Chicago, IL – “La seguridad nacional nos arresta porque estamos luchando para quedarnos en nuestros hogares. Les dijimos que ‘¡La vivienda es un derecho humano y no nos vamos, seguiremos luchando!’” dijo el inquilino de Grove Parc y organizador de Lado Sureño Organizando por el Poder (STOP) Lonnie Richardson entre gritos de inquilinos y otros congregados en apoyo en un día heladísimo de noviembre fuera de las oficinas del Departamento de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano de los Estados Unidos (HUD) en el centro de Chicago.

Los inquilinos de Grove Parc Plaza Apartments, que queda cerca de la Universidad de Chicago y del sitio propuesto por el Estadio Olímpico del 2016, han logrado una victoria importante en la lucha por prevenir el desplazamiento de su comunidad de más de cuatrocientos familias negras trabajadoras. Desde que el HUD amenazó en el 2006 que iba a mandar a Grove Parc a la ejecución hipotecaria por las condiciones reveladas durante dos inspecciones, los inquilinos se han estado organizando para mantener todas las 504 unidades subsidiadas y en la comunidad. “A mi me encanta esta área. Está cerca del transporte público, de los hospitales, de museos, de los parques,” dice la inquilina Alberta Morton. Los inquilinos que lideraban la campaña pasaron mucho tiempo educando a sus vecinos sobre los peligros de los certificados “sección 8,” los cuales hacen que muchos inquilinos tengan que mudarse muchas veces porque muchos dueños no los quieren aceptar y si un dueño no pasa las inspecciones el inquilino está castigado y esforzado a mudarse otra vez. En vez de dejar que los poderes actuales les robaran la tierra, los inquilinos conseguían las firmas de la mitad de los inquilinos para formar una Asociación de Inquilinos y aprobar una visión de traer nuevos dueños y administración, mantener los subsidios basados en el proyecto, y dar a los inquilinos acceso a las herramientas y el apoyo necesario para mejorar su comunidad. Trajeron una organización sin fines de lucro que se llama Preservación de Vivienda Económica (POAH), quién se comprometió a trabajar por la realización de la visión de los inquilinos y lograron un acuerdo de venta con el dueño. Pero a pesar del apoyo generalizado de los inquilinos, la comunidad y los oficiales elegidos, el HUD rechazó el primer plan de POAH y seguía adelante hacia la demolición, el desplazamiento y la ejecución de la hipotecaria.

No rindiéndose, los inquilinos tomaron la oficina del HUD exigiendo una extensión y una segunda oportunidad para un buen plan. “Habíamos arreglado una reunion con el jefe de HUD. Se empezó a enojar y nos dijo que nos vería en la corte y en eso el resto de nuestra gente empezó a inundar la oficina y le dijimos que no nos íbamos,” dijo la inquilina Sheila Rush. Después de la acción, el HUD cambió de rumbo y los inquilinos recibieron la noticia de que el HUD había aceptado un nuevo plan de POAH. El 15 de enero del 2008 POAH tomó control de la administración – el primer paso para mejorar Grove Parc, preservar subsidios necesarios, y parar el desplazamiento racial y económico de terrenos comunitarios de mucho valor.

Con esta victoria, la Asociación de Inquilinos de Grove Parc, un miembro de STOP, ha logrado una victoria estratégica en la lucha nacional por el derecho humano a la vivienda. La recomendación del HUD de los certificados de “sección 8,” más la privatización de la vivienda y el desplazamiento de las comunidades, hace de Grove Parc un sitio de lucha para el futuro de la vivienda subsidiada. La lucha está lejos de terminar y los inquilinos se mantienen alerta. Están creando un acuerdo sobre la toma de decisiones con POAH y trabajando para asegurar que el complejo este rehabilitado y que el derecho de retornar este garantizado a los residentes actuales. “Mucha gente nos subestimaron. Nos juntamos en unidad, no era fácil, pero teníamos que mantenernos persistentes, y yo estoy feliz por la victoria. Todavía tenemos algunas cosas que tenemos que lograr pero estamos progresando,” dice Faith McGhee, una de las líderes de la Asociación de Inquilinos de Grove Parc.

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Grove Parc Plaza Apartments is a 504-unit subsidized complex on Cottage Grove between 60th and 63rd Street in the gentrifying Woodlawn community on Chicago’s South Side. It sits on valuable land blocks south of the University of Chicago and the proposed site of the 2016 Olympic Stadium. The complex failed two inspections last year and HUD is threatening to foreclose. As tenant Shanquanta Price explained at a packed meeting with HUD last June, “A long time the apartments haven’t been fixed up, now all of a sudden all these pretty houses getting built up they say, oh now we discovered y’all living in crud.”

