The Home Keepers: Occupying Atlanta Homes in Foreclosure After the Great Recession Open Access
Dunbar, Deanne (2017)
Abstract
At least 6.2 million Americans lost their homes to
foreclosure following the housing market crash and the Great
Recession of 2007 - 2009. Disparate local geographic and political
arrangements contributed to regional differences in the rates of
mortgage foreclosures, the degree of loss to housing values, and
the rental markets in which former homeowners sought their
recovery. In Atlanta, outcomes varied by gender, race, and
disability because of historical inequities inherent in
neighborhood and household arrangements, in consumer marketing
practices, and in the distribution of capabilities and assets with
which to weather a personal financial crisis.
Home foreclosure meant prolonged insecurity of housing tenure,
forced migration, family separation, and limits on life
trajectories--experiences that engender suffering and grief. Using
12 months of direct observation of homeowners in foreclosure,
renters facing eviction, professional organizers and others
concerned with housing in both the private sector and in
government, and on interviews and health surveys with 30 African
American mortgagors in default or foreclosure, the study describes
several forms of resistance to mortgage foreclosure and
displacement. Participants who kept their homes openly occupied
them after mortgage payments ceased; fought dispossession in
government offices, in banks, and in courts; and appropriated the
subprime lending system to access housing, albeit temporarily, for
themselves and their families. They also "kept house" by keeping a
tight rein on limited budgets in order to direct funds toward
high-priced mortgages.
Competing with others who can pay much more,
the housing costs of the poorest draw the majority share of their
incomes and limit their expenditures on household utilities, food,
and medical care. I argue that efforts to secure stable housing
with a limited income, failing to secure it, and the tumultuous
transitions between these states are socially patterned and act as
contributors to differentially distributed health risks. In sum,
the political economy of housing in the United States maintains the
continuity of a social system that disadvantages African Americans
as it allocates income, wealth and health.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 -
INTRODUCTION 1
Overview of the Great
Recession, 2007 - 2009 1
Introduction 1
The U.S. Housing Bubble 5
Impacts of the Great Recession 7
The Great Recession in Context 10
The Representation of Homeowners in the FCIC Report
and in the Press 12
The Research Site:
Atlanta, GA 18
Contributions to
Anthropology 30
Resistance Studies 31
Engaged Anthropology 33
Anthropology of Social Suffering and Structural Violence 36
Anthropology of Homelessness in North America 39
Broader Impact 41
Overview of the Dissertation 43
CHAPTER 2 - METHODOLOGY & POSITION 46
Introduction 46
History of Occupy Our Homes Atlanta 46
From Occupy Atlanta to Occupy Ya'll Street 55
Position and Evolution of the Research Project 65
Participant Observation/Observing Participant 77
The Organizers 81
Interview Data 89
Limitations 97
CHAPTER 3 - "A HOME FOR A SEASON:" BLACK, WORKING CLASS HOMEBUYERS
IN THE MORTGAGE MA RKET 100
Introduction 100
Part 1 - Macroeconomic & Public Policy Environment 104
The Neoliberalization of U.S. Housing Policy 108
Mortgage Lending During the U.S. Housing Bubble, 1997 - 2006 115
Racially Biased Mortgage Lending 120
Part 2 - Study Participants' Experiences 125
Black Flight 125
Choosing a House 132
Accepting Subprime Loans 136
Assessing Mortgage Affordability 144
Family Homes 151
Conclusion 157
INTERLUDE 1: Staying without Paying 162
CHAPTER 4 - RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION, MORTGAGED HOMES, AND SOCIAL
TIES IN ATLANTA 164
Introduction 164
Part 1 - Residential Segregation and Post-Foreclosure Migration 164
Part 2 - "It Done Went Down:" Neighborhood Transformation 182
Renters in Foreclosure 187
Visible Impacts 190
Institutional Investors 194
Less Sophisticated Profit Schemes 196
Neighbor Changes 198
Study Participants' Perceptions of Neighbor Changes 202
Part 3 - Resources to Households in Foreclosure 207
Family and Generalized Reciprocity 209
Contributions to Households in Foreclosure from Friends 215
Church & Other Community Resources 216
Prioritization of Resources 220
Conclusion 226
INTERLUDE 2 - The
Limits of Organizing 230
CHAPTER 5 - HOUSING CRISIS & RACIAL HEALTH DISPARITIES 232
Introduction 232
Part 1 - The Psychosocial Pathway from Economic Stress to Disease 239
Part 2 - "I Got to Go:" Eviction Experiences in Context 246
"Digging in My Things" 263
Part 3 - Bodily Responses to Home Foreclosure 267
The Waiting Game 273
Physicians and Self-Care 277
Part 4 - Gendered Responses to Home Foreclosure 279
Male Gender 279
Mothers with Children in their Household 285
Family Obligations 291
Being a Shield 294
Judgement Proof and Uncollectable 297
Part 5 - "God is Money:" Resilience in Economic Hardship 302
Faith Work 306
Financial Blessings 309
God Restore My House 311
Conclusion 315
CHAPTER 6 - CONCLUSION 318
Introduction 318
Contributions to Anthropology 319
Limitations 322
Understanding the Mortgage Crisis 323
Specific Recommendations 323
Consumer Protections 328
APPENDIXES 351
A - Survey 351
B - Interview Guide 359
C - Glossary 361
BIBLIOGRAPHY 365
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