Picture the Homeless Liberates Land in Manhattan, NYC!

Greetings:

Picture the Homeless, a New York City based homeless rights organization, has liberated a vacant lot in the Manhattan Borough of New York City and is currently building a Tent City there. I just spoke to Picture the Homeless leader and organizer Rob Robinson (rob@picturethehomeless.org) and he informed me they are erecting tents and moving homeless people into them. The land, located on the 115th St., between Madison and 5th Ave., is owned by JP Morgan/Chase, but it is not controlled by Picture the Homeless for the benefit of human beings, not corporations.

The movement to liberate land and elevate housing to the level of a human right is growing. Take Back the Land supports Picture the Homeless (www.picturethehomeless.org) and other organization working for the right to housing. Updates, including pictures of the liberation, are coming this afternoon.

What can you do to support?

• If you are in NYC, go to 115th St., between Madison and 5th Ave. in Manhattan and show your support. A press conference is scheduled for 1:00pm.
• Email your support to Picture the Homeless from their website (www.picturethehomeless.org).
• Call Mayor Bloomberg's office and tell him to allow Picture the Homeless to house people on that lot. Hands Off Picture the Homeless! You must leave a message with 311-NYC by calling 212-639-9675.
• Talk to people and organizations in your community about liberating land.
  

Housing is a human right!
Liberate land!
Land for people not for profit!

forward,

Max Rameau
Take Back the Land

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tej Nagaraja <tej@picturethehomeless.org>
Date: Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Subject: [PTH friends] *breaking news* Homeless 'tent city' occupation in NYC [press release, July 23]
To: Tej Nagaraja <tej@picturethehomeless.org>



** Breaking News: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE **        Thursday, July 23, 2009

Contact: Tej Nagaraja (646) 302-5769    
Updates: http://picturethehomeless.org/blog  &  http://twitter.com/pthny  #tentcitynyc

Location—come!: 115th Street between Madison and 5th Avenues, Manhattan
First on-site press conference scheduled for 1pm—on-site PTH members and neighborhood residents available for interview at all times.


Homeless New Yorkers Occupy Vacant Lot, Create Tent City, Demand Change
Call for city government to meet need of low-income residents, not greed of big banks


MANHATTAN—On Thursday at 11:00 AM, members of Picture the Homeless orchestrated a spirited occupation of a warehoused (vacant) lot, currently owned by the firm JPMorgan Chase, a recent beneficiary of billions in taxpayer bailout money.

Homeless New Yorkers and their allies turned a fenced-off grassy lot in El Barrio/East Harlem into a vibrant Tent City, creatively adorned with makeshift dwellings, colorful art and banners. Under the slogan "NYC: A Place to Call Home," they demanded that warehoused lots and buildings be accounted for by the city, and transformed into housing for poor and homeless people.

Jean Rice, a homeless New Yorker: "Today, Picture the Homeless sends a message that land use must take into account the common good—as housing for the needy, not warehoused assets for the greedy."

Hundreds rallied in support of the bold action. The organizers have invited local musicians to perform, faith leaders and community activists to engage the crowd—and community members to feast on barbecue, and discuss and debate the challenges and struggles all low-income New Yorkers face.

Picture the Homeless members note that more families are homeless now than when Mayor Bloomberg took office. When confronted with his policy failures earlier this month, the Mayor could only say that so many remain homeless because he's made shelters "more attractive." For Chase's part, New York Times quoted an executive during the October bailout: "Twenty-five billion dollars is obviously going to help the folks who are struggling more than Chase."

Picture the Homeless member Sophia Bryant: "The government and banks have failed miserably. Homeless people know what the problems are, and we have ideas for the solutions. Since they won't listen, the time is now for people to take action. We don't want shelters—we want decent housing. We will build what we need!"


###


_______________________________________________
PTH list
Picture the Homeless
Post: PTH@lists.mayfirst.org
List info: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/pth

Take Back the Land on PBS' NOW

Greetings All:

As the foreclosure crisis festers, Take Back the Land continues to liberate vacant foreclosed homes. The movement to elevate housing to the status of a human right is picking up steam as other organizations- at least 14, according to Michael Stoop of the Washington DC based National Coalition for the Homeless (http://www.nationalhomeless.org)- execute liberation or defend the right of people to stay in their homes. Two organizations worth paying attention to include Picture the Homeless in New York City (www.picturethehomeless.org) and City Life/Vida Urbana in Boston (http://www.clvu.org).

To find out more about the movement, please watch the recently aired NOW program about Take Back the Land and the housing liberation movement:
www.takebacktheland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81

Please watch out for more actions by Take Back the Land and our allied organizations coming this fall.

