Homeowners fight evictions by pension board

Thirty homeowners and their supporters packed the meeting of the Detroit Police and Firefighters Pension Board on Nov. 15 to protest the Board’s attempts to foreclose and evict them from their homes. The Pension Board had lent $10 million to a fraudulent company, Paramount Land Holdings, in 2009. Paramount bought up foreclosed homes and sold these homes to buyers, assuring them that the company had paid off back taxes and had clear title to the properties. But Paramount had never recorded the properties and taxes were not paid. Paramount went bankrupt. One of its officers is under arrest; the other committed suicide. Now the Pension Board is going after the homeowners, the victims of Paramount’s swindle. Protesting homeowners are demanding that the Pension Board negotiate with them over the issues of back taxes, title and the thousands of dollars the homeowners invested in restoring the houses they purchased. Above, homeowner Kim Pierce stands outside the Pension Board before the meeting.