Photo / Sarah Menefee
OAKLAND CA — To HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge: We are asking the State, County, and City to support us, the Oakland Homeless Union Chapter and the Chicago Homeless Union Chapter of the National Homeless Union, in getting the homeless senior citizens, mentally disabled, the veterans and any human beings that are homeless off the streets. Housing is a HUMAN RIGHT.
Four to five years ago in the month of February, Congress turned down the Human Rights bill by nine votes. They have animal rights but no human rights. Dogs have a home called a doghouse, and every human being in the world should have a home also, under Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Amendments Act. This law was put in place so those living on fixed incomes or low-income disabled wouldn’t be homeless, especially senior citizens who worked all their lives.
In downtown Oakland, CA, a senior citizens’ home had a fire that looked like a torch job to me. It only burned the office part, but they closed the whole complex down for renovation. Here the trick is that when it is completed they can move back in under “affordable” but not under “low-income” rents like they had under HUD policy. So more become homeless.
They trick them out of their unity by telling them “we are going to remodel them into condos, when we finish you can move back.” But they don’t tell them it will be at “affordable” prices which they can’t afford, instead of low-income. HUD is in violation of their term low-income. Now we have senior citizen homeless and mentally disabled homeless; you can see them carrying the blanket they were discharged from John George mental hospital with. They walk downtown Oakland with no shoes and socks, barefoot.
Mr. Carson [Trump’s HUD secretary], a few years back you were at Laney College in Oakland with Rep. Barbara Lee, at a statewide health fair on Poverty and Homelessness. It was called because the L.A. County Jail had 300 or more inmates with Hepatitis C. Los Angeles has 50,000-plus people homeless, who can’t wash their hands or bathe. Germs and disease spread in a pandemic, like the one now. My comrade Joe Peery stated that there is a genocide hidden inside a pandemic, which is true.
Hear Our Prayers please! I am SIMUEL RAMEY with THE OAKLAND HOMELESS UNION and the PEOPLE’S TRIBUNE. ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
Stories of resistance and unity in the fight for Housing as a Right
This story is one in a series stories sent to the People’s Tribune from leaders of the homeless and housing movements in different cities. They reflect the consciousness and resistance of those fighting to keep themselves and others in their homes, now and once the national eviction moratorium ends on July 31, and against the harassment and criminalization of our brothers and sisters who have already been thrown into the streets.
People are demanding that federal Covid monies pledged to ‘help’ go into real protection and real housing, not to corporate landlords or prison-like shelters. People are organizing to resist evictions and the destruction of independent tent encampments. They are using various forms of media to share stories and strategies, as well as on-the-ground actions, linking up into a national network and movement.
Our power lies in the unity of millions in this fight. The People’s Tribune wants your stories, photos and comments, to help get out the word about this important and growing movement. Send to info@peoplestribune.org or leave comments or stories at www.peoplestribune.org. Or call 773-48-3551. Let’s connect! — Sarah Menefee, Homeless and Housing Desk, People’s Tribune
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