In order to continue our important work, Take Back the Land needs your support. Please visit our website at Takebacktheland.org and make a generous contribution. All contributions are made to Serve the People, a 501(c)3 organization, providing support services to Take Back the Land and other community organizations. Your contribution is fully tax deductible.

If you are not already a member, you can keep up with Take Back the Land by joining our list-serve at groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land

www.takebacktheland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81

forward,

Max Rameau


--
takebacktheland.org
takebacktheland@gmail.com

Take Back the Land on ABC World News Tonight 04-12-09

Greetings:

The current housing crisis is unlike any we have seen in generations. Sometimes a crisis occurs because there are too many houses and not enough families to move in them, deflating values and creating ghost towns. Most often, though, there are not enough homes to meet the needs of people and we demand more houses be built. In this crisis, however, there is a surplus of both vacant homes and families looking for vacant homes. Take Back the Land has been matching homeless people with people-less homes.

Find out more here:

• ABC World News Tonight reported on Take Back the Land and our efforts to liberate housing on the April 12, 2009 broadcast. Follow the link below to see the story:

      http://takebacktheland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74:abcworldnews041209&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=60

• Also check out the New York Times story on the growing trend of squatting and other utilization of vacant foreclosed homes, including Take Back the Land:

      http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/10squatter.html?_r=2&hp

• In addition, check out this video of Take Back the Land moving the Conley-Trody family back into the home from which they were evicted:

      http://www.justnews.com/news/18779255/detail.html#video


Take Back the Land asserts that housing is a human right and that it is immoral to keep homes vacant while there are human beings living on the street. This moral outrage is only compounded when one considers the banks who own these houses have already been paid billions of dollars for those homes already in the form of tax money from the same people who need homes in the first place.

A growing movement of organizations and individuals across the US are making good use of vacant houses by placing or defending the right of families to remain in foreclosed homes. Housing must fundamentally be about homes for human beings, not profits for corporations. Take Back the Land is inspired by the courageous families fighting for their right to housing and making a new more humane world possible.

A movement is building and we urge you to support and advance the struggle to elevate housing to the status of a human right.

Keep up to date at our website: takebacktheland.org. For regular (but not too frequent) email announcements, join our list-serv at
http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land/

For those so inclined, you can support the work of Take Back the Land with a financial contribution. We ask that you make contributions to Serve the People, the not-for-profit which allows Take Back the Land and other organizations use of office space and other resources. Serve the People is a 501(c)3 organization and all contributions are fully tax-deductible. Support our work by contributing at www.takebacktheland.org and click on the "Donate" button.

forward,


Max Rameau
takebacktheland@gmail.com
takebacktheland.org

Take Back the Land on ABC World News 04-12-09

Take Back the Land on Good Morning America 04-11-09

Greetings:

Below is a link to the video of Take Back the Land featured on Good Morning America.

http://www.takebacktheland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73:gma011109&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=60

If you have not already seen and read the NY Times piece on Take Back the Land, you can read it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/10squatter.html?_r=1

Keep up to date and support Take Back the Land at our website, Takebacktheland.org and join our list-serv at http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land/

forward,


Max Rameau

--
takebacktheland.org
takebacktheland@gmail.com

Take Back the Land in the New York Times 04-10-09

Greetings All:

Please check out the Friday, April 10, 2009 edition of the New York Times, reporting on the growing necessity and trend of liberation housing in the US. This is the beginning of a real US land struggle and the social justice movement must come to grips with our relationship to that struggle.

As part of that story, the Times covers two families placed by Take Back the Land in Miami.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/10squatter.html?_r=1&hp

Please follow our progress at Takebacktheland.org and join our list-serv at http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land.

forward,

Max Rameau

--
takebacktheland.org
takebacktheland@gmail.com

Fwd: Take Back the Land Liberates Another Home- Feb. 23 at 12noon

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Max Rameau <afrimax@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Subject: Take Back the Land Liberates Another Home- Feb. 23 at 12noon
To: afrimax@gmail.com

Greetings:

At 12:00 noon today, February 23, Take Back the Land liberated a vacant house in order to move an extended family of 12, including six minors, back into the home they lost to foreclosure on Friday, February 20^th. The foreclosure was a result of a fraudulent refinance scheme by a predatory lender.

The home is located at 849 NW 137^th St. in unincorporated Miami-Dade County. As this message is sent, Take Back the Land is assisting the family in their move back into the home.

Take Back the Land identifies vacant government owned and foreclosed homes and moves homeless people into the people-less homes. The organization has been "liberating" foreclosed homes since October 2007, a year after liberating a vacant government owned piece of land and building the Umoja Village Shantytown, housing homeless individuals until a fire destroyed the community. Take Back the Land has liberated eight (8) homes to date.

