulders after the Bank of America ignored his request for a loan modification and sent him a Notice of Trustee sale.

The home of Margarita Ramirez, was sold right from under her two weeks before the date on the Notice of Trustee Sale thanks to Bank of America / Freddie Mac. These grievous maneuvers have been identified as actionable in the recent California Homeowner Bill of Rights, which was fashioned after the Consent Decree put a check on the banks. Fannie and Freddie were not named by DeMarco, is single-handedly standing in the way of principal reduction and keeping the housing market underwater and WE WANT HIM OUT.

Participating groups for the national action include:

• Right to the City National Alliance (RTC)
• NEW ROAD—a 9 member regional coalition that uses the “sword and shield
model;” it includes the following RTC members — City Life/Vida Urbana (CLVU),
Springfield No One Leaves (SNOL) and Direct Action for Rights and Equality
(DARE) in Providence, RI.
• Mid-Hudson No One Leaves–RTC member in Pooghkeepsie, New York
• Causa Justa/Just Cause—RTC member in Bay area
• Miami Workers Center—RTC member in Miami, FL
• Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) –RTC member in Los Angeles
• Occupy Our Homes Atlanta
• Alliance for Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) in Los Angeles