As noted in my post of September 22, I met with State Senator Chip Shields to discuss the foreclosure problem. He noted that two years ago, someone had introduced a bill requiring the banks to meet with a homeowner before they foreclosed on him or her, and to provide documents showing that they actually had title to the home in question. You would think that these are the minimum requirements a lending institution should meet before being allowed to take your home away, but the banks fought the bill tooth and nail, and it went nowhere. He said he was trying to re-introduce this bill.
He encouraged me to write the petition that many of you signed, and intimated that if we got 200-300 signatures, he would introduce legislation in the Oregon State House. I submitted over 200 signatures to him (I would've gotten more, but I came down with pneumonia and was out of commission for a couple of weeks).
I heard nothing back from his office, despite sending emails and making phone calls. MaryAlecia, his aide, did email me to say that he was meeting with Rep. Tina Kotek to craft legislation. After that meeting, I tried reaching the office again to find out what they had decided, and what I could do to help. For instance, did they want more signatures? Again, I heard nothing.
Finally, I told some people from We Are Oregon, and they agreed to call Sen. Shields' office last week. Two days later, I received a call from MaryAlecia, who apologized for not having contacted me sooner. She said that Sen. Shields was going to reintroduce the bill he had described during our first meeting--which in my opinion is too little, too late. He is not going to ask for anything related to our petition, like a moratorium on foreclosures. Why not? I asked. After all, quite a number of states enacted such moratoriums during the Great Depression. She replied that the laws have changed since then, but didn't say in what way. She said that legal counsel to the legislature would have to examine such a proposal. What about taking over abandoned houses? I asked. She said the state couldn't afford to do that.
Then she said that any member of the legislature is only allowed to submit five bills in each session. Three of the ones that Sen. Shields submits have to be co-signed by a Republican member on his committee. The other two were already written up long before I met with him. I got the impression that Sen. Shields will use our petition as support for passing the bill that the banks defeated two years ago. I told MaryAlecia that the housing situation is an emergency--that more and more people are being made homeless. She said that Sen. Shields is a really good guy, that he is on our side, but that he is bound by the rules.
I conclude that we can't expect help from the legislature. If we wait for the government to stand up for us against the 1%, we will starve and freeze. Right now people across the nation are taking matters into their own hands, preventing evictions by surrounding houses when the sheriffs come, or occupying empty houses and moving homeless families in. Of course these actions are illegal and might result in jail time. However, standing by and letting our neighbors be thrown out into the streets is immoral. Those of us who can't risk jail for one reason or another (e.g., health) should support those who are willing to take the risk. To quote a song from the Civil Rights era:
It isn't nice to block the doorway
It isn't nice to go to jail
There are nicer ways to do it
But the nice ways always fail
I met with the Senator. We signed the petition. We did it the nice way. Now let's find an effective way.
