Trenton, NJ, – The people’s struggle against foreclosures took a new turn before the New Jersey Court of Appeals here, Dec. 19.

Foreclosure today is capitalism in chaos, a capitalism of swindling even on its own terms. New problems require new tactics of struggle.

In early December, Attorney Adam Deutsch was invited to speak to the Coalition to Save Our Homes, a group in Essex County that organizes homeowners to take the initiative in the struggle against predatory lending. He suggested that one thing people can do is turn out and pack the courtroom when important foreclosure defense motions are presented.

He later mentioned a case in progress that shows the marks of chaos. The bank, HSBC, had never met the requirements of law to prove it held a financial interest in the mortgage. In the foreclosure trial the judge pointed out to the HSBC attorney that the mortgage note, the crucial point of the bank’s financial interest in the property, had not been submitted to the court. The attorney replied that no defense was being made.

No one would argue that, if someone walked into a store when no one was there, they could lawfully clean out the till and walk off with the money. The judge should have stopped right there and not allowed HSBC to continue until it proved it had a claim on the house. Instead HSBC was allowed to proceed. This defect and others in HSBC’s case were not removed in the foreclosure hearing when final judgment (i.e., order of foreclosure) was granted against the homeowner.

A big problem for the defense appeal is that the homeowner did not come to court to defend before judgment of foreclosure was issued. The defense therefore had to deal with procedural issues of delays in filing, as well as seizure of property by a bank with no proven financial interest in it. The defense also says lower court decisions were made in error and should be reversed.

These issues figure in millions of predatory lending cases. Courts far too often exhibit a double standard. Homeowners are excused for nothing and banks for anything.

The difference in the Dec. 19 hearing was that homeowners, activists, and organized labor representatives showed up in court. A case that ordinarily would have been heard before an empty courtroom was heard before a body of citizens with their own sense of justice. The discomfort of the bank’s attorney was obvious. He began in a mumbling tone of voice and an attendee called out, “We can’t hear you.” Ordinarily that is a big no-no in court but the only result was that the attorney spoke up. He distanced himself from the issue of ownership of the mortgage note. The court asked if the bank had submitted properly certified proof of ownership – the defense contends it had not – and the response was a stammered, “I guess so.”

Decisions are not delivered at appeals court hearings. The judges take the case under advisement and issue their decision later.

However the decision turns out, the day showed the way forward. The people’s forces felt a sense of unity and empowerment. We can fight the banks, we can fight foreclosure. We don’t have to settle for making the best of a bad situation. We can attack the bad situation itself. If there is no justice in the halls of justice we will bring our own standard of justice. We will depend on ourselves to build a broader, stronger, more united movement for people’s economic justice, and we will succeed.

#TrentonNJ #HousingStruggles #crisisOfCapitalism #CoalitionToSaveOurHomes #HomeForeclosures #AttorneyAdamDeutsch

Trenton, NJ – In March, the Coalition to Save Our Homes asked New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa for a meeting. Many of our members have been harmed by predatory lending. We want Chiesa to hear their complaints. His office can do many things to help them. He said no.

On April 11 we went to Trenton to protest his refusal and demand that our requests be met. We hear of “liberty and justice for all.” It would be good to have it. But there is no equal protection of the laws when predatory lenders get bailouts and the people they harmed can’t even get a hearing. We won’t accept that.

We started the protest with a rally in front of the New Jersey Statehouse, where the governor’s office is located. There were 45 participants. It was a big crowd because it did big things. We gave center stage to the voices of people who have been harmed by predatory lending.

They spoke for all of the millions of borrowers who were swindled. They paid far more than their houses were worth. Some have been foreclosed. Some have lost their jobs. Payment records have been lost, ownership records have been lost. Many mortgages are underwater. Many have lost jobs and income because the banks drove the economy into depression.

Home prices have reached a nationwide average of more than twice true market value. It was price fixing. Lenders lied to prospective borrowers about things in the fine print. They roped buyers into mortgages they knew would fail. They selectively abused African-American and Latino home buyers with higher fees than those paid by economically comparable white buyers, and extended them more subprime loans.

All of these things are illegal. Nothing effective has been done for the millions and millions of people who were harmed.

We want the attorney general to do something about it. We want predatory lenders to be prosecuted for price fixing. They must be compelled to lower mortgage principals to reflect the true market value of the properties. There are many other things for which they could be prosecuted.

People came from all over New Jersey. They represented many organizations. Other concerns of people’s economic justice were addressed. One speaker talked about the impact of cuts in public services on low-income women and children. Another spoke about Irvington, which lost its hospital a couple of years ago and is now planned to get a medical waste disposal plant that the community does not want.

Then we marched through the streets with stops at branch offices of Wells Fargo and Bank of America. The Solidarity Singers gave us a song at each stop. Speakers got on the bullhorn to tell passersby what the banks had done to them. Too many people are passive at their mistreatment by the banks! Passersby showed their support. Drivers honked their horns. Then we marched to the Hughes Justice Complex, where the attorney general’s office is located. We chanted, “A.G. Chiesa, do your job!”

