This afternoon the No One Leaves Campaign kicked off its fall efforts by canvasing a number of foreclosed homes in the Dorchester area of Boston. With about 30 people from Harvard Law, BU Law, and Tufts, we broke into small groups to cover the recent foreclosed properties.

One of the first things we came to realize is the transit access inequity that exists in Boston. Each of the volunteers come from academic centers in the area that are all well-serviced by the MBTA. This resulted in the fact that only a few of us had cars to help get students around to each of the houses. While we are used to get around much of Cambridge, Boston, and Brighton with the T, we realized that doing so in Dorchester would not be as possible. Economically, Dorchester is not as wealthy as the rest of the city. I’m wondering if the lower value is due to the lacking public service or does the city not provide the service due to the lower value. It’s an interesting and difficult topic which we have discussed in our studies in urban planning and one that we directly faced today.

Aside from the transit issue, my group of six volunteers decided we would use the Red Line to at least get us to our general canvasing area and then walk around to the houses. The group of six (made up of myself and two other Tuft students, two BU Law students, and a Harvard Law student) then broke down to two groups of three. This was done so as not to scary or oppress the resident who came to the door and saw a number of people at the stairs.

This turned out to be a moot point. My group had four houses on our list of foreclosures to visit. Each house (except for two) had three units in it. It was our task to determine if the residents still lived at the house and if so, assist them by providing information about their legal right to remain in the unit as well as the community effort to buy back the property. Out of the eight doors that we went to, we only spoke with one resident (who actually did not speak any English). Another one of the homes had since been vacated, leaving us to be concerned that the bank may have wrongfully persuaded the tenant out of the building. We did leave information at all residences (except the vacated one) in hopes that the tenants would look it over either when they got home or after we left – we had a feeling people were at some of their homes when we came but chose not to answer the door.

While it was a bit of a letdown to not actually interact with a majority of the residents, we did what we could on this trip to inform them. Thankfully, we do redouble our efforts for residents who do not get a direct interaction so we (or another volunteer) may be back to try to help them out. Our biggest concern is that they don’t move out of their home unless they are fully aware of their rights and truly want to do so.

I’m still pumped and ready for the next canvasing event. Until next time…


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Last night I went to a training session for the No One Leaves program. Started by the Harvard Law School and the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, this is an outreach program that helps to let residents of foreclosed homes learn about their legal rights. The home foreclosure crisis has hit the majority of the nation very hard. No One Leaves intends to make sure that these residents do not suffer any longer.

Thanks to Massachusetts law, residents are provided security with regard to their homes. While many banks are taking possession to private homes and apartment buildings due to foreclosures, the residents have the ability to remain in their home until they receive a fair hearing in court. Many homeowners and renters however are unaware of these rights.

Myself and at least 50 other undergraduate and graduate students attended the training session last night at Harvard. Coming from Harvard, Harvard Law, Tufts, Suffolk Law, and Northeastern, each student was certainly inspired by the stories and the potential to help. While we will not be giving legal advice, we go to the foreclosed homes to provide information for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.

The foreclosure crisis, brought on by faulty and poorly conceived mortgages, has blindsided both homeowners and renters. The banks then make the situation worse by illegally telling residents they need to move out immediately. Thankfully, we will be able to help make sure they don’t have to actually leave. I’ll be sure to update the blog after each outreach session.


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