After Mary's husband lost his job, the couple and their two teenage children were forced to move back in with her mother. Soon after, the contracting job market forced Mary's adult daughter and fiancee back to the house with their four children, all under 10. The crashing economy ultimately forced 12 relatives, spanning four generations, to cram into Grandma Carolyn's two bedroom one bath house.

Unbeknownst to the families, almost two years prior, Carolyn fell victim to a scam predatory lender. The salesman convinced her that with a new reverse mortgage she would only be compelled to pay the taxes on the house, significantly reducing her expenses as she entered retirement age. When they started receiving the foreclosure notices, it was too late, even with almost every adult in the house regaining employment.

The family was evicted from their home on February 20, upon which they called Take Back the Land requesting assistance. Since then, they have been sleeping together in a van and bread truck in the parking lot of a local supermarket. Local homeless shelters are full and not fitted for families and, therefore, can only split the family between Homestead and Miami and then divide the men and women.

The house itself is in need of repairs and there are at least three other vacant homes on that street and numerous others on adjacent streets. As such, the home is unlikely to be sold or occupied in the next year or even two years and will only contribute to blight and unsafe conditions in the neighborhood. Furthermore, homes vacant for even short periods of time are often vandalized and stripped for valuable parts and fixtures. The vacant house, therefore, does not help the family, the neighborhood or even the bank who owns a structure rapidly decreasing value.

It is inhumane and immoral to evict a family of 12 human beings, who are left to sleep in a truck, and not even fill the house with another family, but leave it vacant, potentially for years to come.

Housing is a human right which is threatened by corporate demands to maximize profits. Take Back the Land calls on people of good conscience to defend their communities and fight for the right of human beings to housing, particularly during this economic crisis.

To continue to receive these email updates, sign up for the Take Back the Land listserve at: http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land. You can also get more information about Take Back the Land at our website, TakeBacktheLand.org.

forward,

Max Rameau

takebacktheland.org

takebacktheland@gmail.com

 

Fwd: Take Back the Land Liberates Another Home- Feb. 23 at 12noon

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Max Rameau <afrimax@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Subject: Take Back the Land Liberates Another Home- Feb. 23 at 12noon
To: afrimax@gmail.com

Greetings:

At 12:00 noon today, February 23, Take Back the Land liberated a vacant house in order to move an extended family of 12, including six minors, back into the home they lost to foreclosure on Friday, February 20^th. The foreclosure was a result of a fraudulent refinance scheme by a predatory lender.

The home is located at 849 NW 137^th St. in unincorporated Miami-Dade County. As this message is sent, Take Back the Land is assisting the family in their move back into the home.

Take Back the Land identifies vacant government owned and foreclosed homes and moves homeless people into the people-less homes. The organization has been "liberating" foreclosed homes since October 2007, a year after liberating a vacant government owned piece of land and building the Umoja Village Shantytown, housing homeless individuals until a fire destroyed the community. Take Back the Land has liberated eight (8) homes to date.

After Mary's husband lost his job, the couple and their two teenage children were forced to move back in with her mother. Soon after, the contracting job market forced Mary's adult daughter and fiancee back to the house with their four children, all under 10. The crashing economy ultimately forced 12 relatives, spanning four generations, to cram into Grandma Carolyn's two bedroom one bath house.

Unbeknownst to the families, almost two years prior, Carolyn fell victim to a scam predatory lender. The salesman convinced her that with a new reverse mortgage she would only be compelled to pay the taxes on the house, significantly reducing her expenses as she entered retirement age. When they started receiving the foreclosure notices, it was too late, even with almost every adult in the house regaining employment.

The family was evicted from their home on February 20, upon which they called Take Back the Land requesting assistance. Since then, they have been sleeping together in a van and bread truck in the parking lot of a local supermarket. Local homeless shelters are full and not fitted for families and, therefore, can only split the family between Homestead and Miami and then divide the men and women.

The house itself is in need of repairs and there are at least three other vacant homes on that street and numerous others on adjacent streets. As such, the home is unlikely to be sold or occupied in the next year or even two years and will only contribute to blight and unsafe conditions in the neighborhood. Furthermore, homes vacant for even short periods of time are often vandalized and stripped for valuable parts and fixtures. The vacant house, therefore, does not help the family, the neighborhood or even the bank who owns a structure rapidly decreasing value.

It is inhumane and immoral to evict a family of 12 human beings, who are left to sleep in a truck, and not even fill the house with another family, but leave it vacant, potentially for years to come.

Housing is a human right which is threatened by corporate demands to maximize profits. Take Back the Land calls on people of good conscience to defend their communities and fight for the right of human beings to housing, particularly during this economic crisis.

To continue to receive these email updates, sign up for the Take Back the Land listserve at: http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land. You can also get more information about Take Back the Land at our website, TakeBacktheLand.org.

forward,

Max Rameau

takebacktheland.org

takebacktheland@gmail.com