Homeowner Merrie Jo Musni (left)
celebrates with Occupy Noe co-founders Kathy
Lipscomb and Susan McDonough (right), after
pressure from the group helped Musni keep her
house off the auction block. Photo
by Corrie M. Anders
Occupy Noe, a new group working to halt
foreclosures in the area,
has only been active a few months—but it has already helped
one couple save
their home.
The successful case involved Merrie Jo Musni, 68,
and Edzel Musni,
67, who have lived four decades in their Randall Street
residence, raising
seven children and three grandchildren. Merrie Jo Musni said
the family had
fallen on hard times after she became ill and couldn’t
continue working as a
Kaiser Hospital nurse.
Just days before the home was scheduled to be
auctioned Aug. 13,
Occupy Noe pressured Bank of America to modify the Musnis’
loan.
“I’m just so proud of them [Occupy Noe],” said
Merrie Jo Musni. “I
just think it’s absolutely fantastic,” she said, adding that
she’s become an
active member of the group.
Targeting Big Banks
Occupy Noe, co-founded by longtime Noe Valley
residents Susan
McDonough and Kathy Lipscomb, has been busy since going public
in July. Members
have held petition drives, knocked on doors of imperiled
homeowners to offer
assistance, and picketed at courthouse auctions.
In one of its most visible actions so far, the
group marched along
24th Street on Aug. 11, hoisting huge banners and chanting
through bullhorns,
demanding that three major banks—Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase,
and Bank of
America—freeze their foreclosure activities against local
homeowners.
McDonough, 60, and Lipscomb, 72, said they were
fed up with what
they saw as the deplorable treatment of struggling homeowners.
“I was just appalled at what the banks were
doing,” said
McDonough. “They were bailed out, but people who were facing
foreclosure were
not getting any assistance.”
As a result, Lipscomb said, “you found people
just kind of in a
terrible downward spiral.”
Veteran Organizers
It is not surprising that McDonough and Lipscomb
are the driving
force behind the grass-roots group. Together they have nearly
50 years of
experience as professional organizers.
McDonough retired last year after working for a
decade as an
organizer for the Alameda Labor Council and five years for the
Service
Employees International Union (SEIU). But she remained engaged
in political
causes around the city, and got involved in local community
affairs after she
and her husband purchased a home on 27th Street in 2001.
Lipscomb ended her career in 2004 as a healthcare
organizer for
the SEIU. The Cesar Chavez Street renter, who has lived in Noe
Valley for 20
years, has filled her retirement with campaigns to reduce
military spending and
to preserve Social Security.
Lipscomb and McDonough got to know each other
earlier this year
while working with the Occupy Bernal Heights group. The women
were startled to
discover that foreclosures were not uncommon in affluent Noe
Valley, where the
average home is worth $1.5 million.
Surprising Number of Foreclosures
They found 70 properties on the chopping block in
the 94114 and
94131 ZIP codes, which encompass all of Noe Valley and parts
of Glen Park,
Diamond Heights, and the Castro District.
Occupy Bernal suggested that “we should start
something in Noe,”
said McDonough. “We just plagiarized their model, with their
permission,” and
went to work.
The first meeting was held in April in
McDonough’s home, with a
handful of people in attendance. After two hours of
discussion, the group
settled on two main goals: stopping individual foreclosures
and changing bank
policies that might be precipitating them.
The latter objective focused on halting banks’
“dual-tracking”
practice—engaging defaulting homeowners in loan modification
talks while
keeping the delinquent property listed on the foreclosure sale
calendar.
Beginning Jan. 1, dual-tracking will be illegal
under the new
Homeowners’ Bill of Rights, a state law that also requires
lenders to provide
“a single point of contact with knowledge of their loan and
direct access to
decision makers” for homeowners seeking loan modifications.
First Case Was 40-Year Resident
Occupy Noe, which eschews tent city encampments,
currently has
about eight core members. To swell its ranks at rallies, as it
did at last
month’s protest on 24th Street, the group gets support from
Occupy Bernal and
the local Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
(ACCE).
One of Occupy Noe’s first efforts was to take up
the Occupy Bernal
cause of Kathy Galves, who had lived for 40 years in a purple
Victorian on 24th
Street near Church Street. Galves gave up her foreclosure
battle with Wells
Fargo in April and accepted the bank’s $7,500 in moving
expenses.“We didn’t prevail in
that instance,” said Lipscomb.
A Victory with Interest
The group had better luck with the Musni home.
For nearly four years, the Musnis got the
run-around from
different bank officials as they sought to modify their loan
to lower their
monthly payments, said Merrie Jo Musni.
McDonough claimed the couple could never get a
straight answer
from the bank. “Each time they called, they’d get a new
person, and their
paperwork was nowhere to be found,” she said.
On two occasions in July, Occupy Noe set up
tables outside the
BofA branch and gathered 500 signatures on a petition
demanding that the bank
stop its foreclosure proceedings and negotiate with the
Musnis. Two weeks
later, the bank agreed to a loan modification that dropped the
couple’s
mortgage interest rate to 3.625 percent from 6.5 percent.
Tense Time at City Hall
Nonetheless, the bank did not cancel the planned
Aug. 13 auction
of their house, said Merrie Jo Musni. “People are not talking
to each other,
and computer systems aren’t interfacing with each
other.”
On the day of the sale, Musni went to the auction
site, planning
to show anyone who would listen that she had a signed contract
and was in good
standing with the bank.
“At the last minute, they updated their
list…while I was sitting
on the steps of City Hall,” she said in relief.
BofA confirmed it “offered a modification” to the
couple. However,
spokesman Rick Simon said the bank could not corroborate
“terms of the loan due
to privacy restrictions.”
What the Future Holds
The number of homes in foreclosure is shrinking
in the 94114 and
94131 ZIP codes—to 32 in August from 70 in May—as homeowners
settle with banks,
sell at a loss, or lose their property at auction.
Still, the founders of Occupy Noe believe they’ll
be “occupying”
for quite a while.
“I don’t think this thing is going away,
unfortunately,” said Lipscomb.
“There are probably more foreclosures that are going to
happen.”
For more information about Occupy Noe, contact
Susan McDonough,
415-734-0061, or Kathy Lipscomb, 415-641-1997.
