Thursday, October 8, 2009
PPEHRC disrupts US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Event in Washington DC in conjuction with World Zero Evictions Days 2009
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On the occasion of the UN’s World Habitat Day, poor people in the US are losing their homes at a record pace due to predatory lending and speculation and massive demolition of low cost housing, causing massive homelessness, unjust evictions and displacement across the nation.
“We are losing our homes to predatory lenders and landlords. We have driven all the way from Minneapolis, Mississippi and Pennsylvania to tell President Obama and Congress to restore our homes and stand up for our Right to Housing,” says Rosemary Williams of the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC). “We demand Zero Evictions and a moratorium on foreclosures to save people’s homes.”
“It is hypocritical for the US to host UN World Habitat Day when it is the only major nation that has not ratified the Right to Housing Treaty,” states John Parvensky, President of the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH). “With millions of Americans experiencing homelessness each year, it is past time for action to ensure adequate housing for all.” Signed by President Carter in 1978 but never ratified by the US Senate, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which includes the Right to Housing, has been ratified by 159 nations, including the European Union and the G8 nations.
“In Daytona, my family and neighbors face bankruptcy, foreclosure and homelessness within 30 days, while our landlord could walk away scot free with millions of dollars stolen from the tenants and other taxpayers,” says Erica Sipp, Vice President/South of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants (NAHT). “We call on HUD and Congress to support legislation and ratify the Treaty to Save Our Homes.” So far, the Obama Administration has not supported a Right of First Purchase sought by NAHT on Capitol Hill to stop the steady loss of affordable housing. More than 400,000 apartments have been lost due to owner or HUD decisions since 1996.
Headquartered in Philadelphia, PPEHRC is a nationwide movement of poor people with 114 chapters that has fought for the rights of homeless people, the poor and people of color in cities across the nation, including “Bushville” encampments at national party conventions in 2004 and 2008 (www.economichumanrights.org.) . NAHT is the only national tenant union in the US, representing 1.7 million lower income families who live in privately-owned, HUD subsidized apartments (www.saveourhomes.org). NCH is the leading advocacy organization for the 3.5 million Americans who are homeless each year (www.nationalhomeless.org)
On Monday, groups were joined by the General Secretary of the Habitat International Coalition (HIC), the leading global housing rights coalition, headquartered in Santiago, Chile, which has issued a global call for International Housing Rights Days of Action to coincide with the UN event. (See www.hic-net.org).
“We are losing our homes to predatory lenders and landlords. We have driven all the way from Minneapolis, Mississippi and Pennsylvania to tell President Obama and Congress to restore our homes and stand up for our Right to Housing,” says Rosemary Williams of the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC). “We demand Zero Evictions and a moratorium on foreclosures to save people’s homes.”
“It is hypocritical for the US to host UN World Habitat Day when it is the only major nation that has not ratified the Right to Housing Treaty,” states John Parvensky, President of the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH). “With millions of Americans experiencing homelessness each year, it is past time for action to ensure adequate housing for all.” Signed by President Carter in 1978 but never ratified by the US Senate, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which includes the Right to Housing, has been ratified by 159 nations, including the European Union and the G8 nations.
“In Daytona, my family and neighbors face bankruptcy, foreclosure and homelessness within 30 days, while our landlord could walk away scot free with millions of dollars stolen from the tenants and other taxpayers,” says Erica Sipp, Vice President/South of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants (NAHT). “We call on HUD and Congress to support legislation and ratify the Treaty to Save Our Homes.” So far, the Obama Administration has not supported a Right of First Purchase sought by NAHT on Capitol Hill to stop the steady loss of affordable housing. More than 400,000 apartments have been lost due to owner or HUD decisions since 1996.
Headquartered in Philadelphia, PPEHRC is a nationwide movement of poor people with 114 chapters that has fought for the rights of homeless people, the poor and people of color in cities across the nation, including “Bushville” encampments at national party conventions in 2004 and 2008 (www.economichumanrights.org.) . NAHT is the only national tenant union in the US, representing 1.7 million lower income families who live in privately-owned, HUD subsidized apartments (www.saveourhomes.org). NCH is the leading advocacy organization for the 3.5 million Americans who are homeless each year (www.nationalhomeless.org)
On Monday, groups were joined by the General Secretary of the Habitat International Coalition (HIC), the leading global housing rights coalition, headquartered in Santiago, Chile, which has issued a global call for International Housing Rights Days of Action to coincide with the UN event. (See www.hic-net.org).
Labels: International Alliance of Inhabitants, World Zero Evictions Days 2009
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