Housing Movement and Occupy Join Forces to Liberate Housing
On December 6th, 2011, the Human Right to Housing Program's allies and friends teamed up with Occupy groups across the country for a highly publicized Day of Action in over 25 cities. A total of 45 diverse events, from foreclosure auction protests to "housing liberations" (moving homeless families into people-less homes), drew attention to the ongoing mass displacement occurring as a result of years of continued policies that have allowed housing to be used as collateral for speculative financial dealings.
As Rob Robinson, full-time Housing Program volunteer and co-founder of TBLM, told the International Business Times, the Day of Action is not the end. TBLM is already planning a 2012 "Spring Offensive." In the days leading up to the Offensive, TBLM and the Housing Program will work with communities to build leadership around a collective alternative vision for housing built on human rights principles.
The December 6th action received coverage in national and international media sources, including The Guardian, Bloomberg Business Week, CBS-Money Watch, International Business Times, The New York Times Blog, NBC TV New York, The Daily Intel, Voice of America, CNN Money, WNYC.ORG, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, and Channel 13-WNET NY Public Television. The day before the action, MotherJones.com quoted NESRI Executive Director Cathy Albisa on the housing rights activists: "We have faith that they can change the discourse and we need to be ready to capitalize on that moment."
See statement co-authoried by Movement Catalyst, Take Back the Land, and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, Necessary but Insufficient: Principal Reduction as a Response to the Housing Crisis.