Portland observer., May 16, 2012, Page 4, Image 4

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Page 4
Maj' 16. 2012
Standing Your Ground
continued
from fron t
communities.
A recent example was an effort by
the group and others, including the
Black Working Group and Portland
Liberation Organizing Council, to
retake a foreclosed home in north­
east Portland on behalf of a local
African American woman. More
than 200 activists participated in the
May Day demonstration.
Two weeks later, Alicia Jackson
is still in her home and fighting the
banks.
“Right now we have a situation
where banks caused an economic
crisis and people are suffering from
foreclosure because of that eco­
nomic crisis,” Maguire said.
It appears that other residents
who are facing similar foreclosure
challenges have been inspired by
these grass-roots tactics and have
increasingly taken a stand against
their mortgage lenders.
When Debbie Austin found a
llyer for a We Are Oregon meeting,
she said it felt like it was a sign from
god.
Austin has lived in her northeast
Portland home since 1986. She was
doing well for herself when she met
her husband Ron. Soon enough,
they were married, and began a fam­
ily after their two children Holly and
Andrew were bom.
But after years of happiness, a
dark cloud ascended over them, when
Ron was diagnosed with cancer the
same month Debbie went in for a
second back operation. This was
damaging financially, she said. “He
did all he could do, and worked his
photo by M indy C ooper TT he P ortland O bserver
Debbie Austin with her daughter Holly (left) and husband Ron are in a battle to save their northeast
Portland home from bank foreclosure, getting help from the grass-roots group We Are Oregon.
way through it all,” she said. “But
while he was recovering, our fi­
nances were a mess.”
In 2009, Austin also found out
she had colon cancer, which she
said, threw a wrench into every­
thing. “We decided to file for bank­
ruptcy, before my operation in Sep­
tem ber,” she said. “And after they
put me back together, while re­
covering, we went in for a loan
m odification that began in A u­
gust.
Austin awaits a court date. She has
And we got it, she said, adding also filed suit against what she con­
that they had such good credit at siders an illegal foreclosure.
the tim e, there were no problem s
“We Are Oregon says, ‘D on’t
retrieving the financial assistance. be afraid o f th is,’ she said. “And
Still, she said their financial prob­ I am now standing my ground.”
lems continued, as both she and
Before the group cam e to her
her husband were battling recov­ help, she d id n ’t know what to do.
ery from cancer.
“I’m here to tell you there is help,
Today, after months of back and but we have to band together and
forth phone calls with no progress show each other how to file com­
for changes in her lending terms, plaints. That is what We Are Or-
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egon has done for us,” she said.
William Siratak, 58, also of north­
east Portland, lost his job as a man­
ager in 2008 when the economy
crashed.
“I couldn’t make the mortgage
payments, so the bank filed for fore­
closure,” Siratak said.
On April 20, the house where he
lives with his wife and adopted
grandchild, went up for auction.
Two days before, Siratak had filed a
civil suit against the bank. He said
court officials told him the legal ac­
tion would stop the foreclosure until
a property title could be produced.
“I attended the auction, and
inform ed the auctioneer and the
bidders that I had a civil case
pending, and the auctioneer had
me fax a copy o f the com plaint to
N orthw est Trustee Services and
re c esse d the a u ctio n fo r one
hour,” he said. “But when I came
back after an hour, the auctioneer
said the office requested that the
auction continue.”
Siratak said the winning bidder
came to his home the next morning,
and said he had some money for me
to move out. “I said no, the house is
under litigation, and I am not going
to be moving out for a long time until
the case is heard in court.”
Still, the bidder called him a week
later to offer him money again or else
he would start eviction, which was
eventually filed on May 10.
Siratak says he has a ways to go
to achieve retribution for the injus­
tices he believes were cast upon
him.
“The problem is that a lot of banks
had started to bundle mortgages
and securitize them on Wall Street.
And they hedged against the homes
being able to meet their obligations,”
he said. “So my statem ent to
homeowners throughout this coun­
try is to stay in their home, challenge
the banks in court until they can
provide legal title.”
We Are Oregon is helping strug­
gling hom eowners stay in their
homes by hosting meetings to dis­
cuss the legalities of foreclosures.
“Most people are afraid or em ­
barrassed they lost their jobs and
embarrassed they lost their mort­
gages, so they self-evict,” he said.
“The point We Are Oregon is mak­
ing is don’t move out of your house,
stop foreclosures until we can fig­
ure this out.”
According to Maguire, bringing
people together is the first big step
for building community power.
“When people in Portland see
someone standing up and saying
moral values are more important than
bank written rules, I’d like to think
thousands of people are affected by
that message,” he said. “I hope to
see more families stepping out and
refusing to be evicted.”