Minneapolis, MN – As JPMorgan Chase reaches a record $13 billion settlement with the Justice Department over its role in the lead-up to the foreclosure crisis, it remains unclear whether this settlement will keep people like Jaymie Kelly in their homes.

Minneapolis, MN – On Oct. 8, 150 neighbors and community supporters successfully prevented the scheduled eviction of Jaymie Kelly, a Powderhorn community homeowner who has lived in her home for 30 years.

Minneapolis, MN – 75 community members turned back 30 sheriffs who were trying to evict people from the Ceballos home, July 24. Two home defenders were arrested in acts of civil disobedience.

Irvington, NJ – A municipal hearing on foreclosure was held here, July 10. The main emphasis was placed where it belongs: on the testimony of distressed homeowners themselves. The council chambers were packed.

Irvington, NJ – The Coalition to Save Our Homes held Save Public Schools Night here on March 11. An outstanding panel spoke to a full room. There are many reasons why an organization dedicated to the struggle against predatory lending would give a program to oppose the destruction of public schools and their replacement by charter schools (private schools run with public school money).

St. Paul, MN – 40 residents and community supporters from the Foreclosure and Eviction Free Zone marched on Wells Fargo with the boards used to illegally board up an occupied home. The march was part of the Homes for All national day of action, March 13. It was also hours after bank lobbyists killed the Homeowner Bill of Rights at the Minnesota state capitol.

Minneapolis, MN – Jessica English, a single mother of four who was homelessness, moved into an abandoned Wells Fargo-owned home in south Minneapolis last month. The home had been broken into and used as a drug house. But English, a student, writer, dedicated worker and volunteer with Occupy Homes MN, saw in it the potential of a place to raise her family.

Protest demands the bank turn over vacant homes

Minneapolis, MN – 13 people were peacefully arrested Feb. 27 as they marched on Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, demanding the bank turn over vacant homes to community control and calling for fairer banking practices.

St. Paul, MN – A Ramsey County jury found Anthony Newby, executive director of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, not guilty on assault charges here Feb. 4. An employee of a law firm representing Freddie Mac, a primary target of the housing justice movement, pressed charges against Newby following a peaceful protest that happened March 1, 2012.

Jersey City, NJ – Organized labor took a direct hand in the struggle against predatory lending here, on Jan. 24, at a Bank of America branch in the Harborside Financial Center.