Right to the City

The group has protested at the Buckhead headquarters of Fannie Mae on other occasions.

By Kiri Walton. Published in the Buckhead Patch on March 14, 2013.

Supporters of Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and other allies protested at Fannie Mae in Buckhead on Wednesday afternoon in an effort to stop the eviction of Desert Storm veteran Mark Harris.

The group of about 50 protestors set up a makeshift mock house as part of the demonstration, while holding up signs on the sidewalk in front of Buckhead's Atlanta Plaza, home of Fannie Mae's regional headquarters.

According to Occupy Our Homes Organizer Shab Bashiri, the mock house was used to "represent the millions of homes Fannie Mae has foreclosed and left empty in our Country. We need solutions, not evictions and foreclosures.”

During the protest, which last from 1 to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, supporters delivered a petition of 9,000 signatures from people across the country who want Harris to be able to remain in his home of 17 years.

This action, one of 11 around the country, is part of the launch for the Homes For All campaign uniting homeowners, renters, public housing residents and those who are homeless to fight for affordable and secure homes.

Neighborhood Council to vote on supporting or opposing project later this month.

By Gloria Angelina Castillo, EGP Staff Writer. Originally published by EGP News.

The fight over a proposed Boyle Heights area development is heating up again, with opponents to the project stepping up their protest with a rally yesterday where they demanded rental units be “for people, not for profit.”

The proposed redevelopment of the Wyvernwood Garden Apartment community could be up for final approval by the city later this year.

Backers of the project, which includes a number of community groups and local unions, see the proposed development as a way to bring needed jobs and improved housing stock to the working class neighborhood located just east of Downtown Los Angeles.

Residents and Community members for the preservation of the privately-owned apartment community gathered for a rally in February. (Photo courtesy of Paulo Freire Lopez)

Opponents see the “New Wyvernwood” as the tearing down of a community for increased profits and as adding more density in an already dense area.

The spacious green lawns of the residential community have become a battlefield of sorts, with supporters and detractors each holding rallies there to draw attention to their respective positions.

Lea esta nota EN ESPAÑOL: Actividades en Wyvernwood Aumentan, En Contra y A Favor del Proyecto de Reurbanización

On Wednesday, it was the opponents attempting to gather support for their efforts to block the project that would dramatically alter the privately owned 70-acre community by more than doubling the number of housing units and the construction of high-rise buildings. They claim approval of the redevelopment would result in the loss of affordable housing in an area where much of the population is low-income.

Wednesday’s “Take Back Wyvernwood” rally was just one of several planned protests being orchestrated by the Frente de Apoyo al Comite de la Esperanza (FACE a coalition of community-based organizations supporting the Comité de la Esperanza (Committee of Hope), which has been leading the opposition to the project.

An online petition to “Save Wyvernwood” — which opponents have started comparing to the forced evictions at Chavez Ravine in the 1950s to make room for the construction of Dodger Stadium — is another of the tools being used to gather opposition to the demolition of what is often referred to by supporters as a small village located within a larger city.

Wednesday’s rally was also in support of the national  “Homes For All” campaign being promoted by the Right to the City Alliance (RTTC), a coalition of 45 organizations and headquartered in New York, according to El Comité President Leonardo Lopez and spokesman Roberto Mojica. The campaign seeks to draw attention to the housing crisis being faced by low- and extremely low-income people of color in urban and suburban settings and, according to the groups website, call for the creation of one million new affordable and public housing units that are free them from the “grips of corporate and market-driven interests.”

Mojica told EGP that FACE is ramping up its efforts to inform the community about what they claim are the project’s drawbacks, such as the loss of rent-controlled units.

Wyvernwood was designed to foster a sense of community and open spaces where children can play, Lopez told EGP. It’s worth fighting for, he said.

Redevelopment would bring gentrification and displace low-income working class Latino families, some who have lived at Wyvernwood for generations, opponents claim.

Fifteen Group’s plan calls for a mixed-use community, demolishing several buildings and increasing the number of apartments from 1,187 to 4,400 rental units and condominiums in several new structures as tall as 18 to 24 stories high.

According to East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC) community organizer Jose Fernandez, the Post-World War II community should be preserved and apartments units fully renovated.

“The property owner claims the apartments are so worn down that the only solution is to demolish them and start over again, but since they’ve been owners, maintenance has not been at adequate standards—that’s why there’s so many issues with the buildings,” Fernandez said.

However, opposition to the project is far from universal.

