Carson City Demonstrators to President Obama: Fire Ed DeMarco and Help Millions of Homeowners

Event at Obama for America Campaign Office, March 15, at the Carson City Democratic Central Committee Headquarters
at 502 E. John Street (& Roop St.) behind Bank of America

On Thursday at Noon, Occupy Carson City demonstrators, MoveOn.org members and homeowners in crisis will rally at the local Obama for America (OFA) office in Carson City, NV to demand that government-controlled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide relief to ten million underwater homeowners by adjusting their mortgages to reflect the true value of their home.

The March 15 event is part of a MoveOn.org national day of action called “Save Our Homes,” which includes more than 200 actions around the country. It is being held on the same day as the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs meets in Washington, D.C., to discuss the fate of homeowners. Events are taking place across the country at OFA campaign offices, at the biggest banks, and in front of homes facing foreclosure.

Participants will call on President Obama to stand strong with the 99% and replace the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Ed DeMarco, appointed by George W. Bush, who oversees Fannie and Freddie and refuses to support homeowners. President Obama can replace DeMarco and make sure Fannie and Freddie, which hold 60% of all mortgages, provide relief to the millions of Americans struggling with mortgage debt. Such an action would help all homeowners by helping to stabilize home prices and the economy in general.

Participants will also demand that banks such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chase be more strongly forced by the government to help homeowners stay in their homes through immediate and widespread home loan modification and principal reduction. Homeowner John Kinney who will attend the event explained, "I am only one person among thousands in the state of Nevada who has been forced to give up my house. The same thing is going on throughout this country. The banks do not care!"
Reno homeowners Donna and Nuno Vieira also worked tirelessly with Wells Fargo to no avail to keep their home which also had real estate appraisal and loan origination mistakes that caused them to be $243,000 underwater after closing. Wells Fargo decided to foreclose instead, but the Vieiras made many sacrifices to fight back and they now have a Nevada Supreme Court Case (#53690).

According to a March 1 report by CoreLogic, an information and research company serving government and business clients, Nevada has the highest percentage of negative home equity ("homes underwater") in the country at 61% as of Quarter 4, 2011 data. With regard to the 11.1 million homes underwater across the entire country worth a total amount of $2.8 trillion in Quarter 4, 2011, Mark Fleming, CoreLogic's chief economist said, "The high level of negative equity and the inability to pay is the ‘double trigger’ of default, and the reason we have such a significant foreclosure pipeline.”

Janette Dean of Carson City explained that she helped organize the event because "It's crucial that we stand up and fight for homeowners right now before even more are forced out of their homes. Banks got bailouts and huge corporations continue to get tax breaks and subsidies, but American citizens are being thrown out on the streets. It's unconscionable. Meanwhile, the financial companies who contributed greatly to the recession in the first place now get to reap the rewards by taking their pickings of properties for cents on the dollar." She added, "And it's completely unfair when some people want to blame foreclosure victims for buying homes they could not afford. Most homeowners would still be paying their mortgages if the job losses and small business losses of the recession hadn't been so catastrophic."

The event will take place on Thursday, March 15, from 12:00-2:00pm at the OFA office which is the Carson City Democratic Committee Office at 502 E. John Street (between Stewart & Roop Streets) behind Bank of America in Carson City, NV. All are encouraged to attend. To learn more, please visit: http://pol.moveon.org/event/saveourhomes/128066 and sign the online petition to oust De Marco at http://pol.moveon.org/demarco/?rc=homepage.sidebar or at http://www.occupycarsoncity.org .

CoreLogic Report: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2012/03/corelogic-111-million-us-prope...