Tony Howard, Christino Acosta, Chana Seaforth, Chivvy Chum, and Diem Meang pose for a photo in front of Howard’s home Thursday evening. Howard was recently able to buy back his home after foreclosure with the help of Lynn United for Change. (Item Photo / Angela Owens)

 

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LYNN — Four Lynn families thought they would only be home for Christmas in their dreams after banks foreclosed on their properties in 2011 but Thursday they gathered to celebrate an early gift of homeownership.

Tony Howard and Chana Seaforth passed out hot chocolate on the front steps of their 107 Rockaway home to friends, neighbors and members of Lynn United for Change, the non-profit organization that helped them fight to stay in their home.

When the banks foreclosed on their house about eight months ago Howard said started packing.

“Not me,” said Seaforth, his wife. “I told the mortgage company, I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Seaforth said the family hit hard times, including a spate of homelessness, before they were able to buy their single family home on a patch of land in the Highlands.

“I had a reason to keep this home,” she said as she started to cry. “My youngest child had started college … I had to have a real home for him to come back to.”

Howard said he learned about Lynn United for Change while getting his hair cut at a barbershop on Essex Street and that was how he met LUC organizer Isaac Hodes.

Hodes said Seaforth and Howard suffered a plight all to common today, they owed the bank far more than the house was worth.

“They bought during the real estate bubble,” he said.

After waging a nearly eight-month battle with the bank that included resisting eviction and walking a picket line in front of their own home as the bank tried to auction it off, Howard and Seaforth worked out a deal. The pair was able to re-purchase their home for what Hodes called a fair market price of $82,000, a far cry from the original purchase price of $350,000.

Chivy Chum and Diem Meang live near Howard and Seaforth and Christino Acosta is just a few streets away. Each also faced foreclosures in 2011 but worked with Lynn United for Change, resisted the bank’s attempts to get them to move and were also able to re-purchase their homes.

Howard and Seaforth’s house is decorated with green garland and white lights save for one short strand of red lights that encircle a sign that reads, “Foreclosed? Don’t Move! Fight Back,” and it includes the website, www.LynnUnited.org.

Seaforth said that was the best piece of advice she could give a family facing foreclosure. Hodes said moving out is the single biggest mistake people make.

“It’s surprising but with a lot of families there is so much fear that they actually leave before the foreclosure happens,” he said. “There is a misconception that the day after a foreclosure the police will come and arrest them or a moving truck will show up.”

In reality, Howard, Seaforth, Acosta and the others remained in their homes throughout the foreclosure process which proved lucky for some. Meang and Chum are both refugees with immediate family but no extended family nearby. Both said they would have been in a shelter had they been forced to vacate their homes.

Moses Ehiabhi, Malis Chum and brother and sister Margaret and Peter Osazuwa stopped by 107 Rockaway to share in the couples’ celebration despite the fact each are in the midst of their own foreclosure battle.

Ehiabhi owns a multi-family home and said he’s received threatening letters urging him to move. The letters were enough to scare his tenants, who have all moved out.

“I am there alone now,” he said. “I have no place to move to and I want to stay until the end.”

Ehiabhi said he has tried to refinance 12 times and has been turned down each time. A call to state Sen. Thomas McGee’s office put him in touch with Hodes.

Peter Osazuwa said he was referred to LCU by the state’s Attorney General’s Office.

“That is how important they are,” he said.

The trio also came to hold signs and urge others caught in the same situation to fight the banks and foreclosures. Passers by showed their support honking and waving. Hodes said it moved him that those that were fighting foreclosures still took the time to support others in the same predicament or celebrate successes.

“This is what is beautiful to me,” he said. “There are a lot of different holidays celebrated this time of year but the spirit is universal.”

Chris Stevens can be reached at cstevens@itemlive.com.

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