Hempstead marchers protest foreclosures

Homeowners facing foreclosure marched alongside neighbors and elected officials yesterday through Hempstead Village -- one of the communities most affected in the state by foreclosures -- to symbolically reclaim vacant homes from banks.

"Whose house? Our house!" they chanted during the three-block march, down Carolina Avenue to Flower Street and ending on Alabama Avenue. "Modify loans! Save homes!"

About 20 marchers called on banks such as JPMorgan Chase to stop foreclosing on homes and help distressed homeowners. The march organized by New York Communities for Change passed four foreclosed homes in the upper-middle class neighborhood.

"We are here today to tell the big banks that they have to help the people," said village Mayor Wayne J. Hall Sr., who joined the march along with Deputy Mayor Henry Conyers and Trustee Livio A. Rosario.

Last year, Hempstead and Freeport villages closed their accounts with Chase to protest the bank's mortgage modification practices. The action was part of a statewide campaign by New York Communities for Change to get municipalities to close their Chase accounts.

The foreclosure rate in Hempstead Village is more than three times that of Nassau County, and more than six times that of New York State, according to Communities for Change officials.

Elmont resident Mimi Pierre Johnson, one of the marchers, said she had tried since 2006 to modify her $415,000 home loan with Chase. Pierre Johnson is now more than $100,000 behind on the home she has lived in for seven years with her husband and two children, now ages 5 and 20.

"After that, I said, 'That's it. I am going after Chase,' " said Pierre Johnson, who had a construction company with her husband, Stan, until the economic downturn affected their business. "I am not leaving my home."

Reached before the march, Chase spokesman Michael Fusco said the bank has opened five home ownership centers in New York -- including one in Hauppauge -- where struggling homeowners can get face-to-face assistance. The bank has prevented 11 foreclosures for every one in the state since 2009, he said.

"Chase is doing everything we can to help borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments," Fusco said.