foreclosure crisis | The UpTake

Housing

Macalester Alumni Protest College Crackdown on Students

By Jacob Wheeler | June 7, 2013

Macalester alumni are upset over the Saint Paul-based liberal arts college’s crackdown on student activism. The Kicks Well Fargo Off Campus campaign seeks divestment from the bank for its involvement in the housing foreclosure crisis.

Economy/Jobs

Push for Anti-Foreclosure Legislation Wins Abbreviated Homeowner “Bill of Rights”

By Jacob Wheeler | May 29, 2013

Minnesota homeowner Rose McGee won a year-long struggle with CitiBank to keep her home. Along the way, she became a champion of anti-foreclosure movement, which pushed the state legislature to pass a Homeowner Bill of Rights.

Housing

“Kick Wells Fargo Off Campus” Protesters: “We’ve Just Begun to Fight”

By Jacob Wheeler | April 26, 2013

Macalester College president Brian Rosenberg once again refused to heed KWOC student demands and divest the Saint Paul-based liberal arts college’s finances from Wells Fargo bank.

Education

Macalester College Students: Sour Beans, No; Divestment, Yes

By Jacob Wheeler | April 24, 2013

Fifteen students at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., are occupying president Brian Rosenberg’s office to protest the school’s refusal to divest from Wells Fargo.

Economy/Jobs

WWJD: What Would Jesus Do About Homeowners’ Rights?

By Jacob Wheeler | March 28, 2013

With a wooden cross punctured by nails lying on the snow before them, ISAIAH leaders spoke of the need for homeowner rights, and an end to the bank-driven home foreclosure crisis.

Economy/Jobs

Occupy Homes Claims Abandoned House, Eyes South Minneapolis Foreclosure Free Zone

By Jacob Wheeler | December 8, 2012

Occupy Homes demonstrators launched a new campaign that they hope could solve two problems with the same remedy: moving those who lost their homes through foreclosure into abandoned properties.

Economy/Jobs

Police Detective Battles Foreclosure as Occupy Atlanta, Occupy Minnesota Team Up

By Jacob Wheeler | December 5, 2012

Retired police detective Jacqueline Barber, a cancer patient who has teamed up with Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, traveled north to Minneapolis this week to confront Minnesota-based US Bank.

2012

Green Party’s First Act in White House would be Foreclosure Moratorium

By Jacob Wheeler | November 3, 2012

Green Party vice presidential candidate Cheri Honkala said that, were she and presidential candidate Jill Stein to win Tuesday’s election, the first thing they’d do would be to enact a moratorium on foreclosures in the United States of America.”

Economy/Jobs

Occupy Homes Holds Vigil as Foreclosed Cruz House Goes for Sale

By Jacob Wheeler | October 24, 2012

Lender Freddie Mac put the foreclosed Cruz house on the market following a heated battle over the home early this summer between Occupy Homes activists and Minneapolis police and Hennepin County sherifs officials.

DC

Occupy’s Impact: Making Foreclosures an Election Issue

By Jacob Wheeler | September 26, 2012

In sending a delegation of embattled homeowners and activists to Washington, D.C., the Occupy Homes movement seeks to thrust the issue of home foreclosures into the national election.

Economy/Jobs

Occupy’s Impact: Forcing Mayor to Confront Lender

By Jacob Wheeler | September 21, 2012

That an undocumented immigrant family and a ragtag group of Occupy Homes activists could force the mayor of a major American city to call Freddie Mac was a testament to the power of Occupy.

Energy

Disaster Turned Into Opportunity in North Minneapolis

By Allison Herrera | September 20, 2012

Minneapolis’ Green Homes North project aims to build 100 ecological homes in North Minneapolis that are based on green standards and do it with local minority and women contractors and locally-sourced green products.

Economy/Jobs

Occupy’s Impact: Homeowner Victory Plants Seed for Others Facing Foreclosure

By Jacob Wheeler | September 19, 2012

Occupy Homes found it could fight foreclosure for homeowners in the court of public opinion with the help of social media and legacy media. That inspired more homeowners to fight back against the banks and lenders.

