Rent in Tampa has been rising rapidly, with rents being 38% higher than January 2021. Since March 15, there have been 31,357 evictions filed in Tampa as many can’t keep up with the rising rent rates. The city council voted six to one on July 28 to declare a housing state of emergency, and the vote against rent control being on the ballot came as a slap in the face to Tampa residents.

Joseph Nohava, member of Tampa Bay Community Action Committee (TBCAC), stated in a speech at the event, “What’s most appalling is the betrayal of those on the city council who can acknowledge that there’s a housing emergency, but refuse to take action.”

Despite rain, the protesters continued to demand that rent control be put on the ballot in the November election and that more money be given to housing assistance rather than the police budget. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor proposed on August 4 the new city budget. It included $5.5 million to housing, but 40% of the general fund will be given to the Tampa Police Department. TBCAC is demanding, in its current People’s Budget Campaign, that $40 million be given to housing resources rather than the police.

TBCAC and other community organizations will also be present at future city council meetings to demand rent control be added to the November election ballot. There are public budget hearings on September 6 and 22.

#TampaFL #HousingStruggles #housingCrisis #rentControl

St. Paul, MN – It took several minutes for the people gathered outside on the front steps of the Minnesota State Capitol to filter through the doors and into the echoing rotunda, chanting, “Hey politicians, here’s the fix! Tax the rich! Tax the rich!” Nearly 200 protested here, Jan. 24, on the opening day of the Minnesota legislative session. Over two dozen Minnesota organizations endorsed the rally, under the slogans, “Make the rich pay for their crisis,” “Put a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions,” and “Stop the attacks on the 99%!”

The protest was organized the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout (MCPBO).

Deb Konechne spoke for the MCPBO, “This system that we live under, is a system where profit is the ultimate motive and a tiny percentage controls the wealth and power. It’s a system that was built on greed, aggression and outright thievery since its very beginning – from the stealing of land and resources to the stealing of people’s labor. Everything they have was made by us. Everything they own belongs to us all. We are in the biggest economic crisis since the great depression. We did not create it. Yet we are the ones who are being forced to pay for it!”

Darnella Wade, a member of the Welfare Rights Committee, a founding group of the MCPBO, said, “The Welfare Rights Committee is back here at the capitol, for the 20th year in a row. We will be fighting for the demands of the 99%. We are here to demand an end to the attacks on our families. We demand they pass legislation to stop foreclosures and to tax the rich!”

MCPBO is working on two bills this legislative session. One bill, SF1521/HF1886, puts a two-year moratorium on home foreclosures and on the eviction of tenants from foreclosed properties. The other bill, to be introduced Jan. 26, increases taxes on the richest in Minnesota.

Senator Scott Dibble and Representative Karen Clark, the authors of the bill to put a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, addressed the rally. Senator Jeff Hayden, an author (along with Rep. Frank Hornstein) of the bill to tax the rich, roused the crowd as well.

Ramon Silva Hernandez spoke about the battle against his home foreclosure, “I worked hard to go back to school, to educate myself and I wanted to be a part of America by purchasing a home. I was given a predatory loan by Aurora. I tried for two years to modify my mortgage through President Obama’s program without any answer, and mailing the same package of requirements every month.” Silva Hernandez concluded, “I am here with hope of finding a solution to this situation. I am calling on politicians to put a moratorium on foreclosures.”

The “Occupy the Capitol Rally” ran well over its allotted time, as passionate representatives of many groups lined up to express outrage and determination to fight back against the wave of attacks on poor and working people.

After the speeches inside the rotunda, the crowd marched up the broad staircase to the second floor of the capitol and paraded outside the doors of the House and Senate chambers, chanting all the way.

Then, protesters surged into the hallway outside the Governor Mark Dayton’s office and packed his lobby until capitol security forced them out and barred the doors. Chants ranged from “Money for human needs, not for stadiums,” (Gov. Dayton advocates state funding for a Vikings football stadium) to “We are the 99%! We occupy, we represent!” After a standoff outside the doors of the governor’s office, people moved outdoors and pressed against a window to look in at Governor Dayton as he held a meeting in his office until, after a scuffle, state troopers forced the defiant crowd to the nearby steps, where the rally ended with vows to return. Besides the Minnesota Coalition for People’s Bailout and the Welfare Rights Committee, which organized the opening day protest, the rally was endorsed by ADAPT MN, Advocating Change Together (ACT), AFSCME Council 5, AFSCME Local 3800, Anti-War Committee, Communities United Against Police Brutality, General Assembly of OccupyMpls, Marriage Equality Minnesota, Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee, MN Neighborhoods Organizing for Change (NOC), MN Nurses Association (MNA), MN Tenants Union, MN Peace Action Coalition, Occupy Homes, Occupy the Hood, Occupy Saint Paul Tactical Working Group, Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign, Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation, Students Association for the Advancement of Children as People (SAACP), Students for Democratic Society (SDS), TakeAction Minnesota, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, United Food And Commercial Worker Union Local 1189, Universal Health Care Action Network of MN and Women Against Military Madness (WAMM).