The attorney general’s office had been notified in writing that we were coming to give him a letter. The statement was read aloud to the assembly at the Justice Complex. At no time was there any obstruction of normal activity.

We were met by an officer of the State Police. He was courteous but he told us we could not enter the building, which is public. He said he would take our letter to the attorney general and deliver it, but we had to disperse. He said we could not be present as a group because we did not have a permit to be there!

We said we wanted to enter the building and turn our letter in to the reception desk of the attorney general’s office. A delegation of three went in. A second State Police officer told us at the sign-in desk that we would not be allowed to go to the office. Our attorney was with us. He told the officer that he had many times been to the attorney general’s office to do the same thing. All we wanted to do was deliver a letter to reception. The officer said we could not go to the office. We had to turn in our documents through him. We gave him the letter and a petition with well over a thousand signatures, but said it was a violation of free speech.

We went back outside. The day’s protest was over. The Solidarity Singers fell in, and started singing. People were singing along, hanging out, waiting for the bus. We had accomplished great things. Everybody was happy.

Then the police told us again we could not be there because, “You don’t have a permit.”

“To wait for the bus?!”

“You can’t hold signs.”

“But that’s silly.”

“If you don’t put away the signs and disperse I will have to call for more officers.”

We collected the signs. The problem was clear: the powerful officials who hold so much responsibility are afraid of us because we want to be protected by law from the banks. The bus arrived after a few minutes and we went home.

It had been a good day’s work. We want the attorney general to prosecute predatory lenders. We want equal protection of the laws. We want reinstatement of the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights. We will keep it up.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ejw7jA3ZCEE

#TrentonNJ #Foreclosures #WellsFargo #HousingStruggles #AfricanLiberation #BankOfAmerica

Trenton, NJ – People gathered here to rally and hold a press conference, March 29, on the need for uncompensated write-down of overpriced mortgages contracted during the housing bubble, the period after 1997. The event marked a court hearing aimed at elimination of ‘robo-signing,’ foreclosures undertaken by banks that cannot prove ownership of the mortgage.

Participating organizations included the People's Organization for Progress (POP), the Irvington Branch of the NAACP, the Newark Teachers' Association, New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) and the Fair Share Housing Center.

Robo-signing is a terrible abuse. Rally participants all said it must be ended. But the end of robo-signing will prevent no one from being foreclosed. In fact the stated aim of the court hearing was to make the foreclosure process in New Jersey more efficient.

In the hearing a court-appointed attorney presented an agreement he had worked out with six of the largest mortgage lenders. The essential point is the banks agreed to proceed only in foreclosures based on “personal knowledge and accurate business records.” Several homeowner advocates objected that the agreement was vague or that it was procedurally inadequate to protect homeowners. Judge Mary C. Jacobson found in favor of the agreement. Whether or not it eliminates robo-signing will have to be seen from experience.

The people's forces said at their press conference that what really has to happen is enforced write-down of overpriced mortgages to the level of true market value at the time they were contracted. A POP statement was read by Debby Strong. It said the banks had harmed millions of people. They didn't care at all about the terrible risks into which they dragged home buyers. Lenders lured borrowers into mortgages they knew full well the borrowers could not pay. They did things like sell a house for $300,000 when it was only worth $180,000. The banks have been rewarded for it and the victims have been left without help.

POP announced that it will launch a mass campaign to enlist victims of the housing bubble to demand that New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow prosecute mortgage lenders for manipulation of the housing market. Penalty upon conviction will be write-down of mortgage principals to reflect true market value by an objective and uniform standard.

Kathleen Witcher of the Irvington NAACP gave a vivid picture of the suffering caused by the housing bubble. She said that 40% of the houses in Irvington have been foreclosed and the rate may go as high as 80%. Drastic rates in property taxes have resulted. Many homeowners cannot pay the higher taxes, which creates another risk of loss of homes.

Phyllis Salowe-Kaye of NJCA noted that all 50 state attorneys general have submitted an “Accountability Proposal” to resolve the ‘robogate’ problem, but without any requirement for principal write-downs in programs like the Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP.) The AGs set no specific goals or quotas for write-downs. They need to institute mandatory measures for loan servicers. 60% of homeowners could remain in their homes if the mortgage was reduced to the actual market value. “Allowing significant principle modifications would stem the flow of foreclosures and reduce the uncertainty about the housing market and mortgage securities, giving more time to devise approaches to the messy problem of clouded titles and faulty loan conveyances,” she said.

A basis for legal action in existing law and practice was given by people’s attorney Bennet Zurofsky. He said, “The lenders and investors were the ones in the best position to know that they were profiting from a bubble that they themselves were inflating. The law calls this unjust enrichment and the New Jersey Attorney General has the power to do something about it by bringing a lawsuit against the lenders and the investors on behalf of the people of New Jersey to return the riches they have unjustly obtained from the people of New Jersey.” He noted that actions have been brought against persons who benefited from the Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme on the basis of unjust enrichment.

