Activists help condo owner fight eviction
Rescue of Fannie, Freddie is no aid to Roxbury woman
The Bush administration is moving to rescue embattled mortgage backers
The 43-year-old physical trainer failed to pay her mortgage and has been fighting eviction from her condo for nine months. Yesterday, as she waited for a constable charged with her final eviction, she was joined by about 60 friends and housing activists who rallied on her behalf, waving signs and chanting "We shall not be moved."
They were not.
"I'm taking a stand," Taylor said. "Why punish me?"
Thanks to the attention-drawing protest and some last-minute maneuvering by city officials, Taylor will not have to leave her condo, at least for 30 days. Her lender, Countrywide, agreed yesterday to meet with Taylor and a city mediator to discuss her housing predicament.
Steve Meacham - a coordinator at City Life, a Jamaica Plain nonprofit that has organized a half dozen protests on behalf of distressed homeowners - called the outcome a success.
But he and others asserted that while taxpayers are being asked to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, evicted homeowners have little recourse. Taylor, for example, only wanted to stay in her condo and rent it until it was sold.
"The eviction [protest] brings a lot of publicity and attention to the inherent contradiction of this situation," Meacham said. "It raises the issue of who's getting bailed out and who's getting stiffed."
Taylor said she bought the condo two years ago for $259,000 with a subprime mortgage from Countrywide, a lending company under fire for issuing such risky loans.
The subprime mortgage collapse has fed a lending crisis and undermined the banking industry, which is one of the reasons the federal government is being asked to step in with taxpayer dollars.
Massachusetts saw 6,676 foreclosure filings reported in May, according to RealtyTrac.
US Representative Barney Frank of Newton, House Financial Services Committee chairman, introduced legislation that would help lenders and homeowners refinance distressed mortgages, avoiding potentially huge losses that can stem from foreclosures. The legislation would also fund a program for cities to buy foreclosed properties and would increase federal support for consumer credit counseling programs.
Taylor said she started missing her mortgage payments last year. She said she struggled to make the payments and fell behind when she began receiving large electricity and gas bills because of improperly wired meters connected to other condos in her building.
Last November, Countrywide put her two-bedroom condo, where she lived with her sister and sister's daughter, up for sale. She was told to vacate the condo, where Taylor also runs her personal trainer business, Triumphant Wellbeing. She didn't. A realtor offered her $2,500 to turn over the keys, she said. She refused. Last week, when a court constable handed her a 48-hour eviction notice, Taylor still didn't budge.
"I was very scared," Taylor said. "But unlike most people, I had people all along coaching me."
Taylor said that during one of her court proceedings she met a City Life worker who agreed to help her. The tenants' rights group helped her get her case reviewed by Harvard Legal Aid and get her case transferred to housing court.
On their advice, Taylor said, she also sent a letter to Countrywide informing it that she would not move and offering to pay market rent. (She would not say what her monthly mortgage payments were, but said she would be willing to pay $1,500 a month in rent.)
Taylor said she never heard back from Countrywide, which was recently acquired by
Rick Simon, a spokesman for Countrywide, said the company's lawyers spoke with Taylor earlier this spring, offering to let her live in the condo until June 30, so that Taylor's niece could finish the school year.
"We have a commitment to making the whole process as smooth and compassionate as we can," Simon said.
Last week, after Taylor received a notice that she had 48 hours to vacate the condo, City Life took action, organizing yesterday's protest. When the constable arrived at Taylor's Perrin Street home, he announced that the eviction had been called off.
Mike Kelley, director of the city's Rental Housing Research Center, said he learned of the blockade on Monday night and called Countrywide officials.
He asked them to follow the course outlined earlier this year by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who asked the largest banks in the city to change their policies and enter mediated negotiations with foreclosed customers. Too often, banks do not negotiate directly with tenants or their lawyers, he said, which works in no one's interest.
"It is our position that banks do have a responsibility to think about the results of their actions on borrowers and neighbors and the cities where they do business," he said. "They should be good corporate neighbors."
Countrywide's Simon said yesterday that it was unlikely the company would let Taylor remain in the condo longer than 30 days. He said the company's first priority is to its investors who want to see the property sold.
"There are a number of issues that prevent us from accepting rent payments," Simon said. "There are legal factors, and . . . it makes it much more difficult to sell a property with a tenant in it."
