Foreclosure Prevention Task Force

by Jeff Feuer

The Chapter’s Foreclosure Prevention Task Force has been extremely active this year in response to the continuing foreclosure and eviction crisis that has enveloped our society and undermined our national economy.  Congressional projections predicted that, by 2009,  Massachusetts households would lose $58.9 billion in household wealth, with more than $2.8 billion lost in property value and a concomitant loss in property taxes.  With approximately 23,000 foreclosure petitions filed in Massachusetts in 2009, more than 32,000 households faced eviction.

The Task Force has fought back against these destructive forces on a variety of levels.  Working as an integral component of the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) coalition, Guild attorney Lee Goldstein has helped to craft and lobby for four pieces of legislation currently pending before the Massachusetts legislature: (1) a six month moratorium on foreclosures, resulting from unfair and predatory subprime loans, of 1-4 family owner-occupied buildings; (2) a requirement that lenders participate in a court supervised mediation program before they can foreclose on a property; (3) the establishment of judicial review of all foreclosures of 1-4 unit owner occupied homes, which, unlike the present foreclosure law, would allow a homeowner to raise defenses against a foreclosing lender in a court proceeding, such as violations of the Truth in Lending Act, the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act, the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, and the Massachusetts Consumer Protections Act; and (4) a requirement (lasting through 2013) that an institutional foreclosing lender could not evict tenants and former homeowners from a property unless they had good reason to do so, such as non-payment of rent, a purchase and sale agreement with a prospective owner-occupant that required the property to be vacant, etc.

In addition to an intense lobbying effort for these crucial protections, the Task Force has worked closely with Boston City Councillors Chuck Turner and Charles Yancey, City Life/Vida Urbana, Boston Community Capital, the Chelsea Collaborative, the Bank Tenants Association of East Boston and other neighborhood organizations to provide educational community forums/clincs and support for direct action events in opposition to the destructive foreclosure actions of large institutional lenders such as the Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Bank, and Wells Fargo.  Guild volunteer attorneys, including Nadine Cohen, Neil Berman, Jeff Feuer, Lee Goldstein, Benjie Hiller and Danny Factor, along with numerous law students, participated in community foreclosure prevention forums and street law clinics, providing information, counseling and referrals to financial counselors and legal services for residents throughout  Greater Boston.  They have also served as legal observers at eviction blockade actions and public demonstrations against various large banks, and the attorneys have provided pro bono representation for demonstrators arrested during some of these events.

The political push-back being exercised by the Guild, MAAPL, City Life/Vida Urbana and other groups has begun to have an effect.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have now instituted temporary moratoriums on their own foreclosure and eviction actions and Bank of America is proposing a 60 day moratorium for its borrowers facing foreclosure.  Bank initiated evictions of tenants have slowed somewhat as tenants have fought back through blockades, demonstrations and winning arguments in court, resulting in increasingly large settlement payments to tenants.  Boston Community Capital, a local investment bank working closely with City Life/Vida Urbana, has received federal money to buy foreclosed properties from banks at their current fair market value and then transfer them back to the former property owner with an affordable mortgage based on that true market value.  The federal Homeowners Assistance Mortgage Program has been expanded, making more homeowners eligible for mortgage loan modifications.

Of course, this problem is far from over and the Task Force expects to be even more active over the next year.  As always, we are looking for more law students and attorneys who would like to volunteer to participate in one or more of the Task Force’s many activities: legislative lobbying, legal observing, conducting community street law clinics, representing arrested demonstrators, and taking foreclosure and/or eviction cases.  If you are interested, please contact Urszula at the Guild office at any time and watch for Guild emails that announce upcoming events.

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This article is from the December 09 issue of Mass Dissent which you can download here.