Economy/Jobs

Organizer Nick Espinosa talks about the OccupyMN movement

Riot Charges Dropped Against Occupy Homes Activists

By Jacob Wheeler | September 19, 2012

Riot charges were dropped this morning against Minnesota Occupy Homes activists Nick Espinosa and Matthew Van Grinsven, who were arrested while defending the Cruz house in South Minneapolis from home eviction this summer.

Economy/Jobs

Occupy’s Impact: Emboldening Homeowners Against Banks

By Jacob Wheeler | September 18, 2012

Occupy Homes’ first ally was Monique White, a single mother in North Minneapolis who worked two jobs but had fallen behind on her mortgage payments and faced the threat of eviction by US Bank and her lender Freddie Mac.

Economy/Jobs

Students, Homeowners Whoring Themselves for the Banks

By Jacob Wheeler | September 18, 2012

Occupy activist Miss Nicole says she has resorted to prostitution to pay her bank debt. She made the comment during a rally to mark the one year anniversary of the Occupy movement.

Economy/Jobs

A Year Out, Occupy Emboldens the 99 Percent

By Jacob Wheeler | September 17, 2012

Occupy’s message catapulted issues of economic justice and fairness into the forefront of the political conversation, and they remain prescient today as a presidential election looms just weeks away.

Economy/Jobs

Occupy-backed Homeowner Wins Renegotiated Mortgage

By Jacob Wheeler | July 27, 2012

Ruby Brown, a North Minneapolis hairdresser and pillar of her church community, won a renegotiated mortgage from Bank of America this week — just days before her home was to be auctioned off in a sheriff’s sale.

Economy/Jobs

Occupy Homes Holds National Day of Action to Support Cruz Family

By Jacob Wheeler | June 20, 2012

Buoyed by a nationwide Occupy Homes movement that has rallied behind them, siblings Alejandra and David Cruz arrive in Pittsburgh to confront PNC Bank’s executives on Thursday.

Economy/Jobs

Humiliated Homeowner Turns to Son’s Occupy Homes for Help

By Jacob Wheeler | June 12, 2012

When Colleen McKee Espinosa, a nurse who lives in Northeast Minneapolis, received a sheriff’s sale notice of June 13 from Citibank last winter, she told her 26-year-old son Nick that “under no circumstances was he to bring the Occupy Homes people to my home.”

Economy/Jobs

How Much Did Police Raid on Occupy-Backed Cruz Home Cost Mineapolis?

By Jacob Wheeler | May 30, 2012

“We want to know how much this cost,” said Neighborhoods Organizing for Change and Occupy Homes activist Anthony Newby following the Minneapolis Police and Hennepin County Sheriffs raid on the Cruz house yesterday.

Immigration

Minneapolis Police Chief on Seizing Occupy-Backed Home: We’re Done With This Job

By Jacob Wheeler | May 30, 2012

Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan implied that the City’s work was finished, and that Minneapolis would no longer expend resources to protect the Cruz home on behalf of Freddie Mac.

Economy/Jobs

Occupy Homes, Veterans Will Rally to Stop Sheriff’s Sale of Vet’s Home

By Jacob Wheeler | May 29, 2012

Occupy Homes and veterans will rally in support of John Vinje to block U.S. Bank from auctioning his Bloomington, Minnesota, house.

Economy/Jobs

Occupy Activists Defend Cruz Home from Sheriff’s Eviction

By Jacob Wheeler | May 24, 2012

Approximately 100 Occupy Homes activists and community members defended Alejandra and David Cruz’s South Minneapolis home from eviction Wednesday after Hennepin County sheriffs stormed the house.

Economy/Jobs

Occupy-Backed Homeowner Monique White Wins Loan Modification, Keeps House

By Allison Herrera | May 11, 2012

Occupy backed homeowner successfully re-negotiated her loan with MN based US Bank.