Occupy Our Homes

Occupy Our Homes

Occupy Our Homes was a grassroots housing justice campaign that emerged during the 2010s foreclosure crisis, linking grassroots activists, community organizers, and eviction defense networks to resist foreclosures and promote alternatives to repossession. The movement intertwined with broader social movements, urban coalitions, and progressive organizations, drawing tactical inspiration from direct-action traditions and public demonstrations in cities across the United States. It mobilized diverse actors—from tenant unions and faith-based groups to labor unions and student activists—into coordinated campaigns focused on housing, banking practices, and municipal policy.

Background and Origins

The initiative arose in the aftermath of the 2007–2009 financial crisis and the United States housing bubble collapse, intersecting with campaigns connected to Occupy Wall Street, MoveOn.org Political Action, ACORN, and local community land trusts mobilizations. Influences included earlier tenant movements such as Los Angeles Tenants Union, anti-eviction campaigns in Cleveland, and foreclosure resistance efforts linked to organizations like National People’s Action and Community Reinvestment Act advocacy groups. Activists drew on precedents from historical struggles including the Bonus Army, the Civil Rights Movement, and anti-eviction efforts in the Great Depression, while engaging policy debates around institutions like the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.

Key Protests and Actions

High-profile actions involved coordinated occupations of foreclosed properties in metropolitan regions such as San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami, Oakland, Los Angeles, and New York City. Notable campaigns targeted financial institutions including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup, and engaged municipal actors such as city councils in Seattle and Providence. Some occupations connected with broader demonstrations like protests at Wall Street and site-specific actions at landmarks including Fannie Mae Building protests, rallies near Federal Reserve Board offices, and cross-movement solidarity with marches organized by Service Employees International Union and United Auto Workers. Events often overlapped with actions around ordinances in cities such as Oakland City Council hearings and county foreclosure auctions in Cook County.

Tactics and Organization

Tactics combined direct action, community organizing, and legal support. Participants used eviction defense strategies informed by networks such as Right to the City Alliance, National Homelessness Law Center, and local legal aid clinics, while employing nonviolent direct-action methods associated with ACT UP, Direct Action Network, and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (for tactical analogies). Organizing occurred through coalitions connecting faith-based organizations like local chapters of Catholic Charities and Greater Bethel AME congregations, student groups at universities such as University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University, and advocacy NGOs including National Low Income Housing Coalition and Habitat for Humanity affiliates. Communication tactics leveraged social media platforms and decentralized coordination reminiscent of Anonymous (group) mobilizations, as well as traditional community meetings akin to town hall meeting formats used by local chapters of Democratic Socialists of America.

Legal Issues and Government Response

Responses from municipal authorities, law enforcement agencies, and judicial systems varied widely. Police actions mirrored crowd-control responses employed at Occupy Wall Street encampments, involving coordination with municipal offices and, in some cases, litigation in state courts such as New York Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeal, and federal district courts like the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Banks and servicers pursued eviction through foreclosure processes governed by statutes including state-level deed-of-trust laws and federal programs administered by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and enforcement actions informed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Civil liberties organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and National Lawyers Guild provided legal defense in cases invoking rights under the First Amendment and state constitutional protections, while municipal legislatures debated ordinances influenced by advocacy from League of Cities and housing committees in various state legislatures.

Impact and Legacy

The movement contributed to public debates on predatory lending, mortgage securitization practices associated with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and policy reforms at agencies including HUD and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. It helped preserve housing for hundreds of households through negotiated loan modifications, buybacks by community land trusts, and transfers facilitated by local governments in cities like Cleveland and Detroit. Long-term legacies include the diffusion of eviction defense tactics into tenant unions and housing coalitions, influence on later campaigns such as Right to Counsel initiatives and rent control measures in jurisdictions like San Francisco and New York City. The campaign’s intersection with labor, faith, and student movements informed subsequent organizing around affordable housing, community ownership, and municipal housing policy reform, creating ties that persisted in advocacy networks and nonprofit infrastructures.

Category:Housing movements in the United States