Occupy Our Homes: protesters bid to move families into foreclosed houses

Occupy activists descend on Brooklyn on first day of campaign to move homeless people into buildings foreclosed by US banks

the Guardian,

7 December, 2011

On Tuesday afternoon, Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York – along with a coalition of activist groups and members of a Brooklyn community – opened a foreclosed home to a struggling family of four.

For Doyle Coleman, the action was a welcome relief. The 57 year-old lives two doors down from the newly-occupied property in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of East New York. Sitting on his front porch on Tuesday evening, Coleman pointed to the property, calling it by its address. "702, where they're putting this family in – it's been empty for three years. If not more."

The property was allegedly foreclosed by Bank of America. On Tuesday it became the home of a young New York family that includes an autistic nine-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy.

Coleman – who's lived in the neighbourhood for over two decades – says he's watched the property steadily deteriorate over the years. Like many foreclosed homes in the neighbourhood, he says the building has become a magnet for East New York's endemic problems of drugs and crime.

It's also been treated as dump, Coleman claims. He says demolition contractors from other neighbourhoods have repeatedly used the front yard of the home to empty truckloads of debris.

"They would bring it over here, 2 in the morning, and dump it. So when we would wake up in the morning we'd have a yard full of debris. Smashed toilets, smashed sinks, bathtubs, tile. I mean, you name it," he says.

"I would clean those yards," he adds. For Coleman, the motivation to do the work was simple: "We care about our block."

Coleman said that the hundreds of protesters gathered in his neighbourhood on Tuesday also cared. Inspired by their efforts to move a family into the neglected house, Coleman and his wife opened their home to activists needing a space to work or to use the restroom.

"We applaud it," he said.

Tuesday's move was part of a national day of action targeting the issue of foreclosures and marking the beginning of Occupy Wall Street's Occupy Our Homes campaign. Various demonstrations were carried out in over 25 cities, including Seattle, Washington, Atlanta, Georgia and Riverside, California.

New York City's action kicked off with a brief tour of East New York, which last year had the highest foreclosure rate of all the neighbourhoods in the city. Nationwide, an estimated 4m homes have been seized by banks since 2006, according to RealtyTrac, a California-based real estate data firm. Roughly 300 marchers made stops at several foreclosed homes along the route. Filling the stoops of dilapidated Brooklyn houses, members of the community joined with local lawmakers and religious figures to denounce widespread foreclosures.

The march ended at two-storey house with a large yellow sign mounted above the front door. In all capital letters it read: 

"FORECLOSE ON BANKS NOT ON PEOPLE."

With media anxiously crowded at the gates to the property, city council member Charles Barron opened the front door to reveal a young man and a little boy. The man was 26 year-old Alfredo Carrasquillo and the boy was his five year-old son, Alfredo Jr. The two were then joined by Junior's mother, 30-year-old Tasha Glasgow. Tasha's nine-year-old autistic daughter, Tanisha, made an appearance soon after.

Occupy Wall Street press representatives said the family had been living off and on in New York City homeless shelters for the past 10 years. Glasgow was reportedly rendered homeless most recently after her housing voucher was revoked, shortly before she was scheduled to move into a permanent space. Occupy Wall Street organisers say austerity measures imposed by Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, caused Glasgow to lose the home she planned to have.

Glasgow and her two children have not yet moved into their new house, but plan to after volunteer renovation teams make a series of improvements to the space. In the meantime, crews of demonstrators are working in shifts to keep the location guarded around the clock.

Tuesday's action was the result of weeks of preparation and co-ordination between Occupy Wall Street and local activist organisations. According to Occupy Wall Street organiser Nelini Stamp, activists began scouting locations roughly a month and a half ago. After being barred from at least two promising properties due to construction, the activists found what they were looking for in East New York. According to Stamp, a receptive response from the community and easy access to the space, made the home the ideal site for an action. Stamp says organisers first set foot in the home on Sunday. The following day the family was shown the space for the first time.

With encampments across the country being cleared out, many viewed yesterday's action as a strategic shift in the Occupy movement; one that could be replicated nationwide. Stamp was enthused by the co-operation of various actors in pulling off the operation.

"I think this is a really great model for the future," Stamp said.

Tuesday's march featured a minimal police presence, though an apparently bloody encounter with the police took place several blocks from the planned demonstration. Prior to the conclusion of the march, a young man told the crowd he expected to be foreclosed upon that day. This prompted approximately 100 protesters to gather at his nearby home.

According to Occupy Wall Street organizer Lorenzo Serna, who witnessed the incident, a protester suffered a bleeding head injury when police kicked a door open to enter the home. According to Serna, the protester – who reportedly declined a ride to the hospital – was the only person arrested in the altercation.