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#Occupy Your Homes, No Longer a Silent Protest for #OccupyWallStreet

Fri Dec 9, 2011 by on Florida Law News

 

 

Home for the holidays?

Long before we knew what an ‘Occupier’ was, Florida foreclosure defense attorney Roy Oppenheim talked about what he called Shay’s Rebellion 2.0 , a silent rebellion across the country of frustrated homeowners railing against the banks.

Well that rebellion is no longer silent. In fact’s it’s a deafening roar.

This week Occupy Wall Street protesters rallied around our nation’s embattled homeowners through the off-shoot Occupy Our Homes. Protesters in 20 cities across the nation moved from the nation’s parks to to properties under threat of foreclosure, joining hands to prevent good people from being put out on the streets.

The stories coming out of these protests are frighteningly similar, residents making every effort to work with the banks, either being denied a chance for a loan modification or given the runaround to the point of utter confusion.

In one case a woman is now paying more in rent in the home she once owned. In yet another Wells Fargo acquired a loan belonging to a woman with cerebral palsy and cancer, yet refused to offer her a modification. In each case protesters stood and called out to the community for support, in some cases disrupting the foreclosure process.

“We don’t know how many homes we saved for one more month during the holiday season,”Occupy Atlanta spokesman Tim Franzen told the Associated Press, he said. “It was kind of a Christmas gift to the people.”

The message was overwhelming and undeniable. The public will no longer stand idly by and let people who have been taken advantage of be cast aside by our country’s financial institutions like a child’s old toy.

Perhaps the best news to come out of these protests is that the banks are paying attention. The blog Zero Hedge posted an purported internal Bank of America email warning its field operators that the protests “could impact our industry.” It warned their field crews not to ‘engage with the protesters’ and “While in the neighborhoods, please take notice of vacant [Bank of America Corp.] Field Services managed homes and ensure they are secured.”

(A Bank of America spokesman seemed to validate the email with a response to Salon.com)

It’s worth noting that surrounding neighbors WANT these homes occupied. Rather than having vacant properties bringing down property values and becoming eyesores, they’re finding protesters working to fix these homes and make them livable. If there are people without homes and homes without people, shouldn’t there be a way to put them together?

Home for the holidays has a new meaning this year thanks to Occupy Wall Street.

Tags: Bank of America, civil disobedience, foreclosure, Occupy Wall Street, occupy your homes, protest, Roy Oppenheim, Shay's Rebellion, wells fargooppeheim law