Two Lynn families go to court to fight evictions

SALEM – Yovanny Contreras said he and his family were told they had 30 days to leave the Trinity Avenue apartment after the property had gone into foreclosure in 2011.Monday outside Salem Housing Court, Contreras joined about 15 members of Lynn United For Change and attorneys with the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau to ask that a judge allow his family and his neighbor’s family to continue renting their apartments.”We have been asking the bank a long time to stay on as a tenant and pay rent,” Contreras said through an interpreter. “They did something unjustified.”Attorneys with Harvard Legal Aid and affiliated with Lynn United for Change, a local group challenging foreclosures, argued motions Monday in Salem Housing Court for summary judgment on behalf of two Lynn families.The families are defendants in eviction suits brought by Fannie Mae, the government-backed and taxpayer-rescued mortgage lender that owns the three-family home at 24 Trinity Ave. in Lynn where the families reside.Defense attorneys and Lynn United For Change volunteers argue the evictions violate a state law that gives tenants the right to stay in foreclosed properties since the families have offered to pay the rent – $850 and $750 per month, respectively, for each two-bedroom apartment.Fannie Mae has not accepted the rent, however, for the past three and a half years, defense attorneys said.”Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don’t want to be landlords,” Harvard Law School Harvard Legal Aid Bureau Staff Attorney Eloise Lawrence said.Defense attorneys and Isaac Hodes of Lynn United For Change said Fannie Mae offered to pay the tenants to move out and even showed up at the building with a truck despite a judge’s order to stay the eviction. But the tenants, with the help of the attorneys and Lynn United For Change, have resisted attempts to get them to move.The volunteer group is one of several grassroots organizations challenging the fallout from the rash of foreclosures following the burst of the housing bubble and economic crisis of 2008.But while the real estate market may be rebounding and foreclosures ebbing, Lawrence said the foreclosure crisis is “far from over.””Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (government-backed mortgage lenders that own many of the foreclosed properties) would like if people thought that the foreclosure crisis was over so that the laws that hold them accountable won’t be enforced,” Lawrence said. “If people don’t view this as a crisis, then (Fannie and Freddie) go back to business as usual, evicting tenants en masse.”The cases have been argued – and the tenants won a dismissal – before, said Sam Heppell, a recent graduate of Harvard Law School who argued the cases as a student. But the mortgage giant re-filed.”We’re going to keep fighting, we are very comfortable there,” said tenant Yudelka Lovera.Heppell argued a motion for summary judgment in favor of the tenants Monday.The defense attorneys and supporters hope the judge will rule that the evictions are illegal and the tenants can remain.Heppell told the supporters outside the courthouse that Judge David Kerman issued no immediate ruling but would consider the motion and rule on a later date.The attorney representing Fannie Mae could not be reached for comment Monday.But Hodes said that should the judge find in favor of Fannie Mae, the fight will continue.”If we have to fight with civil disobedience and blocking those doors, we’ll do that,” Hodes said.