Housing rights

Nearly 500 Tenants Left Apartment Complex Before Eviction Ruled Illegal

July 7, 2024 Mark Kreidler, Scheer Post. Resist! California, Eviction, Housing, Housing rights, Los Angeles

Vindication arrived too late for Karen Hunt. From the day she heard a knock on her door in May 2023 at the Barrington Plaza in West Los Angeles, Hunt knew something was not right. The two men outside her apartment wouldn’t tell her who they were, not even after they handed over the eviction notice. “Early morning, and they just continued to stand there repeatedly knocking, saying, ‘We have to talk to you and give this to you in person,’” Hunt said. “We’d heard rumblings about what was going on. I finally just opened the door, took the envelope and shut the door on them.”

National Eviction Ban Ends July 31 – What To Do If You’re At Risk

July 28, 2021 Annie Nova, CNBC. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Housing, Housing rights

More than $45 billion in rental assistance has been allocated by Congress in the last two major stimulus packages, and you could receive up to 18 months of help, including a mix of payments for back and future rent. To be eligible for the funding, at least one member of your household has to qualify for unemployment benefits or attest in writing that they’ve lost income or incurred significant expenses due to the pandemic. You’ll also need to demonstrate a risk of homelessness, which may include a past-due rent or utility notice. In addition, your income level for 2020 can’t exceed 80% of your area’s median income, though states have been directed to prioritize applicants who fall at 50% or lower, as well as those who’ve been out of work for 90 days or longer.

Housing Should Not Be A Luxury

July 23, 2021 Katharina Hofmann De Moura, Consortium News. Create! Europe, Germany, Housing rights, Renter Rights

Unfortunately, access to private space has become increasingly unequal in Europe. This discrepancy has been exacerbated by the pandemic. A lockdown spent on a terrace or in the garden is not the same as one confined in an apartment block. Ever since the end of World War II, sufficient housing supply has been a high priority in the modern market economies of Europe. But after several decades of neoliberalism and a decade of strict austerity, Europe now faces the challenge of how to tackle today’s housing inequality.

Advocates Rally Against NYC’s Moving Homeless From Hotels To Shelters

July 11, 2021 Dave Carlin, CBS New York. Resist! Homeless, Housing rights, New York City (NYC), Pandemic

New York City — A march and rally against New York City’s decision to move about 8,000 homeless individuals from hotels to shelters was held Saturday. The process has been put on hold, but many say it shouldn’t have happened to begin with. Homeless advocates blasted the city for pushing those sheltered in hotels back to congregate living. “Don’t you know housing is a human right?” one speaker said. Just as the city ramped up moving some 8,000 homeless people out of the hotels, a lawsuit brought by the Legal Aid Society brought the process to a standstill, including at the Hotel at Fifth Avenue. “They woke us up early in the morning, banging on the doors at six, telling us to make sure we’re packed and ready to go, and then they’re stuffing all of us back to the same place that we just left from,” shelter resident Chantel Estrella said.

Unhoused Community Forms Tenants Union

November 13, 2020 Jenn Schreiter, Unicorn Riot. Organize! Houseless, Housing rights, Minnesota, Tenants Union

Minneapolis, MN – A tenants union was formed this past weekend by unhoused community members who have been living at the Extended Stay America hotel in Bloomington, MN. After a deal for Hennepin County to purchase the building unexpectedly fell through, residents say they are standing up for their rights as tenants. Their lawyers are helping them argue that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s suspension of evictions during the pandemic protects people experiencing homelessness who had been housed in hotels as an emergency temporary measure.

Philadelphia Protest: ‘Housing Is Dignity!’

July 17, 2020 By Betsey Piette, Workers World. Resist! Evictions, Housing, Housing rights, Philadelphia

Residents of the James Talib-Dean tent encampment, set up on June 11 on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, held a press conference July 13 to denounce city plans to evict them. Calling for housing now for people who are homeless, camp residents say they are not willing to leave. Named in honor of a housing organizer who recently died, the JTD encampment brought together around 150 activists and houseless people to bring attention to the lack of affordable housing, poor conditions in city shelters and the need for permanent low-income housing. The city has posted notices outside the encampment that it must be vacated by 9 a.m. on July 17. Philadelphia Housing Action spokesperson Sterling Johnson, said, “The unhoused are demanding housing now! What has the city given us — lies, distractions, and promises of tiny homes, and out-of-sight sanctioned encampments. … They will simply shift the burden to another area of the city, and we will start this process all over again.”

East Oakland Community Launches Major New Organizing Initiative

September 27, 2017 Organize! Democracy, Housing rights, Popular Assemblies

By Causa Justa. OAKLAND --- Six of East Oakland’s most prominent community organizations will convene hundreds of East Oakland residents at a massive Community Assembly on Saturday, September 30. This umbrella organization—known as the East Oakland Congress of Neighborhoods—is being formed because neighborhood residents are fed up with a lack of action on extremely pressing problems in East Oakland including the housing crisis and homelessness, illegal dumping, gun violence, prostitution and many more.

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