An auction of foreclosed homes in New York City was picketed by a group of two dozen protesters on Sunday. The auction of more than 375 foreclosed homes was put on by ""Real Estate Disposition Corp."":http://www.ushomeauction.com/ (REDC), and was only the second event the company has held in the Big Apple.
The demonstrators, carrying signs that read ""Banks get bailed out, people get thrown out,"" said their protests were not aimed at the nearly 1,400 potential home buyers stepping past them through the auction doors, but at the banks who are being funneled taxpayer money for their negligent lending practices.
Larry Holmes, a spokesman for the ""Bail Out the People Movement"":http://www.bailoutpeople.org, which organized the auction protest, told _""Reuters"":http://www.reuters.com_, ""We're not angry at the people who are looking for a cheaper home,"" but at the banks and the real estate companies who are ""making money off other people's misery.""
A _""New York Times"":http://www.nytimes.com_ report quoted one protester's sign as saying, ""REDC made $3 billion last year by auctioning off working people’s homes. Bail out the people — not the corporate predators.""
But REDC spokesman Rick Weinberg told the _""Associated Press"":http://www.ap.org_ that auctions help stimulate the economy by putting people in vacant houses. ""Their problem is with the foreclosure crisis in general,"" Weinberg said. ""We are part of the solution, not the problem.""
According to _Reuters_, the Bail Out the People Movement claims that foreclosures taking place are in violation of the federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) passed by the Bush Administration last summer. The reformist organization, which plans to stage another demonstration on Wall Street April 3rd, is calling for Washington to impose a nationwide moratorium on all foreclosures and evictions.