Christine Hrycenko stood outside her home on Trenton Street on Sunday afternoon, surrounded by friends and supporters carrying signs and chanting rallying cries.
This was because, she said, the brown-shingled bungalow has been her home for the past 13 years. And no bank, no investor and no methods of financial intimidation were going to take that away from her easily.
"I'm here until the judge tells me to get out," Hrycenko said.
Hrycenko was joined by about two dozen supporters and members of the nonprofit City Life foundation, rallying against banks and their foreclosure tactics and showing support for those who have faced foreclosure and eviction.
Many shared their stories Sunday, detailing a puzzling system in which banks often begin foreclosure processes even when homeowners are willing to pay.
That was the case with Hrycenko, who said her problems began when she started negotiating for a loan modification with her bank five years ago.
She was in the process of submitting a new application for the modification, she said, when she learned her house had been auctioned off.
It was truly befuddling for Hrycenko, who said she was always willing to pay what the banks asked for.
"For a lot of people, it isn't because they don't want to pay," she said. "It's because the banks don't want to work with you. It's their way or your highway."
Many banks seem more interested in selling and flipping homes, she said.
Joining Hrycenko and the crowd Sunday was City Councilor Anne Beauregard and state Rep. Michelle DuBois, who said they were both in support of fixing the foreclosure problems in Brockton.
Several more stories were shared over the afternoon, like Elenice Umana's.
Umana, who has lived at her home on Thorny Lea Terrace for 17 years, said she missed one payment on her mortgage, then reached out to her bank to see how she should make it up.
They advised her to make two payments sometime in the future. A few months later, she said, they filed for foreclosure, citing missed payments.
Umana said she's paid thousands of dollars in legal fees fighting her bank.
Leading Sunday's rally was City Wide, a Boston-based nonprofit seeking to help those facing foreclosure. Community organizer Ronel Remy spoke during the rally, telling those battling the banks that they weren't alone.
As supporters carried signs that read "Equity Not Eviction," Remy led chants of "What do we do when the banks attack? We stand up, we fight back."
Beauregard, the Ward 5 councilor, said she plans to bring Remy to speak to the City Council in March in hopes of addressing Brockton's foreclosure issue, which she called one of the worst in the state.
"We want to empower individuals, and educate them about the resources they do have," Beauregard said. "And making them realize they are not alone — that's half the battle right there."
