Organizing

Organizing

For any person facing a foreclosure, joining together with a group of people in similar circumstances can be the key to influencing what happens. If you are a tenant or owner in a property that is facing foreclosure, it is likely that others, either in your building, your neighborhood, or your town, are in situations similar to yours—that is, living in a property that is in the process of being or has been foreclosed. In addition to taking all the steps to protect yourself discussed in this chapter, you may be able to strengthen your position if you join forces with other tenants.

In some towns and cities, groups of residents in foreclosed properties—both tenants and former owners—meet together regularly as "bank tenant associations" to compare stories and to jointly develop strategies to protect their members. Some have already achieved significant victories. For example:

• In 2007, the tenants of a foreclosed rooming house in Roxbury, working together, made calls and sent letters both to the bank that had taken over their home and to public officials, complaining that utilities had been shut off and that the bank was threatening to evict them. Under pressure from the tenants and public officials, the bank got the utilities restored, repaired numerous poor conditions, and agreed not to evict the tenants. Instead, the bank marketed the property for sale with the tenants "in place."
• In 2008, a former homeowner in Dorchester staved off eviction—even after the bank that had foreclosed on her home had obtained a court judgment and was on the verge of moving her out. A bank tenant association that she had joined threatened to "blockade" her home to prevent the constable hired by the bank from evicting her. The publicity generated by the threatened blockade caused the bank to back off from the planned eviction.

A variety of other successful tactics that can best be used by tenants working together in an organized group are set out in Chapter 10: Getting Organized. That chapter also includes information on how you can set up a tenant association if none exists already in your building, your town, or your neighborhood.