Minneapolis, MN – 13 people were peacefully arrested Feb. 27 as they marched on Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, demanding the bank turn over vacant homes to community control and calling for fairer banking practices.

The march, organized by Occupy Homes MN, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, and allies from faith and labor communities, began at the home of Gayle Lindsey, fighting her foreclosure with Occupy Homes and her neighbors in the Foreclosure and Eviction Free Zone. It proceeded to Jessica English’s reclaimed vacant home, which had been abandoned by Wells Fargo and turned into a drug house. English, a single mom of four experiencing homelessness, has rehabilitated the house with Occupy Homes as a place to raise her children.

“As a homeless mom, it’s sickening to see all the vacant homes Wells Fargo owns that attract crime in Minneapolis,” Jessica told the crowd. “Wells Fargo abandoned this home, letting it turn into a drug house that brought blight on the community. Now the community has come together to welcome my family home and demand that Wells Fargo turn over vacant homes to community control for affordable housing. We are restoring what Wells Fargo destroyed.”

From there, the crowd of 200 took the streets and marched through the gates of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, where they were met by a heavy police presence. They brought 20 bags of trash cleaned up from their neglected vacant home, demanding Wells Fargo clean up their own mess.

The crowd then continued to the 26th Street bridge over I-35W, where internationally renowned hip-hop artist Brother Ali performed from the back of a pickup truck. After about 20 minutes, police moved in to ask the crowd to disperse. 13 people sat in the middle of the road linking arms in an act of civil disobedience, and were arrested.

“Today was living proof that the housing justice movement is alive and well. It's inspiring to see people from so many communities – Somali families trying to send money home, security guards on strike, college students, neighbors reclaiming their neighborhood from crime and blight, even Wells Fargo employees – all coming together to stand for a change to Wells Fargo’s practices,” said Anthony Newby, executive director of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change.

#MinneapolisMN #WellsFargo #HousingStruggles #affordableHousing #HomeForeclosures

One common scam shows just how bad things have gotten: most landlords charge application fees, which they claim are used to run checks on new tenants. The truth is, a lot of these landlords keep an apartment open for no other reason than to collect an endless amount of application fees from those desperately in need of housing.

Clearly the shortage of affordable housing has become a crisis. Working people, employed and unemployed, are denied a basic human right – the right to a place to live. Oppressed nationality workers, African Americans, Chicanos, Latinos, Asian peoples, and Native Americans, are the hardest hit.

The actions of every level of government have made this crisis worse. Through zoning codes, many suburbs have made it impossible to build new low-income housing. City governments promote and subsidize gentrification, the process of replacing low-income housing with upper-income housing.

In many of the larger cities, the “war on crime” has become a become a war on housing, as so-called problem properties are condemned and demolished. The result is less affordable housing.

The federal government has done its part to fuel the crisis by encouraging housing authorities to tear down big public housing projects, and by putting a freeze on the total number of housing vouchers. In addition, some public housing authorities are considering changes that would limit the rights of the unemployed to public housing.

Some politicians, urban development “experts,” as well as some honest but confused people have injected the issue of “deconcentration of poverty” into the housing debate. They blame the poor for poverty, saying that if a lot of low-income people are in a community, we will set bad examples for each other. Based on these anti-poor ideas, they want to tear down large housing projects, and refuse to invest in keeping affordable housing in low-income communities. In reality, plans to deconcentrate poverty are no more than a cover for getting rid of affordable housing.

It's true that government policies fuel this crisis, along with high rents, that for 8 years, have gone up much faster than the income of the poor. But the bottom line reason for the shortage of affordable housing is this: we live in a capitalist society.

People with money are out to get the highest rate of profit off their investments. As things stand, housing developers make more money building upper-income, single-family homes and condos, than they could by putting up rental units for low-income people. Money chases money, and the result is a disaster for those of us who need affordable housing.

That's why there is no market solution to the housing crisis. Under current conditions, housing developers and the banks will never put their money into low-cost housing.

Big-business serving politicians would rather cut social services than address this crisis. Their hands must be forced. The powers that be must be pushed into dealing with the shortage.

A growing movement is putting demands on government for decent, affordable housing. Housing is right! It is crucial that the low-income community, with its knowledge, numbers, and determination, adds its strength to this fight.

#UnitedStates #CapitalismAndEconomy #Editorial #OppressedNationalities #Editorials #HousingStruggles #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #affordableHousing #WarOnCrime

Minneapolis, MN - More than 100 people rallied to demand affordable housing on the Basilica steps, June 24. Many carried signs reading, “Replace-ment, Before Demolition,” and “Forget the Stadium, Housing Now!” Police were on hand to guard city officials.

The Twin Cities are in the grips of a severe housing crisis, with a 1% vacancy rate for low income housing. Government handouts to big corporations like Dayton Hudson and the politicians' talk of buying billionaire Carl Polad a new stadium, have fueled anger in the low income community.

“We need affordable housing and living wage jobs,” said one homeless man participating in the demonstration. “Dayton's got 40 million dollars last year, but where is the affordable housing for the poor?”

Following the rally, people filled the Basilica's gymnasium, where the city government-appointed, Affordable Housing Task Force heard testimony on the housing crisis.

A homeless African-American man took the microphone and told the committee, “What we need is housing. Period.” Another person testified, “If we can build a telescope to the stars, as a nation, we sure can build some houses on the block.” Applause shook the gym.

Ongoing Fight

On June 8, 14 people, including seven African American ministers, were arrested for blocking the demolition of the Glenwood Lyndale Public Housing Project. The protest caused Mayor Sayles-Belton to temporarily halt the demolition of the one eighth of the project that is still standing.

One of those arrested, Jerry Freeman of the Minneapolis High-rise Representative council, stated, “Our main goal is to keep housing available for low income folks until the city builds permanent housing.”

...and in St. Paul

St Paul, MN - Members of Affordable Housing Now confronted St. Paul Mayor, Norm Coleman on June 22, to demand housing for the homeless. Coleman, who speaks for downtown business interests, refused to make any commitments.

Affordable Housing Now, an organization based in the homeless community, says that there is housing crisis in St. Paul and wants the city to do something about it. The group vows to continue the fight until there is enough affordable housing for everyone.

#TwinCities #MinneapolisMN #PoorPeoplesMovements #News #HousingStruggles #affordableHousing #MinneapolisHighRise