One group that may not support efforts to block the development is the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council, which includes a cross section of the area’s stakeholders. In January, the council voted to support  “The New Wyvernwood,” but the vote and other decisions made at the meeting were nullified over procedural errors related to a change in meeting location.

According to BHNC President Edward Padilla, when the council found it had been locked out of its regular meeting place at the Boyle Heights Senior Center, they moved the meeting to the nearby Nichiren Shu Buddhist Temple, which they did not know was a violation of the requirement that meeting location changes be posted at least 24-hours in advance. The city attorney recommended that all decisions made at the meeting be vacated, Padilla explained.

Mojica and Lopez contend, however, that the city attorney’s decision was the result of the grievance they filed which alleged only supporters of Fifteen Group were invited to the meeting where the developer would present the project. They said the council did not even place a notice on the door telling people where they had moved the meeting to, and they only stumbled upon the meeting by asking people on the street if they knew where the large group of people, whose cars were parked in the lot, had headed.

A former member of the BHNC, Lopez said the issue is too important to be taken lightly. He emphasized that all of Boyle Heights could be impacted by the increased density and poorer air quality during the construction that could last a decade.

The BHNC recommendation is intended to inform the Los Angeles City Council about the community’s support or opposition the project.

There are many supporters of The New Wyvernwood, including current BHNC members Terry Marquez and Margarita Amador, as well as some new and long-time Wyvernwood residents who want modern facilities and amenities the market-rate apartments don’t currently offer.

Other supporters including Homeboy Industries, LA County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo, and others who support Fifteen Group’s Boyle Heights Jobs Collaborative that would prioritize the hiring of people from the local community.

As many as 10,000 construction-related jobs and another 3,000 non-construction jobs are expected to be generated by the 10-year, $2 billion redevelopment, according to Fifteen Group.

In addition to construction jobs, the project will bring modern housing, new green spaces, new retail options and public safety enhancements, Fifteen Group Principal Steven Fink previously told EGP.

Current residents in good standing will be able to move into a new apartment at the same rent, and the Resident Retention Plans will be legally binding and formalized in the project agreement with the City of Los Angeles, according to Fink.

Despite those assertions, however, opponents to the project are skeptical.

The City Planning Commission is tentatively scheduled to take up the project at its May 9 meeting.

Activists Call for Mortgage Relief, Affordable Housing from Chris Lovett on Vimeo.

by Chris Lovett at Boston Neighborhood Network News

As part of a campaign, activists in Boston demonstrate for more affordable housing and greater access to options for helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. Report for BNN News. Aired March 14, 2013.

Originally published by Sampan.

BOSTON, MA – On Wednesday, March 13, over 150 residents and activists form Chelsea Collaborative, City Life/Vida Urbana, Chinese Progressive Association, Lynn United for Change, UNITE HERE Local 26 and other local groups joined the national Right to the City Alliance in launching the Homes for All Campaign in 11 cities across the country to draw attention to the nationwide housing crisis.

Melonie Griffiths of City Life/Vida Urbana addresses crowd. Image courtesy of Martinez.E.

The group marched from State Street T station to Fannie Mae’s Boston office at 265 Franklin Street to demand principal correction on 3 million underwater homes. Homeowners affected by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shared their stories and demanded that as public institutions Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac work with those affected by foreclosure to keep families in the homes. Supporters left messages via chalk on the sidewalk of the Fannie Mae offices. From Fannie Mae, group marched to Bank of America’s offices at 100 Federal Street to highlight their role in the foreclosure crisis and demand the bank negotiate with homeowners. The march ended in Chinatown in front of 19-25 Harrison Avenue, where tenants were forced out of their homes over a year ago, because conditions in the building were found so unsafe. Speakers highlighted the need for safe affordable housing and speak to how they’ve been affected by the housing crisis.

Right to the City Boston Homes for All protest included chalk messages on sidewalks. Image courtesy of Martinez.E.

Earlier that day, Ramon Suero and members of City Life Vida Urbana, UNITE HERE Local 26, Chelsea Collaborative and Lynn United for Change met with Alfred Pollard, General Counsel for FHFA. Ramon along with Fannie/Freddie Freedom fighters address him directly and push back on policy decisions that are not working. Mr. Pollard met with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office after this meeting.

