Breaking News: Community Groups Storm and Take Over New Orleans HUD Office

Several community organizations, including Power U Center and the Miami
Worker's Center from Miami, took over the US HUD administrative office in
New Orleans today, Friday August 31, 2007 at around 12:30pm. The groups are
in New Orleans to commemorate the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

The groups and residents are demanding that HUD open St Bernard's Parish
housing project, which serves low-income Black residents.  Two years after
the area was evacuated in the post-Katrina floods,the housing project
remains empty.  Residents and groups have been prevented from rehabilitating
and filling the vacant units, and the federal government has refused to do
so.

US military vehicles, including armed Hummers, have surrounded the 25 people encamped inside, who refused to leave the building unless HUD officials acquiesce to community demands.The community effort to open St. Bernard's

Parish is symbolic effort of the dislocated Black community of New Orleans
to return to home.  Residents such as former public housing residents have
been met ignored, criminalized and otherwise excluded from the rebuilding of New Orleans.

Denise Perry, executive director of Power U, is in the building and
available by phone: 305-491-7764.

Community organizations and public housing residents from across the nation, along with Miami Workers Center and Power U Center for Social Change, stormed the Housing Agency of New Orleans (HANO) office at around 12:30 PM today. The organizations we are acting in solidarity with displaced residents of New Orleans public housing. HANO, under federal HUD leadership, has fenced off four public housing projects and will not let people return to their homes even though the units were not damaged by the storm two years ago.

After a three-hour standoff, surrounded by police, the National Guard and the SWAT team the residents and activists gave up their occupation of the building and held a national press conference. They put out the message that housing is a human right, not only in New Orleans but throughout the country, and that communities faced with displacement will not go down without a fight. The action was also a move to claim dignity for public housing residents from New Orleans, most of whom are African-American, who have been criminalized, disregarded, and robbed of their homes.

Below is an account of the takeover from Ms. Yvonne Stratford, LIFFT leader, and Tony Romano, Organizing Director of the Miami Workers Center.

Ms.Yvonne

People from New York, from Chicago, from Miami, and California, we all went into the HUD office. We were looking for the director of HUD. They said he wasn't there. They said he was out of town. So we decided we wanted to see the second in charge.

A lot of people around here don't have places to go. They need housing down here. We said we were going to stay down here until 5 PM. We were occupying the place. They told us that if we left we wouldn't be arrested. We decided that since the media was there we could hold a press conference and tell people about what is going on instead of getting arrested, so we did.
We were demanding to get the housing back. I wasn't scared. I didn't back down. I would have gone to jail. People are getting displaced everywhere. You know, you get tired, and when you get really tired that's when you got to take a stand.

Tony Romano

This was a national action of groups from around the country. We are calling for justice for public housing residents in NOLA. We all stormed the HANO office. The key objective was to meet with the man in charge. He has played a strong role in keeping public housing residents out of public housing. All the military was there. This is the beginning, this is part of a national movement of public housing residents, not just for justice in NOLA, but through out the country. After a three-hour standoff we held a press conference.

We see today as victory even though we didn't meet with the head of HANO because of the unity and the message that got out. Housing is a human right and this wont go down without a fight.

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