St. Paul, MN – In a packed hearing room, more than a dozen legislators heard testimony March 14 on proposed legislation to put a moratorium on home foreclosures and the eviction of tenants from foreclosed properties. Representative Karen Clark and Senator Scott Dibble, authors of the ‘Foreclosure Moratorium, Neighborhood Stabilization & Tenant Protection Bill’ (SF1521 and HF1886) chaired the hearing. The moratorium bill is an initiative of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout (MCPBO).

Those testifying at the hearing included Cherrene Horazuk, Chief Steward of AFSCME Local 3800, Peter Brown of the Minnesota Tenants Union, Angel Buechner of the Welfare Rights Committee, Anthony Newby of Occupy Homes, Mel Reeves of Occupy the Hood and homeowners who have or are currently facing foreclosure, including Rosemary Williams, Bobby Hull, Ruby Brown, Peter Eisert and John Vinge.

Deb Konechne, a spokesperson for the MCPBO, testified, “This bill, which has been introduced in the House and the Senate, would place a 2-year moratorium on home foreclosures and a 2-year moratorium on the foreclosure related eviction of renters from foreclosed property.”

She added, “This bill is a plan to keep Minnesotans in our homes. It also protects renters who too many times end up paying rent and a damage deposit without knowing the property is in foreclosure, only to be evicted through no fault of their own, only a few months later.”

Rosemary Williams recounted her dramatic fight to keep her home. She said that when sheriffs evicted her and her family from her home in 2009, the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout helped move her back in. William’s called for politicians to pass the moratorium law.

To date, Republican committee chairs have refused to hear the Moratorium Bill. “Today’s people’s hearing served notice on them. We will carry forward the fight for a moratorium on foreclosures. We will continue to challenge politicians that serve the banks and big business,” stated Mick Kelly of the MCPBO.

Stacey Kemp, a Minneapolis homeowner gave her take on the hearing, stating “Stopping foreclosures means keeping our neighborhoods healthy and strong. The unemployment and underemployment rate has been bordering on 20% for a very long time. Working families that have been the core of our neighborhoods and communities are losing their homes because of an economic crisis caused by the 1%. I support this public hearing to demand that the legislators protect our interests – not those of the privileged few.”

Video from the press conference preceding the people's hearing on the foreclosure & eviction moratoriumDeb KonechneRosemary Williams

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The angry crowd was gathered outside the House Chambers on April 4 to let Minnesota politicians know that there were only 89 days left until the day thousands of children would start hitting the 5-year limit on welfare in Minnesota. WRC members set up a large “doomsday clock” in front of the chamber doors, and everyone (even the small children) carried signs against the time limit. Later, they all crowded into the office of the democrat Senate majority leader to demand that he keep the moratorium front and center while he was in secret budget negotiations with the House.

The April 4 action was the latest in a series to demand that politicians put a moratorium on the 5-year limit on welfare in Minnesota. The Minnesota Welfare Rights Coalition (MNWRC) organized hundreds of people to come to the capitol and demand that welfare cut-offs not be allowed to happen.

Moratorium Bill

In late December, the Welfare Rights Committee convinced two Senators to take a stand and sponsor legislation for a three-year moratorium. “A moratorium is just a delay of the imposition of the time limit,” explained Deb Konechne, of the Welfare Rights Committee, “We say there should be no time limit at all. A moratorium is absolutely necessary for now, and it buys us time to fight the whole sick idea of time limits.” From the beginning, House Republicans declared it “dead on arrival,” but a two-year moratorium bill passed through the full Senate in late March.

Opening Day Protest

On Jan. 29, hundreds gathered in the cold and snow on the front steps of the capitol. Besides low income people, representatives from some of the 170 organizations that signed on to the moratorium campaign spoke.

Bernie Hess, of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 73, read a statement of support from the leadership of the Saint Paul Trades and Labor Assembly, “We support the effort to pass a moratorium. It isn't easy to make it in the best of times. Today in these tough economic times it's even harder. So tell the politicians that, instead of attacking the only support that many Minnesota families have, they should be passing the moratorium on the time limit and aggressively fighting for what families need: livable wage jobs, affordable housing, childcare, health and education.”

Budget Crisis

Minnesota, like many other states, finds itself in a recession and a state budget crisis. WRC member Trishalla Bell declared at one of the hearings on the state budget, “Governor Ventura and House Republicans are now set to solve the state's budget crisis on the backs of poor Minnesotans! They say, 'Everyone is going to have to sacrifice.' Well, there is a huge difference between the rich 'sacrificing' a portion of their past tax breaks and a poor family 'sacrificing' basic survival. We have already suffered too much!”

Coming Together to Fight

People packed every hearing on the moratorium bill. According to Roger Banks, of the Council on Black Minnesotans, “We know that we need a moratorium for families in order to survive. The Council is here to work with you. We have to be persistent and keep coming back – to every hearing, every meeting, in order to pass the moratorium.”

