The Home Keepers: Occupying Atlanta Homes in Foreclosure After the Great Recession Pubblico

Dunbar, Deanne (2017)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/9s161700f?locale=it
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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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