“I have three young children and a wife. When I lost my job, and my wife had to care for her ill parent, we got behind on our mortgage,” says Ramon Suero of City Life Vida Urbana and UNITE HERE Local 26. “Freddie Mac foreclosed on my home, but I was able to get financing to buy back the home at its current value. Freddie Mac wouldn’t negotiate with me. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are government-run lenders and should be working with people to keep them in their homes.”

“Part of Fannie Mae’s mission is to help families,” says Moses Ehibabhi of Lynn United for Change in front of Fannie Mae’s office. “Instead they are breaking up families and communities and boarding up houses… rather than letting foreclosed homeowners buy their homes back.”

According to the National Consumer Law Project’s “At a Crossroads Report,” up to 10 million underwater homeowners will lose their home to foreclosure over the next four years. In addition, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, reports that 20 million households are paying more than 30% of their income to rent. More than half of them are paying more than 50% of their income to rent.

“I moved into my apartment 12 years ago and rented from the owner who lived upstairs. In March of 2010 the home was foreclosed by Fannie Mae and basically abandoned,” says Rafael Abarca of Chelsea Collaborative. “After fighting Fannie Mae in court and forcing them to do repairs, an investor bought our apartment in November. The very next month, he asked for a rent increase of $300 even though he had not done any repairs AND he had told us that he would only increase the rent ‘the bare minimum.’ We are seeing these types of increases across Chelsea and more Latino families having to move out of the City because they cannot find an apartment.”

Residents call upon President Obama and local officials to preserve and expand affordable, public, and community controlled housing. They say they want to continue to reclaim, remain in, and rebuild their cities to stabilize working class neighborhoods and communities of color.

“We need to demand increased federal investment in public and affordable housing and establish zoning mechanisms that stabilize the community,” says Mark Liu of the Chinese Progressive Association. “We want to reclaim land for our communities. Every parcel of public land must be used community benefit, such as permanently affordable housing, urban gardens, or land lease fees to the community. We want to rebuild. Use City (eminent domain) powers and linkage funds to help non-profits purchase foreclosed and abandoned properties and convert them into permanently affordable housing. For a building like 19-25 Harrison, a rooming house that has been occupied since tenants were evacuated a year ago, we call on the City to work with residents and community members to assure that this building remains affordable and that this landlord is held accountable.”

The action was in coordination with 10 cities nationwide to kick off the Homes for All Campaign, including Atlanta, Oakland, Springfield, Seattle, Miami, New York, Providence, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Santa Fe, culminating in a Washington DC launch on March 18th in conjunction with the National Low Income Housing Coalition. More information: http://www.homesforall.org.

This interview aired on WBAI's "Talk Back" radio, March 13, 2013

Originally posted in Primermomento.com

BOSTON, Massachusetts.- Este miércoles, 13 de marzo, la Colaborativa de Chelsea, City Life / Vida Urbana, Asociación China Progresista, y otros grupos locales se unirán a Derecho a la Ciudad (Right to the City) en el lanzamiento de la campaña Hogares para Todos en 11 ciudades para llamar la atención sobre la crisis de la vivienda en todo el país, según un reporte hecho llegar a la redacción de nuestro portal digital PrimerMomento.com.

Los grupos se reunirán en la esquina de la Calle Court y la Calle Congreso a las 4 pm y marcharán a la oficina de Fannie Mae en el número 265 de Franklin Street a las 4:15 pm donde van a pedir que reduzcan el valor principal de las propiedades para las 3 millones de hogares “bajo el agua” a través de altavoces y una acción creativa. Entonces el grupo va a marchar a Bank of America en la oficina número 100 de Federal Street para resaltar su papel en la crisis hipotecaria.

Luego, la marcha sigue al 19-25 Harrison Avenue a las 5pm, donde los inquilinos se vieron obligados a abandonar sus hogares durante un año, ya que las condiciones del edificio eran inseguros. Los oradores expresarán la necesidad de vivienda asequible, y hablarán acerca de la forma en que se ven afectados por la crisis inmobiliaria. El evento se termina con una caída de bandera al lado de Harrison edificio 19-25 Avenue.

“Tengo tres hijos y una esposa. Cuando perdí mi trabajo, y mi esposa tuvo que cuidar de su padre enfermo, nos atrasamos en los pagos de nuestra hipoteca”, dijo Ramón Suero. “Freddie Mac ejecutó la hipoteca de mi casa, pero yo fui capaz de obtener financiación para comprar de nuevo la casa a su valor actual. Freddie Mac no negociaría conmigo. Freddie Mac y Fannie Mae son administrados por el Gobierno y los prestamistas deben trabajar con la gente para mantenerlos en sus hogares. Sólo quiero una oportunidad para comprar mi casa de nuevo, y sé que hay millones de otras personas en la misma situación”.