For more info, go to http://mnbailout.wordpress.com

#StPaulMN #Foreclosures #HousingStruggles #housingCrisis #Evictions #MinnesotaCoalitionForAPeoplesBailoutMCPBO

Minneapolis, MN – “You got bailed out, we got sold out! Stop foreclosures now!” was the rallying call during a protest here June 13 as a crowd of 75 people surged to the doors of a US Bank branch on Lake Street. Minneapolis police officers blocked the doors of the bank building, calling in more squad cars, which arrived with sirens blaring.

The protest and march was organized by the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout. It called on banks and mortgage companies to stop forecloses and the displacement of homeowners and to stop evicting tenants from rental properties that have been foreclosed upon.

In response to breaking news, the march first went to a branch of Wells Fargo Bank, in solidarity with the workers of Quad City Die Casting. Wells Fargo has pulled the financing of the Moline, Illinois based company and workers are waging a powerful fight to keep the plant open. The Moline workers sent a statement to the protest, which read in part, “Wells Fargo received $25 billion in taxpayer money, supposedly to keep the economy going. Instead, they’ve pocketed that money for executive bonuses and are closing down factories like ours and throwing thousands of workers into the street. It’s time we said enough is enough.”

The march then proceeded east on Lake Street to US Bank, in company with appreciative honks and shouts from cars and passersby. US Bank has received $6.6 billion in TARP, the federal bank bailout, yet it continues to foreclose and evict local families.

Deb Konechne, of the Welfare Rights Committee, a member group of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, spoke for the Coalition: “The bailout money would have been much better spent going directly to the families in need – to keep people in their homes – instead of to the financial institutions whose only motivation is their own profit. U.S. Bank received over $6 billion of the federal bailout TARP funds. Now they want to give the bailout money back, because it has too many ‘strings attached.’ The strings they apparently don’t want is that the money is to be used to refinance people’s homes, instead of lining the pockets of the greedy CEOs.”

Konechne added, “These greedy banks are like parasites, sucking the blood out of our communities and neighborhoods. They take our money in good times, but in bad times, they throw us to the curb!”

State Representative Jeff Hayden, a Democrat from south Minneapolis, compared the current foreclosure crisis to the crack epidemic of the 1980s. He pointed out that removing longtime residents from their homes was destroying the culture and history of the community. Minneapolis city councilmember Elizabeth Glidden, who was pushed the city council to pass a resolution against evictions, also addressed the crowd.

Niger Arevalo from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition, said, “It’s important for the Latino community to join in these protests to speak out against foreclosures and evictions, because they are affecting our community, together with other working class communities.”

Alan Dale, of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, stated, “The economic crisis is not the fault of working and low-income people. Banks and mortgage companies sold mortgages with escalating interest rates and penalties that were doomed to fail. Increasing layoffs and the economic crisis will lead to more people falling behind on mortgage payments. Working people and low-income people need a bail out. We need time to get through this economic crisis and to save our homes.”

Tom Lenius, before presenting a ‘notice of default’ to US Bank, said, “The banks are in the habit of sending notices of default to the people. Today, the people of Minneapolis gave notice to Wells Fargo and US Bank that they are in default of their obligations to ensure that their activities do not negatively impact the communities in which they do business.” Then the crowd went up to the doors of the bank.

The police snatched the notice and then informed the crowd that the bank manager was too afraid to come out and talk. Coalition member Mick Kelly spoke through the bullhorn to the crowd, “The banks are scared because we are building a movement of low-income and working people that is going to fight back to keep our homes and to stay in our homes and to demand an end to foreclosures and evictions!”

#MinneapolisMN #Minneapolis #MinnesotaCoalitionForAPeoplesBailout #HousingStruggles #capitalistCrisis #housingCrisis

Rosemary Williams, a long-time resident of the Minneapolis Central neighborhood, has won wide community support in her struggle to prevent her mortgage company from evicting her.

Ms. Williams is contesting the foreclosure and eviction on several grounds. Hundreds of neighbors, friends and community members have signed legal requests to intervene in her case. Her supporters argue that her eviction, which will lead to another vacant home, would create a public nuisance for the entire neighborhood.

Stef Yorek, of the MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, said, “Low-income neighborhoods with high concentrations of people of color have been the hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis. Foreclosures and evictions destabilize communities, we need to keep people in their homes, not create more empty houses and more homelessness.”

Cheri Honkala, Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign said, “We are urging people to come to court on June 16 and June 22 to show solidarity with Rosemary Williams and her fight against foreclosure and eviction.”

#MinneapolisMN #CapitalismAndEconomy #News #MinnesotaCoalitionForAPeoplesBailout #RosemaryWilliams