The Welfare Rights Committee and a constant core of supporters had to fight on different fronts for the moratorium. Work was done to unite everyone possible, while taking advantage of splits among the enemies. First, they had to convince liberal democrats to sponsor the bill. After that, there was campaign to get other groups around it, other politicians around the bill, and push vacillating politicians and allies to keep up the fight. But the main blow of people's anger was aimed at the House Republicans.

A Homeless Village, and a Hunger Strike

“Republicanville, Homeless Village of the Future – Grand Opening July 1, 2002” read the banner above a collection of cardboard boxes, blankets and tarps set up outside the House chamber. There were street signs showing that Bradley Boulevard intersected with Starvation Lane, and Goodno Avenue crossed with Misery Place (Representatives Goodno and Bradley are anti-welfare Republicans). One Representative stomped around screaming and sputtering when he saw the set-up, and yelled to the cops to tear it down.

In a show of solidarity for the people who would be affected by the moratorium, 15 House democrats went on a 24-hour hunger strike. According to Rep. Carlos Mariani, who headed up the effort, “We don't want to see more Minnesota children hungry, homeless or split apart because the benefits they need are no longer available. For many women with children, these benefits are the only means they have to survive on their own, and for many, losing the benefits would mean returning to an abusive relationship. In the clearest possible terms, this could mean the choice between life and death.”

The hunger strike got massive media attention and drove their Republican colleagues nuts. “I'm glad they did it,” said Dede Francis of the Welfare Rights Committee, “the media and politicians don't care when we starve, so it's good that these 15 legislators took a stand.”

The Future

As Fight Back! goes to press, the issue of the time limit has not been decided by the Minnesota legislature. However it turns out, MNWRC is determined to keep up the fight. According to Rita Stevenson, WRC member, “Minnesota legislators should put a time limit on poverty, instead of a time limit on welfare! The last five years could have been spent tackling the problems that force our families into poverty and keep us there. Politicians could have worked for livable wages. Politicians could have tackled the health care crisis! Politicians could have worked to end the housing crisis! Instead they chose to blame poverty on the poor, and to terrorize our families with laws that attack our very survival!”

#StPaulMN #SaintPaulMN #PoorPeoplesMovements #News #WelfareRightsCommittee #HungerStrike #WelfareTimeLimit #Moratorium

St. Paul, MN – “We call it the 'Mother's Day Massacre,'” said Trishalla Bell, of the Welfare Rights Committee. “The politicians chose Sunday afternoon – Mother's Day – to vote to throw thousands of Minnesota kids into the streets,” she continued. Bell was talking about the May 12 vote of the Minnesota legislative budget bill conference committee against language for a moratorium on the welfare time limit.

“This means, that starting July 1 of this year, families will start being cut off basic survival cash assistance,” explained Linden Gawboy of WRC. Minnesota state law has a five-year lifetime limit on welfare for families with children. While the law offers extensions for cases of severe disability, the Welfare Rights Committee was pushing for a three-year moratorium on welfare time limits. “The way the law is now, most parents have to be working in paid employment in order to get an extension to your welfare benefits after five years. Not only is that just stupid, 'cuz if you had a job, you probably wouldn't need the welfare, but we are in recession right now. It's hard for people with skills to find any job!”

Gillie Townsend, a mother of three, said, “I'm outraged that these politicians have the nerve to tell us 'go get a job' and not be willing to stop the time limits. I have looked for jobs and there are none out that my family can survive on without some kind public assistance. These people are insane and not in touch with our reality.”

The Welfare Rights Committee did not stop fighting after the 'Mother's Day Massacre' vote. “We kept going back to capitol almost every day until the end of the session to demand that the politicians undo the vote, and to expose the House Republicans for the lizards that they are,” said one member. “We were even there, with all our kids, at 11:00 on Saturday night, the last day of session.”

Diaper Dump at the Governor's Office

After the session, the WRC targeted the Governor Jesse Ventura. On May 22, WRC members and supporters presented Ventura's office with nearly 800 disposable baby diapers. With TV cameras rolling, the protesters handed over 80 bags of 10 diapers each, one by one, to the governor's fuming staff. Each diaper had a sticker signed by a Minnesotan that called on the governor to stop the time limit on welfare. WRC had gathered the signatures during the moratorium campaign. Trishalla Bell declared, “These diapers are symbolic of the over 6000 babies and children who will be throw into the streets. Governors are supposed to deal with disasters – we want him to deal with this one now!”

The Battle Ahead

“Right now, we are getting the word out to the community about what we can do to qualify for the extensions that we did win last year,” said WRC's Deb Konechne. The Committee says it will watch to make sure that counties are not denying extensions unfairly. Kim Hosmer noted, “There will be different policies. Some counties will be finding ways of extending people, other counties will go out of their way not to extend. We will be watching out for discrimination.” Konechne continued, “As a result of our work, some counties are finding ways to extend almost everyone who's hitting their time limit on July 1. We fought hard to make the welfare time limits an issue that this state could not ignore. We will not stop fighting to undo these sick time limits!”

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