We propose united action to oppose all foreclosures and job cuts through direct action. We appeal to all activists and workers and youth to unite and work together for the program below:

#End all evictions, foreclosures, job, wage and benefit cuts. Build "Hands Of Our Homes Committees" in the neighborhoods and "Hands Of Our Jobs/Wages/Benefits Committees"in the workplaces and unions to fight evictions, foreclosures, job, wage and benefit cuts by mobilizing through direct action.

#Fight for a $15.00 minimum wage or a $5.00 wage increase which ever is the greater, free health care and education.

#Nationalize under workers control and management all financial institutions and major industries with compensation only on the basis of proven need.

#Invest the capital of the new nationalized financial institution in health care, education, housing and a public works program to rebuild the infrastructure, create union jobs and build a decent life for all.

#End Capitalism build a democratic socialist plan of production to provide for the needs of all. Produced by Facts For Working People and Labors Militant Voice.Do not stand by. Contact us and let us work together.
laborsmilitantvoice@yahoo. com www.weknowwhatsup

Can you give an example of a direct action one could take?

I suppose it would be to squat in the house with the residents, and defend it against people taking it away.

Of course, the problem is, the cops have guns and the law on their side. The resident is likely to eventually give up and find a rental.

Labors Militant Voice has been active around the US doing direct actions against evictions and recently foreclosures. An example of stopping a foreclosure would be:

1. Telling everyone in your neighborhood, friends, family etc that you are being foreclosed on (post up flyers etc). Contact media when you do actions.

2. Investigate who is involved ( bank, city council HUD etc) and pick targets

3. Show up to the bank with as many people as possible and demand a renegotiation and be relentless about it. Be willing to show up to peoples homes, churches whomever it is who is trying to kick you out

4. Do not move out! If you start the process quickly all the better but if you can resist it dont move out because once that happens its hard to move back in.

5. DO not trust false promises of banks or politicans or even lawyers. Until you got the paper saying you are free to stay fight like hell.


Labors Mlitant Voice is willing to help anyone and everyone stop a foreclosure and or eviction but YOU MUST BE WILLING TO FIGHT. We are NOT a non-profit and we dont take money from the government or companies. We will fight along side you to build a movement to stop evictions and foreclosures from the bottom up.

We want to organize with whomever believes its the people themselves who have to fight for themselves. If you agree with this approach contact us.

Okay.... but what if the current market value of the house is still greater than a payment the resident could afford?

Suppose the old mortgage was for $450,000 (and 0 down), but the house is now worth $250,000... and the worker makes only $45k per year? (45k is the average houshold income, I think) And estimate the monthly payment was a 1.5% teaser rate, or $1200 a month.

The monthly payment after refinancing would be around $2000. That would be more than 50% of this person's income. By traditional standards, this person doesn't qualify for this mortgage. That's after giving the borrower and bank some $200k of bailout money!

Now, that's probably not the case for all loans, but a lot of $0 down, no documentation loans came like that. Those shouldn't be rescued. They should be foreclosed, and the residents assisted in finding less expensive housing. The assistance they would really need is to fix their credit score.

The bank should have to eat the loss.

[There may not be any realistic *direct* action to take about this housing issue, but, an extension of our rights, as residents, is always a gain for renters. We all need a decent place to live, and only by extending our right to housing, and our political power will we be able to have decent, affordable housing.]

Foreclosures With the Right to Rent:

by: Dean Baker,
t r u t h o u t: November 17, 2008

Politicians often prefer complex solutions to simple problems. Nowhere is
this more apparent than with the long list of complicated and convoluted
proposals to address the country's foreclosure crisis.

Millions of people face the loss of their homes over the next few years.
While the politicians in Congress have developed a wide variety of complex
schemes in order to hold back this flood of foreclosures, including one
passed into law last summer that provided up to $300 billion guarantees for
new mortgages on homes facing foreclosure, none have had much impact thus
far.

The unavoidable problem with these schemes is that it is difficult to
design a plan that aids families facing foreclosure without giving an
incentive to other homeowners to also default on their mortgage. In
addition, it is hard to justify taxing the people who are struggling to keep
up with their own mortgages in order to help those who default. It is even
harder to justify taxing ordinary people to help out the bank executives,
who issued hundreds of billions of dollars of bad loans.

As a result, to date these programs have not prevented a tidal wave of
foreclosures and evictions. The number of foreclosure filings (there are
typically two or more filing for every actual foreclosure) is now
approaching 300,000 per month.

For those not offended by simplicity, there is an easy solution.
Congress can temporarily modify the rules on foreclosure to give families
facing foreclosure the right to rent their homes at the market rate for a
substantial period of time. Rep. Raul Grijalva proposed such a change in the
Saving Family Homes Act, which would allow homeowners the option to remain
as renters for up to 20 years following a foreclosure.

This bill would immediately give families security in their home, so
that if they like the home, the neighborhood, the school for their kids,
they would have the option to stay in the house for a substantial period of
time. This also has the great benefit for the neighborhood that homes will
remain occupied.

Perhaps more importantly, this change in foreclosure rules will give
banks a real incentive to negotiate conditions under which homeowners can
stay in their homes as owners. Banks do not want to become landlords. The
bank will own the house after a foreclosure, but a house with a renter is
worth much less to them than a house over which it has complete control.

Giving the homeowner the right to stay as a renter hugely increases
their bargaining power with the bank. The result of this change in
foreclosure rules is that far more homeowners are likely to remain in their
homes as owners.

The beauty of this sort of proposal is that it is simple, can take
effect immediately, it requires no taxpayer dollars and no new bureaucracy.
It also is not giving anyone a big bonanza. Homeowners are not likely to
line up for a process that could end up with them being renters. And the
banks will obviously not be thrilled about a rule change that will leave
them worse off in trying to squeeze money out of homeowners.

While the basic point of the right to rent is simple, it can be extended
in various ways to further aid homeowners. Bernard Wasow, at the Century
Foundation, has proposed some additional measures to facilitate the
transition to rental status or possibly a return to ownership. Daniel
Alpert, of Westwood Capital, has a somewhat different version that creates a
mechanism for homeowners to buy back their homes after five years.

In short, if people want to add bells and whistles, it is easy to do so.
But, the key to stopping people from being thrown out of their homes is
simply to change the law that allows people to be thrown out of their homes.
That one is so simple that even a policy wonk should be able to understand
it.