A Baltimore woman fighting to keep her home has set up a mini-residence outside the state capital and is on a hunger strike in hopes of bringing more attention to the effects that foreclosure has on people.

Lauren Rymer, of Baltimore, said she’s watched how the economy and other issues have forced people out of their homes.

She started a hunger strike against foreclosure and said she’s prepared to remain at the corner of Maryland Avenue and State Circle — right across the street from the state house in Annapolis — for as long as needed.

“I feel like I’m really representing a lot of people out here,” she said.

Rymer works for a nonprofit agency. She said she bought her two-bedroom southeast Baltimore home with an interest-only loan and still owes more than $200,000 on the mortgage.

She claimed she doesn’t live beyond her means and sought help after the property taxes on her home went up 55 percent in the past couple of years.

The taxes are paid with her mortgage bill. Rymer said when it jumped from an affordable $1,500 a month to $2,100 a month, she couldn’t keep up.

She said she didn’t realize she could have challenged the property tax assessment until it was too late.

“I just didn’t understand why — at this time when times are so rough and the governor called three weeks before for (federal) banks to stop moving forward with foreclosures on their clients — the state government was moving forward with a foreclosure on mine without trying every possible channel to help me stay in my home,” she said.

Rymer said her mortgage had been bundled and sold several times, finally ending up in the hands of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. In less than 45 days, she could lose the house she’s owned for four years.

The foreclosure notice was taped to her front door on Election Day, she said. Rymer said she wants a few minutes with Gov. Martin O’Malley to tell him it’s not just about the amount of foreclosures.

“Everyone that’s being affected is a human being … are people that want to have a home, and that’s why they bought homes,” she said.

The MDHCD told 11 News that it can’t discuss a homeowner’s file but it will always work with homeowners to explore every viable financial option. The agency said it has set up a meeting with Rymer about her problem.

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(Source: WBALTV)