For 10 housing rights organizers, the time has come to reclaim the land.
About 70 housing activists, students, tenants, community organizers, and homeless individuals all filed into the West Building of Hunter College on Saturday to answer “The Call,” at a forum organizers named after their core demand: “No More ‘Affordable’ Housing Scams.” The conference was facilitated by a group of collaborating housing organizations.
Forum organizers hoped to capitalize on what they believe to be a longstanding affordable housing crisis, exacerbated by the financial downturn, that has left vacant lots and foreclosures unused, because businesses lack a financial incentive to create livable spaces. Now is the time to lay claim to these properties and put them to use for the poor and homeless, they insisted.
Unlike other conferences of its kind, the forum was organized by a “motley crew of unusual suspects,” said Avi Rosenthalis, one of the 10 activists, community planners, and students who organized the forum.
Organizers condemned the government for what they perceive to be abuse of the area median income calculator. Affordable housing developments use this number to secure public subsidies and government tax breaks by promising to provide affordable housing units to city residents.
In calculating the AMI for the New York City region, the federal government averages incomes within the five boroughs and wealthier suburban counties such as Nassau and Westchester. Organizers claimed that this practice makes the median income appear higher than it should be to reflect the realities of low-income neighborhoods, and makes “affordable housing” ultimately unaffordable.
One such example is Harlem, according to forum organizer and New York University student Mary Tek, a Harlem resident.
“The big problem we see in Harlem is displacement, people in that community not being able to stay there due to loss of affordable housing and rising property value,” she said.
She attributed gentrification to the real estate boom in Harlem in the early 2000s. Though the economic crisis slowed the process, she fears the potential for more displacement when the market picks up.
According to Rosenthalis, the event also aimed to address a “radical re-imagining” of the tactics that neighborhood residents can use to access, secure, and take back land.
James Tracy of the San Francisco Community Land Trust emphasized solidarity between affordable housing proponents, saying, without a base, “We’re nothing. We’re just advocates.”
Frank Morales, a community organizer from Picture the Homeless and one of the forum organizers, discussed the tactics of squatting and occupation in which homeless people peacefully occupy abandoned buildings, stop-work condominiums, and foreclosed homes in an effort to acquire the land for permanent housing. Morales has been “squatting” since 1979, and the 11 buildings he and his fellow squatters have occupied were turned over to the nonprofit organization in 2002. Since then, two have been turned into low-income co-ops.
According to Jay Kim, an attorney at the Common Law Group, the time is now ripe for squatting, especially in areas where foreclosures have risen. In Manhattan, the number of developments and stop-work condominiums is notable, Kim said.
DeBo’Rah Dickerson, a Bedford-Stuyvesant resident who has recently left the shelter system, said, “Don’t talk about us [the homeless], talk with us.”
Dickerson chanted in closing remarks, “Housing is a human right! Housing is a human right!” The audience followed her chant.
The chant ushered in musicians from the Rude Mechanical Orchestra shouting, “No More Housing Scams! We must Control the land!” The audience rose to its feet in ovation, chanting along for the duration of the orchestra’s remake of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” A member of the Orchestra introduced the group and extended an offer to play at the next building takeover.
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