People across the country are watching Grove Parc for the precedent it will set for the future of large subsidized housing complexes. HUD has two choices. It can keep the housing, or it can close the complex and give tenants vouchers, which would cause many to become homeless.

Ever since the demolition of public housing there are few remaining family-sized apartments that accept vouchers. Vouchers can’t be used on a block with multiple empty lots or abandoned buildings, are lost if they go unused for 180 days and tenants using them are forced to move every time a landlord fails inspections.

The alternative is to turn the complex over to a new owner who will work with tenants to bring the complex up to code and keep it subsidized. This is a real possibility, as national non-profit Preservation Of Affordable Housing is making progress in negotiations with the current owner. They have met with the Grove Parc Tenants Association and believe they have the resources to carry out its vision, which is to keep at least 300 subsidized units on site and transfer the rest within the neighborhood. But HUD is under pressure from powerful forces to ignore this alternative, pass out vouchers, and make way for new development on this valuable land.

Mary George, a 35-year resident of the complex and grandmother of five who works full time as a day care provider and retail clerk explains , “Grove Parc was beautiful when it was built. It was like a small village, a real community. If it is placed into the right hands, we believe that it can be that way again, and we want to be here for the change. Single mothers, the elderly, people with disabilities, we all need affordable housing.”

For more information: Call (773) 753-9674 or email grove.parc.leadership.team@gmail.com.

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Chicago, IL – “Homeland security arrests us ‘cause we are trying to stay in our homes. We told them, ‘Housing is a human right and we wasn’t goin’ without a fight!’” said Grove Parc tenant and Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP) organizer Lonnie Richardson amidst cheers of tenants and supporters gathered on a cold November day outside the offices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in downtown Chicago.

Tenants at Grove Parc Plaza Apartments, which sits in the shadows of the University of Chicago and the proposed site for the 2016 Olympic Stadium, have achieved a major victory in the struggle to stop their community of over 400 hard-working black families from being displaced. Since HUD threatened in 2006 to send Grove Parc to foreclosure because of failed inspections, tenants have been organizing to keep all 504 units subsidized and in the community.

“I love this area. It’s close to transportation, the hospitals, museums, the parks,” says tenant Alberta ‘Peaches’ Morton. Tenant leaders spent countless hours educating their neighbors about the dangers of vouchers, which make many tenants have to move over and over again because most landlords won’t take them and if a landlord fails inspections the tenant is punished and forced to move.

Rather than let the powers that be use false promises to take over the land, tenants got over half the complex to sign up for the Tenants Association and endorse a vision to bring in new owners and management, keep the project-based subsidies and give tenants access to the tools and support to turn around their community. They brought in a reputable non-profit developer called Preservation Of Affordable Housing, which committed to work towards the tenants’ vision and got the owners to agree to sell.

But despite broad support of tenants, the community and elected officials, HUD rejected Preservation Of Affordable Housing’s first plan and pushed towards demolition, displacement and foreclosure. Refusing to give up, tenants took over the HUD office demanding an extension and a second chance for a good plan.

“We had set up a meeting with the head of HUD. It got kind of heated and he said he’d see us in court and that’s when the rest of our people started pouring in and we said we weren’t going anywhere,” said tenant Sheila Rush. Following the sit-in HUD changed course and tenants received word that HUD had accepted a revised Preservation Of Affordable Housing plan. On Jan 15, Preservation Of Affordable Housing took over management – the first step towards turning around Grove Parc, preserving needed subsidies and stopping racial and economic displacement from valuable community land.

With this victory, the Grove Parc Tenants Association, a member of STOP, has achieved a strategic win in the nationwide fight for the human right to housing. With HUD increasingly pushing vouchers and moving towards housing privatization and community displacement, Grove Parc is a battleground in the fight over the future of subsidized housing.

The struggle is far from over and tenants are not letting up their guard. They are creating a decision-making agreement with Preservation Of Affordable Housing and working to ensure that the complex is brought up to code and that the right of return is guaranteed to current residents. “A lot of people underestimated us. We came together in unity, it wasn’t easy but we had to stay persistent and I’m just glad for the victory. We still have some things that we have to accomplish but we’re making progress,” says Faith McGhee, one of the leaders of the Grove Parc Tenants Association.

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