Movement backs down bank, halts eviction

Over 50 activists from around Boston, including community organizers, residents, students and city councilors, succeeded in preventing US Bank/Wells Fargo/Premier Servicers from evicting the Meyers family from 200 Norfolk Street here on April 16. Tenants in the building include six children, three adults and a family-run childcare center.

Stopping eviction in Dorchester, Mass., April 16. WW photo: Maureen Skehan

Activists arrived at the home prepared to stand fast against any action by the constable to evict or remove possessions. The blocking turned into a victory celebration when the bank backed down and agreed to negotiate. After a speakout rally on the steps of the Meyers’ home, with the family members smiling behind a banner that read, “Bankers get bailed out, people get thrown out,” the demonstrators, led by the community organization City Life/Vida Urbana, proceeded to march through the streets to the Dorchester Court House (shown here).

There organizers read the list of 34 homes being foreclosed on in Boston just this week by greedy bankers. Organizers vowed to reach out to these homeowners to pull them into this growing fightback movement against foreclosures and evictions. Miya Campbell of the Women’s Fightback Network and the youth organization, FIST, delivered a solidarity message.

The action occurred on the same day that the Ad Hoc National Network to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions was rallying against the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, D.C., and the Meyers’ victory was announced to the crowd there by coordinator Larry Holmes.

The Meyers family was facing eviction as tenants in the foreclosed property. It is significant that the bank was forced to agree to negotiate, not just reschedule the eviction. This was the latest of several successful actions in the Boston area that have prevented foreclosure evictions from going forward. Many more families, however, have in fact been foreclosed on and evicted where organizers have not been present to shine a spotlight and point to the need for a full moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. Some 33,000 families are expected to lose their homes in Massachusetts by 2010, according to a new study by the Pew Center on the States and the Center for Responsible Lending.