Dominican Immigrant: Activist Against Foreclosures and Freddie Mac

BY JORDAN FRIAS

POSTED ON MARCH 26, 2013

Ramon Suero of Boston, MA, stands up against Ed DeMarco during a senate house hearing last Tuesday.

There are some people out there who are determined to fight for a cause that they believe in. Ramon Suero is one of those people.

After interrupting a Senate house hearing on Federal Housing Finance Agency acting director Ed DeMarco last Tuesday, Suero and four other housing activists were arrested.

Suero is a member of a grassroots organization known as City Life/Vida Urbana located in the Brewery Building near the Stony Brook T stop in Jamaica Plain in Boston.

He is an immigrant from Dominican Republic whose house was foreclosed after his mother-in-law fell ill and his wife had to travel to the Dominican Republic to take care of her.

City Life/Vida Urbana has a mission to protect tenants, owners and landlords from banks like Freddie Mac who are purchasing foreclosed homes throughout the city and are refusing to sell them back to their previous owners at fair prices.

This isn’t the first time Suero has been involved in activism. He was fired from his job at a hotel for organizing a union on behalf of his fellow workers. Luckily, he was hired back a year later with the help of the group UNITE HERE Local 26.

Suero is one among many residents in Boston who are being evicted from their homes by Freddie Mac. He received a notice that he was going to be evicted on Feb. 1, but is currently fighting that eviction in court. Suero did not have the money to by his house back when it was foreclosed, but has the money now. At the time of the eviction, Suero tried to modify his home loan with Freddie Mac, but the bank wouldn’t let him.

Suero’s story is now becoming nationally known due to his activism. Suero has started a petition against DeMarco on SignOn.org which has gained over 3,000 signatures. (Read more about Suero’s cause here and other causes similar to his here).

The organization City Life/Vida Urbana holds weekly meetings to discuss current developments nationally and locally around the issue of evictions, foreclosures and affordable housing.

It was at tonight’s meeting that Ramon Suero’s case was brought up along with discussions around Ed DeMarco’s hearing and his possible replacement. Below is a video that was shown at the meeting:

The video above is courtesy of Shelterforce. Check out their blog post where the video originally came from here.

City Life/Vida Urbana also provides legal assistance to its members who are asked to pay a yearly fee of $15. Many of the legal advisers there are law students from Harvard University. Harvard has a Legal Aid Bureau of law students that work with members of City Life/Vida Urbana who are dealing with evictions. They meet with their clients every Tuesday night during weekly meetings held by the organization.

Action Taken Against Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Ed DeMarco

BY JORDAN FRIAS

POSTED ON MARCH 19, 2013

The Obama Administration is being pressured to fire the acting director of the Federal Housing and Finance Agency Ed DeMarco who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises at the forefront of the housing foreclosure crisis. DeMarco has been described as being insensitive to the financial needs of struggling homeowners who have faced a serious change in income resulting in a foreclosure.

Action by Attorney Generals

Attorney Generals Eric Schneiderman of New York and Martha Coakley of Massachusetts have led a 9 state coalition against DeMarco urging for the President to replace him as soon as possible. Schneiderman and Coakley drafted a letter to the President “demanding new leadership over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” as stated in the title of the document.

Tuesday Afternoon Senate Hearing

DeMarco was questioned at a Senate house hearing this afternoon where he was criticized for not allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to permit principal reduction during foreclosures. Principal reduction is a form of debt relief by mortgage lenders. The letter sent by the Attorney Generals to the President to fire DeMarco specifically sites his opposition to principal reduction, calling it a large obstacle to the nation’s economic recovery.

DeMarco says that principal reduction would cost taxpayers a lot of money. (Read this article in Time Magazine about DeMarco’s opposition)

Future of Federal Housing Finance Agency

It is said that Congressman Mel Watt of North Carolina may replace DeMarco as early as the beginning of next month.

Action on Social Media

The hash tag #DumpDeMarco has been used throughout Twitter since the end of last year.

https://twitter.com/chrisinkyung/status/313700165540265984

https://twitter.com/AGSchneiderman/status/313667184285085696

Excellent piece by @paul_mcmorrow. We need new leadership @ Fannie Freddie. RT The reason foreclosures will continue http://t.co/S5aULTP6

— Martha Coakley (@marthacoakley) February 19, 2013

The organization City Life/Vida Urbana in Boston has been protesting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac foreclosures through homeowner testimonies on video. These videos have been posted on YouTube.

Listen to Gary and Olive’s story below:

New Faces and Resources from Greater Boston Legal Services

BY JORDAN FRIAS

POSTED ON FEBRUARY 19, 2013

Last Thursday afternoon, I ventured off to the Greater Boston Legal Services office conveniently located just five minutes from the North Station T stop. There I met with Barbara Zimbel an attorney from the housing department who explained the process someone goes through to get a lawyer to represent them.

Outside Greater Boston Legal Services. Photo taken from Google Maps Street View.

“You can’t just walk in and request a lawyer,” Zimbel said. Greater Boston Legal Services helps people find a lawyer after they fill out the appropriate paperwork. Lawyers do not directly come from Great Boston Legal Services, rather from the Legal Advocacy and Resource Center (LARC), which they match you up with.

LARC operates as a free legal hotline service since 1983 as stated on its website.

Nevertheless, she was able to connect me with Mac McCreight, the Housing Law Unit Lead Attorney at Greater Boston Legal Service who sent me an email this morning to see how he can assist me with my research. He focus is on public housing and section 8 vouchers and he primarily works with the Boston Housing Authority.

He was able to provide me with resources for my interest in gentrified neighborhoods. McCreight told me to try reaching out to the Department of Neighborhood Development since the City of Boston regularly monitors trends in rent levels throughout the city. He also mentioned an organization known as City Life/Vida Urbana

which also keeps track of post-foreclosure units that are sold at higher rent prices to investors and owners.

I will look into these resources as I continue to report on news for my blog. I will hopefully conduct an interview with McCreight sometime in the near future.