A Stop Foreclosures and Evictions, Moratorium NOW! public meeting will be held at the Amalgamated Transit Union hall, 734 N. 26th Street, Milwaukee on Saturday, June 23 beginning at 1 p.m. The event, sponsored by the Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement, is free and open to the public.
“Wisconsin, as in many other states, is suffering the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The banks-through illegal foreclosures and evictions-are destroying poor and working people’s neighborhoods and communities throughout Wisconsin and nationwide with the worst bankers crimes in African American and Latino communities. We need an immediate moratorium on foreclosures and evictions to save our communities,” said Bryan G. Pfeifer, of the Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement (wibailoutpeople.org).
Participants on June 23, will explain homeowners’ rights in the foreclosure process, give practical tips for confronting the banks and managing foreclosures and explain the demand for a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. Families or individuals who are facing foreclosure and/or eviction are invited to share their stories.
Members of the Moratorium Now! Coalition from Detroit will participate June 23 (moratorium-mi.org). Members of this leading national anti-foreclosure organization will describe the moratorium demand which is adopted from the 1930’s when 27 states, including Wisconsin, had moratoriums on foreclosures. Those from Detroit will also describe how the banks have decimated this majority African American city, how they have stopped bank foreclosures and have kept poor and working people in their homes with labor, community, student and faith-based direct action and legal support.
According to a June 4, 2012 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, foreclosures in southeastern Wisconsin spiked 27.5 percent in May. Since 2007 there have been 20,000 foreclosures in Milwaukee, most in the central city (realtytrac.com). Tens of thousands more statewide are facing foreclosure and are being evicted when landlords fail to tell tenants the home they reside in is in foreclosure. With the union-busting bill Act 10 and ongoing austerity measures in the state, thousands more are in peril of becoming homeless-unless a moratorium is enacted.
The nationwide movement to stop foreclosures and evictions and the campaign for a moratorium is growing as more homeowners and tenants fight the banks illegal foreclosures. Organizations such as Occupy Our Homes are forming (occupyourhomes.org). A campaign for a 3 year federal moratorium is also underway: nationalmoratorium.org.
