VIDEO: Squatters Invited To The East Side 5-18-10

VIDEO: Homeless Families Eying Foreclosed Properties 5-17-10

UPDATED Wednesday, May 19, 2010 --- 7:30 a.m.

From NBC15's news partner, WIBA NewsTalk 1310:

The group of squatters who illegally entered and cleaned a foreclosed property on Turbot Drive on Monday are out.

Madison Police, with the cooperation of the owner of the duplex, posted a no-trespassing warning just hours after the group went in.

The locks on the home, owned by Freddie Mac, were changed and police will continue to monitor it.

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UPDATE Posted Tuesday May 17, 2010 -- 5:16pm
By Zac Schultz

Madison: It only takes a short walk for Dace Zeps to point out all the homes for sale in her neighborhood. "One, two, three right here."

Dace has been President of the Worthington Park Neighborhood Association for three years. In that time she's seen a lot of homes go on the market in this troubled neighborhood. "I don't know if they've been foreclosed on or what. Empty is empty and that doesn't do my neighborhood any good."

That's why she showed up at a rally Monday for the group Take Back The Land, encouraging the group to focus efforts in her neighborhood. "I got this email from Z! about Take Back the Land campaign. Yeah, I got empty houses in my neighborhood."

Take Back The Land and Dace feel the big banks who received bailout money should give foreclosed homes to local non-profits. "This whole housing stock could be part of a larger shelter system to get families into homes."

But which homes to target is a big question. The first home Take Back The Land targeted had not gone to auction and the owner asked police to kick out the squatter.

Monday's house is bank-owned but for sale, and the Realtor says people have made offers.

It's easy to mistake which homes are foreclosed and which are not. During our walk, one landlord asked why we were near a home Dace thought was empty. "I'm the president of the neighborhood. I'm just worrying about empty houses," she said.

But Jack Fessler says the rental unit is just being remodeled. "You shouldn't be trying to take over somebody elses property, even if it is a bank or a private owner, you shouldn't go in there and squat."

Dace says she wants the foreclosed homes to be bought, but says it wouldn't hurt if homeless families lived their during the process.

She says liability and damages are covered by Take Back The Land. "They sign a contract, they have to keep the house, they have to fix the house."

Fessler says he wouldn't even look at a home with squatters inside. "If somebody was living there I wouldn't even walk in. I would just leave it, go to another place. There's plenty of stuff on the market."

Dace is unconcerned with how a potential buyer could recover damages from homeless squatters if they damaged the property. "That would be dealt with in another venue. You wouldn't be... Again, another moot question."

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UPDATE Posted Monday May 17, 2010 -- 5:13pm
By Zac Schultz

Madison: Chanting all the way, the group Take Back the Land led the media and police on a parade to the next home they plan to occupy, this time on Turbot Drive on the south side.

Their mission is to put homeless families into foreclosed properties, focusing on homes owned by large banks that took federal bailout money.

"We are here to ask the Madison Police Department and the Dane County Sheriff's Office to protect families instead of corporate, bailed-out banks," says Monica Adams.

Take Back the Land and Operation Welcome Home gained attention last week when they announced they had moved a woman and her two kids into a duplex on the southwest side.

But that home was not foreclosed yet, and the owner asked police to evict them.

The duplex on Turbot Drive was foreclosed on last October and is owned by Freddie Mac. "This is not Fannie May's house, this is not Freddie Mac's house. This is public housing and should be used as public housing," says Max Rameau, a member of the national Take Back the Land movement.

Robert McGee used to live on the left side of the duplex. He was forced to move out last July. "It was in nice, beautiful shape. The house went up into foreclosure last year, which forced us to go to another place. Now the house is being vandalized, real squatters are squatting in there, vandalizing the house."

The group walked in through a broken back door and are now cleaning it up, but they won't say for whom. "We at this point, have families that are interested in finding housing," says Cynthia Lin, with Freedom Inc., a group working with Take Back the Land. "We don't have anybody that's specifically looking for this one right now."

Madison Police were on hand, but only to observe. They know the group members are there illegally, but cannot do anything unless the owner complains.

Of course, Take Back the Land won't call a press conference every time they illegally move a family into an empty home, and one group member says it's probably already happened elsewhere in Madison.

"That's something that we're working on but we're not going to comment on that at this moment," says Lin.

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Posted Monday, May 17, 2010 --- 4:30 p.m.

More homeless families will be moving into foreclosed properties in Madison.

The groups "Take Back The Land" and "Operation Welcome Home" grabbed attention last week when they held a press conference to say a woman and her kids were squatting in a foreclosed home. (Click on the link below in the "RELATED LINKS" section to view previous story).

Today, they held another press conference to announce they were cleaning up a duplex on Madison's south side on Turbot Drive.

The rental has been foreclosed and empty for more than a year, but the group "Take Back The Land" walked in through a broken back door and now they're looking to fix it up for a couple of homeless families.

The building is owned by Freddie Mac, and the group says because Freddie Mac took bailout money they should turn the property over to a local non-profit to rent out to homeless families.

Max Rameau, Take Back The Land, says: "This is not Fannie Mae's house, this is not Freddie Mac's house. This is public housing and should be used as public housing."

This is now the second property where these groups have held press conferences to announce their actions, but one movement leader told NBC15's Zac Schultz, this is just to grab attention and get a community discussion going.

He says another part of their plan is to quietly move families into foreclosed homes and let them blend in with the neighborhood. He also says this has likely happened in Madison, and more will occur in the future.