CHICAGO—(ENEWSPF)—July 15, 2013. Members of various housing rights and activist groups will hold a rally on Monday, July 15 at 10:30AM, at 1 S. Wacker Dr., to protest the auctioning of foreclosed homes in Chicago.
“Five years into the crisis and millions of displaced families later, we continue to see around 80 evictions per day in Cook County. Too many of these evictions have been due to foreclosure, and too many homes end up boarded up and abandoned, creating instability in our communities,” said Jorge Ortiz, organizer with Communities United Against Foreclosure and Eviction (CUAFE).
Activists, homeowners facing foreclosure, and other members of the community will rally Monday morning to stop the auctioning off of foreclosed homes, and also to demand that the homes be donated to the community in exchange for a tax-write off for the banks. “We’re asking that homes not be sold at auction, but instead donated to the community through a community land trust,” said Jorge Ortiz. “There needs to be a new mechanism to be able to keep some of our homes in the hands of the community, instead of most of them going back to the banks.”
The organizers are rallying around a particular home. The home at 7245 N. Ridge is being auctioned off by CitiMortgage, which received billions in bailout monies. “The complicit actions of the banks, the courts, and the Cook County Sheriff, have resulted in the weakening of our communities,” said Jorge Ortiz.
