Posts Tagged ‘foreclosures’
City Council approves plan to prevent displacement of residents, increase affordable housing
Oakland’s City Council took steps Wednesday night to address the city’s current housing problem by unanimously approving the “Housing Action Plan and Policy Framework” set out in the “Oakland Housing Equity Roadmap.” The policy seeks to prevent the displacement of long-time residents, build new affordable housing, and improve housing habitability and tenant health while maintaining affordability.
Read MoreBacked by new law, homeowners in Richmond, Oakland, fight to protect homes from foreclosure
When Oakland resident Debi Mason set out to prevent mortgage associates from the Bank of America from foreclosing on her sister Patricia’s Maxwell Park home in 2007, she had only a few friends, neighbors and advocacy groups to help fend off the foreclosure. But last week, Mason, along with thousands of homeowners in Bay Area…
Read MoreOakland residents call for freeze on foreclosures
Oakland residents converged Tuesday on an East Oakland street that has been blighted by foreclosures, calling for a freeze on foreclosures until the Homeowners Bill of Rights comes into effect in January, 2013. California Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law on July 2, which and will prevent banks from forcing families their homes while they are still negotiating mortgages settlements.
Read MoreCity Council approves ordinance to hold banks responsible for blighted homes in default process
The city of Oakland has a program that charges fines for banks that fail to maintain blighted homes that have been foreclosed upon that the bank now owns. On Tuesday night, the city council voted unanimously to expand those controls to include homes going through the default process.
Read MoreResidents rally against foreclosure practices and to support reforms
The sanctuary of East Oakland’s St. Louis Bertrand Church was filled with house keys on Saturday morning—keys on string encircling the room and hanging from the balcony, keys in jars, in pockets and around necks, keys in hands being jingled in uniform outrage, all because there are fewer house keys in Oakland than there used to be. The display of keys was a symbolic part of Saturday’s rally as over 1,200 people protested the recent wave of home foreclosure.
Read MoreHomeowners versus banks in fight against foreclosures; request for moratorium
Late Thursday afternoon, Oakland residents, foreclosed homeowners, and city workers filled the lobby of a Wells Fargo Bank at MacArthur Boulevard and Fruitvale Avenue—and not to deposit checks. The transaction: faxing a letter to the Wells Fargo headquarters in Iowa. The subject: “Stop illegal foreclosures in California.”
Read MoreOakland neighborhood fights to save a house from foreclosure
After months of failed negotiations, Fruitvale resident D’Weena Coleman feared she’d be evicted from the house her grandparents built back in 1961. But with help from her neighbors — and some well placed media attention — US Bank suddenly modified her loan, allowing her to stay. Oakland North was there to see it happen.
Read MoreGoing once, going twice: Auctioning off a foreclosed home
By Elise Craig and Melanie Mason/Oakland North
Upstairs, cell phones are charging. In the kitchen, snapshots of kids in football jerseys plaster the fridge. And in the living room, auctioneer Danny Green is selling this family home to the highest bidder.
Oakland home values a block-by-block prospect
By Elise Craig and Melanie Mason/Oakland North On the corner of 34th Street and Market Street in Oakland, a Coldwell Banker sign is attached to a chain link fence in front of a house with graffiti-covered boarded windows. Beside it, a black arrow on a yellow plastic sign points to a real estate auction…
Read MoreDownsizing a household in the wake of foreclosure
As foreclosures force more people out of their homes across the Bay Area, people like Patricia Lewis are having to adjust to smaller living spaces. Oakland North’s Brittney Johnson talks to Lewis as she holds a garage sale to get rid of many of her old possessions and help her fit into a new apartment.
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