A POP member said that there is a power that can act effectively against entities as powerful as big banks. It is the power of the people! Not even the administration of reactionary New Jersey Governor Christopher Christie can ignore the will of the people who have been harmed by the housing bubble, once they are aware and united. It was also noted that the total overvaluation of the housing market was about $2 trillion, and that no recovery from the depression is possible until this burden in removed.

Cries of “power to the people!” and “mortgage write-down now!” rang out. It is clear that the people of New Jersey can make write-down their issue and their demand and create a powerful mass movement for it.

#TrentonNJ #POP #Foreclosures #HousingStruggles #mortgageCrisis #PeoplesOrganizationForProgress #housingBubble

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka asked the crowd, “What's up with your governor?” to loud boos in response. He said public employees didn't cause New Jersey's budget problems or pension problems and denounced tax cuts to the rich while rewarding CEOs and banks for causing the crises. Labor leaders tended to echo a Democratic Party line. They spoke in defense of the ‘middle class,’ not of the working class, which is a mistake.

This approach creates a divide between workers on one hand, and oppressed nationalities and the poor on the other. Still the rally was a definite step forward for the people. Christie has mostly had things his way since he took office. He is meeting more and more mass opposition and will soon have a much better understanding of the power of the people.

#TrentonNJ #publicSectorUnions #NewJerseyEducationAssociationNJEA #CommunicationsWorkersOfAmericaCWA #GovernorChristopherChristie

Trenton, NJ – 500 people traveled to Trenton, the state capital of New Jersey, April 5, to protest the threat to close Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield. Hospital closings are at crisis level in New Jersey and Muhlenberg, which has served Plainfield for 125 years, is only the latest to be threatened.

The struggle is led by the People’s Organization for Progress and has been largely based in the working class. In a significant broadening of the movement’s class basis, the Muhlenberg Doctors Association paid for the buses to travel to the rally.

The crowd marched from the drop-off point to the New Jersey Statehouse chanting, “What’s the word? Don’t close Muhlenberg,” “Save Muhlenberg hospital!” and other slogans. Passersby waved and smiled and drivers honked their car horns in support.

The Trenton municipal authorities had at first stalled on permits for the march, but in a concession to the power of the people a street lane was cleared for marchers on the approach blocks to the statehouse.

The rally heard Plainfield community activists, Muhlenberg workers and elected officials speak. To a roar of support from the crowd, People’s Organization for Progress Chairman Lawrence Hamm said, “There have been a lot of attempts to discourage us by reports that the closing of Muhlenberg is a done deal. Well this ain’t over until we say it’s over!”

Protest April 5 in Trenton, NJ to protest threatened closing of Muhlenberg Hospital..

He said the next demand of the people is to convene a public hearing to determine whether a certificate of need could be granted for the closing, as required by state law. Time and again in hospital closings, legal requirements have been bypassed. Organizing meetings are held every Monday night at Ducret School of Art in Plainfield, which donates the meeting space to the struggle.

Mr. Hamm then read the program of people’s demands from the statehouse steps, as follows:

“Demands of the people who oppose closing Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center. We demand:

1. Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center (MRMC) remain open as a full service ‘essential’ hospital.

2. An immediate halt to the transfer, termination, or shut down of any MRMC services, procedures, departments, units, equipment and other assets; an immediate halt to the transfer and lay-off of employees; an immediate halt to the diversion of insured and uninsured patients from MRMC to other facilities; and the maintenance of the ‘status quo’ at MRMC at least until the Certificate of Need application process has been completed and a decision is issued by the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services.

3. No further action be taken to close MRMC until a total community needs assessment is completed by an independent entity.

Protest April 5 in Trenton, NJ to protest threatened closing of Muhlenberg Hospital..

4. Solaris Health Systems, Inc. (Solaris), with regards to MRMC, adhere to the Certificate of Need application process as set forth by state law.

5. The restoration of all of services, procedures, departments, employees, units, equipment, and other assets that have been transferred from MRMC or shut down. They must be restored to insured and uninsured patients alike at MRMC.

6. Solaris provide a full report on the evaluation of alternatives it considered for MRMC to remain a full service hospital.

7. Solaris provide a complete accounting of the endowment funds it is holding in the name of Muhlenberg Hospital and the nursing school, and how these funds will be used in the event of MRMC closure.

8. Solaris provide a backup plan for Emergency Management in the event of a catastrophe if MRMC is closed.

9. Solaris provide a plan for eliminating loss of life and deterioration of healthcare delivery services to the elderly, the uninsured, the physically and mentally impaired and patients who lack transportation to other hospitals in the event of MRMC closure.”

#TrentonNJ #CapitalismAndEconomy #PoorPeoplesMovements #News #Healthcare #AfricanAmerican #capitalistCrisis #muhlenberg #PeoplesOrganizationForProgress