Según el proyecto de Ley Nacional del Consumidor, “en un informe Crossroads”, hasta 10 millones de propietarios de viviendas “bajo el agua” van a perder sus casas por una ejecución hipotecaria durante los próximos cuatro años. Además, la Coalición Nacional de Viviendas de Bajos Ingresos, reporta que 20 millones de hogares están pagando más del 30% de sus ingresos en alquiler. Más de la mitad de ellos están pagando más del 50% de sus ingresos en alquiler. Los residentes llaman al presidente Obama y los funcionarios locales para preservar y expandir viviendas asequibles. Ellos dicen que quieren seguir para reclamar, permanecer, y reconstruir sus ciudades para estabilizar barrios obreros y las comunidades de color.

La campaña se inicia mañana en Atlanta, Oakland, Springfield, Seattle, Miami, Nueva York, Providence, San Luis, Los Ángeles y Santa Fe, y va a terminar con el lanzamiento conjunto con la Coalición Nacional de Viviendas de Bajos Ingresos en Washington, el 18 de marzo. Hogares para Todos pide la intervención directa de la comunidad y una fuerte participación del Gobierno, en particular a nivel federal, para crear viviendas asequibles y seguras, y garantizar que los gobiernos locales tengan los recursos para hacer frente a este problema.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A coalition of housing advocates in Springfield will host a city-wide tour to call attention to the housing crisis in the city.

The tour is part of a national campaign to be launched Wednesday in at least a dozen cities around the country. The campaign, called "Homes For All: Defend, Reclaim, Rebuild Our Communities," seeks to focus attention on the housing crisis.

Springfield-area residents who have been directly affected by evictions, homelessness, public housing destruction and foreclosure will lead elected officials and community leaders on the tour. Stops will include vacant, foreclosed property, city neighborhoods that have been hard hit by foreclosures, a homeless shelter and tenant-owned cooperative housing.

The campaign will call on the federal government to invest new resources to created affordable, accessible and safe homes.

Originally published on MassLive.com

WE HAVE A RIGHT TO RECLAIM, REMAIN IN AND REBUILD THE COMMUNITIES WE CALL HOME! WE REFUSE TO BE DISPLACED!

You hear the story too many times. The Big Bank wants the single mom and her children out on the street to offer her home to a more profitable alternative. These banks don't care that this mom has been in her home for over 20 years, raised her children there- and paid way more on her home than it was worth. There is no forgiveness or understanding when she loses her job and is looking for another one. All the Big Bank cares about is kicking her out and selling her home to an investor.

In the past, there were fires in the cities, people saw their apartment buildings, where they held and grew their life stories, burn down right before their eyes. In a few weeks, a new condo high rise would come to town along with businesses catering to newer residents. The neighborhoods changed and people were forced to move, if they didn't become homeless. Now, people who bought their homes are thrown out if they cannot make their mortgage payments, renters are either the new hot deal on the housing market or dealing with rising rents and costs and buildings in disrepair. With no real plan to preserve and build public housing, the idea of housing as a human right is under threat of demolition. As vacancies amount in cities, homeless families look on, wondering why there are so many homes without people in them.

This is why the Right to the City Alliance and 22 member organizations are launching the Homes for All Campaign. We want to draw attention to the housing crisis facing urban and suburban extremely low and low-income people of color. We want a to have a holistic vision for affirming housing as a human right. Through this campaign, we are challenging the absurd assumptions that the housing crisis is over and that the market holds all (if any) of the solutions to our problems. We believe our government has a responsibility to create and strengthen laws and programs that will allow our communities to flourish.

The recent and ongoing financial crisis has revealed millions of residents of the United States experience housing insecurity, many of them for years at a time. Yet, housing policy in recent decades, whether implemented by government, the corporate sector, or some combination of the two, has contributed to a loss of affordable housing and has often displaced the members of our communities in the name of de-concentrating poverty. At the same time, corporations have shifted enormous amounts of investment into our cities, but their interest in property speculation and maximizing quarterly profits undermines our interest in long-term neighborhood stability.

And when the crisis hit, they got bailed out and we got left out.

