In a time when people are experiencing unparalleled hardship, Miami-Dade county is ramping up to steamroll more foreclosures. This news comes as rents are rising[1] in Miami spurred on by international speculators and investors, and people losing their homes. Nationally homeless is increasing due to the pervasive unemployment, sub-poverty wages of the lowest tier of the working population, and the multi-decade long attacks on housing safety nets. We are now witnessing a homelessness that includes young able bodied people some of whom are working while homeless[2].
A large backlog of foreclosures exists in Miami of over 50,000 cases. This situation was created by the banks illegally “robo-signing” and ramming through foreclosures, and the lack of political will to fundamentally address the issue in a way that challenged the banks[3]. With a hot market[4] in town, the pressure is on to free up the flow of capital in the banks, produce more houses for the market, and make the scandal go away from the eyes of the public.
The Miami Herald released a report Tuesday on the Miami-Dade Circuit Court’s attempts to work through these cases[5]. The report describes the use of state funding, lightning fast trials, and pressure from all sides to move forward. The article also cites a Bruce Jacobs, a foreclosure defense lawyer, as detailing the pressures that make defending these cases difficult. Jacobs, who blogs[6] and has a local radio show Mortgage Wars on Wednesdays at 5pm on WZAB-AM 880, reports that Banks wait till the last minute to give necessary documents and judges are not allowing proper time to evaluate those documents. The net effect is familiar. Forces from all sides are pressuring embattled home owners without any allies, organization, or fair process.
The county is being changed step by step daily by imposition. While investors, politicians, judges, and businesses decide the course of the city, people’s lives hang in the balance. If we want to prevent Miami from yet another cycle of displacement, class and racial segregation, and stealing the wealth of countless of families, we need to take action. Building neighborhood organization to resist these attacks is the way to start taking back our city. Joining with our neighbors can help us build a living democracy, decide the course of our city and our lives, and put forward another vision of how we can live without the mass displacement and impoverishment of tens of thousands of people in Miami-Dade.
MAS 
Get in touch with me, please! In Broward we’re already defining our political line and tactics to fight back, agitate and build organization, and have been doing so for a year now. The housing context is incredibly complex and difficult. Home ownership, for working class people, IS the American Dream. It’s also the ultimate bastion of our social atomization. The psycho-social-cultural dynamics at the root of this crisis make organizing hard. We know. We’ve tried. And tried. I don’t believe there’s any greater manifestation of the success of capitalism’s divide and conquer ethos than a middle class American neighborhood.
Having struggled against foreclosures, defended properties, met dozens of people facing foreclosure/eviction over the past year, I and others in our group have a lot we could share with you. Not to mention, we need allies and good hearts and minds like yours to help build something meaningful around this. Much more I can’t say here.
Jeff
PS The phenomenon of major investment, on the part of both international and domestic speculators, is largely responsible for what the msm reports as ‘the housing recovery’. Here, Canadian firms like Allied; a Mexican firm, Vulcan; and others are propping up the market, buying homes by the thousand to flip or rent (sometimes to the very same people who used to live in them). Not sure if it’s here but even Warren “the benevolent billionaire” Buffett’s Blackstone Group has gotten into the game. Almost half a million people/families have been foreclosed in FL alone since the beginning of this crisis 5 yrs ago; another half million plus homeowners are currently delinquent on their mortgages by 90 days or more, and face a similar fate. This grandest theft in US history is far from over. How how HOW do we wake people up?!
Hi My name is Tomas Gorrio and I feet in to the group facing Foreclose having the final trial this coming Sep 26th, the bank did not send all documents to my Lawyer yet and as you said may be it will be at last minute.
god. I m trying to do modification since December 2012 and the bank always ask for more papers or up-date papers because every 90 days they expire and need to be update. Also I tried to reach then by phone and never answer. I when to 3 Mediation, June 2011 they did not show, August 2011 they did not have the negotiator from the bank and August 2013 they state they do have all file ready and will give me an answer in the next 6 weeks, but my final trial is next week.
Let me know how can enjoin your organization.