Saturday: Foreclosure, Economic Crisis Solutions Forum looks at homeowner rights, bank accountability

Published on Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Last updated on 06:42AM, Sunday, March 20, 2011
Lilian Cabrera, a PICO leader, testifies at a D.C. rally about her impending foreclosure.

Lilian Cabrera, a PICO leader, testifies at a D.C. rally about her impending foreclosure.

Oakland homeowners have an advocate that kicks off this weekend with a  Foreclosure and Economic Crisis Solutions Forum aimed at uniting officials and homeowners to stop the foreclosure crisis. 

This Saturday, a coalition of nonprofits, unions, clergies, state officials and local residents will meet for a public forum to share foreclosure stories and discuss four proposed legislative solutions to stop the state's foreclosure crisis.  

"The focus is for every individual and elected to be doing whatever they can to enact policies and legislation that make banks accountable to the community," said Amy Fitzgerald, associate director of Oakland Community Organization, or OCO.

The coalition will be asking elected leaders to sign on to a package of four legislative bills including:

The forum is part of a multi-event statewide campaign to stop preventable foreclosures and make banks legally accountable for foreclosure damages. The campaign launched earlier this week.

The campaign launch includes the publication of a report examining foreclosure impacts in California, a Wednesday San Francisco press conference and sit-ins to save Bible Way Apostolic Church in Richmond from foreclosure.

This forum takes place as 645 Oakland foreclosures are currently listed on the online home brokerage website Redfin. These foreclosures include houses, condos, townhouses and multi-family homes. According to the 2010 census, 62,000 homes in the East Bay were vacant in 2010.

The coalition is led by the Home Defenders League a project of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, ACCE; People Improving Communities through Organizing, PICO CA; California Reinvestment Coalition, CRC; and the Service Employees International Union - SEIU - Locals 1000, 721, 521 and 1021.


If You Go

What:  Foreclosure and Economic Crisis Solutions Forum

When: 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 19

Where:  St. Louis Bertrand Church, 1410 100th Ave., Oakland

Participants:

Foreclosure victims

Bay Area public employees

State Sen. Mark Leno 

Assemblyman Sandré Swanson 

Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner

Councilwoman Desley Brooks

Sharon Cornu, Senior Policy Advisor to the Mayor for Intergovernmental Relations

 

 

About Irene
Irene Florez is a sustainable development enthusiast and an Oakland resident of seven years. She writes on issues related to East Oakland and Latinas/os in California.
Len Raphael commented at Tue, 5 Apr at 10:00pm

As if struggling working class Oakland home owners don't have enough troubles from predatory loans, high crime, and bad schools, but the City wants to raise their parcel taxes too.  A low income exemption isn't going to help working people.

A homeowner in an East Oakland 200,000 fixer upper near failing schools, will pay the same parcel tax as someone in Upper Rockridge near top rated schools.

Not to mention that if that Upper Rockridge person bought their home say 20 years ago, they could be paying less total property taxes than the more recent East Oakland owner.

 

-len raphael, temescal