With the latest wave of REO (Real Estate Owned) to rental properties being snatched up as the newest gambling scheme for hedge funds and private enterprise, we are on the cusp of what could become the creation of yet another housing bubble. Astronomical rents and displacement are already on the rise and this unbridled "game" threatens to further weaken an already fragile economy and devastate the hope for stable and sustainable communities now or in the future.

We want policies that allow us to strengthen the bonds we build with each other in our communities, and which help us to survive in the face of resource scarcity, economic hardship, environmental degradation, and political marginalization. To this end, we call for an end to speculation driven development in our cities that produces housing our communities can't afford.

We assert our right to stay in the communities we have built and refuse to be displaced!

Article on Urban Congresses in Organizing Upgrade

In Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution, David Harvey explains that the right to the city is far more than access. Harvey writes, "It is a right to change and reinvent the city more after our hearts' desire. It is, moreover, a collective rather than an individual right, since reinventing the city inevitably depends on the exercise of a collective power over the process of urbanization. The freedom to make and remake ourselves and our cities is... one of the most precious yet most neglected of our human rights. How best then to exercise that right?"

Right to the City Alliance's (RTC) Urban Congress Model is an attempt to answer that question. RTC developed this model as a means to create intersections amongst diverse sectors in the city, foster relationships within regions and mobilize organizations in our network. Our groups support each other in addressing their communities' respective city struggles through sharing strategies and effective tools for organizing. Some examples include: the organizing of street vendors into worker's cooperatives in Los Angeles, through the East LA Community Housing Corporation and Esperanza Community Housing and the "sword/shield model" for eviction defense (to be explained later) developed by Boston's City Life/Vida Urbana. The Urban Congress consists of panel presentations, organizational model shares (where organizations provide tools and techniques for building successful local campaigns), and direct actions based on regional issues. The actions unite diverse constituencies and bases. Homeowners demanding new rates on their mortgages have an opportunity to intersect with tenants in foreclosed buildings seeking repairs and local groups tackling large scale municipal development and displacement plans, Undocumented workers come together with prison rights' advocates to call for greater inclusion in civic engagement and educate each other about the links between displacement and rising incarceration and deportation rates.

In 2011, we held our first successful member Congress in Boston; it yielded a funded regional organizer, a civic engagement table and greater unity amongst the work of Boston organizations. Right to the City worked with City Life/ Vida Urbana to support their local eviction blockades and promote their Sword and Shield Model. This was done through holding workshops for Right to the City Alliance member groups and other housing groups fighting displacement throughout the country. The Sword/Shield Model is an organizing methodology that involves a paired legal defense strategy (the sword) with direct action work (the shield). This collaborative model serves to teach tenants and homeowners how to conduct effective eviction blockades.

Last year, 2012, Right to the City Alliance organized three Congresses. In Charlotte, North Carolina, we brought community groups and Occupy activists together to protest Bank of America at their annual shareholders' meeting, as part of the 99 Power Coalition. Using acts of civil disobedience as well as political theatre, we created a boxing ring in the streets with the characters of Ms. 99 going head to head with the CEO of Bank of America, Brian "Big Banks" Moynihan, which generated increased awareness to the role of Bank of America in the foreclosure crisis.

In New Orleans, Right to the City tackled the infamous Louisiana justice system, which has criminalized generations of poor brown and black people. Organizing groups included: Safe Streets/Strong Communities, Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children, Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, VOTE, New Orleans Workers Center, STAND, Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition, and the Greater New Orleans Organizers' Roundtable. Through our actions in Louisiana, Right to the City helped unite immigrant workers being detained for their political involvement in advocating for better working conditions (the southern 32), and prison advocates responding to the bloated budget of the local prison system.

In the last Congress in LA, we returned to our roots of fighting gentrification and organized an action on the Los Angeles Metro concerning development plans that would displace hundreds of LA residents. In addition, we held an action in the Pasadena central headquarters of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the federally funded mortgage lenders who are considered major instigators of the foreclosure crisis. This action was significant in uniting tenants and homeowners, many of whom were Black and Latina women. While homeowners were at threat of losing their property, tenants suffered in deteriorating conditions losing access to heat, hot water and other services when landlords could not keep up with mortgage payments.

In New York, while not officially holding an Urban Congress, we worked with the Brecht Forum, Center for Place, Culture and Politics and the Urban Ecologies program at Parsons on a congress-like model called Urban Uprising. The event was a more academic conference that created a reflective space where we could use our hearts to re-imagine and rebuild the kind of New York city we desire.