May 1st, 2010 the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign kicked off a month of coordinated actions across the United States. 20 years ago on May 1st, Cheri Honkala, now the PPEHRC National Organizer, lead the first ever nationally coordinated day of housing takeovers by homeless people in the United States. Cheri, a formerly homeless mother, helped organize housing takeovers in 8 cities from San Francisco to Philadelphia. Since then the movement has grown into a powerful coalition led directly by the poor and homeless in 32 states.

PPEHRC has launched the May 2010 Month of Action in conjunction with the national Take Back the Land Movement. This month is part of a long-term struggle to claim housing as a human right, as stated in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. We use nonviolent civil disobedience in the tradition of the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-eviction movements of the Great Depression, and powerful social justice movements worldwide. Our goals are to secure housing for those in need, challenge unjust laws and practices, and build a long-term nonviolent movement for human rights and economic justice. We will combine civil disobedience, community organizing, public demonstrations, and media to meet our goals. Actions include:

Foreclosure Resistance – People facing eviction because their home was foreclosed will unite with community supporters and publicly refuse to leave their homes.

Housing Takeovers - Homeless families, including those recently evicted after having their homes foreclosed, will move into vacant properties that are either government owned or bank owned.

Bank Demonstrations – Protests and rallies will be held outside the major banks profiting from the housing collapse; those who received bailouts and are kicking families into the streets, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

Actions are so far planned in the following 20 cities:
• Minneapolis, MN
• Philadelphia, PA
• Chicago, IL
• Detroit, MI
• San Francisco, CA
• New Orleans, LA
• Columbus, OH
• Louisville, KY
• Nashville, TN
• Sacramento, CA
• Portland, OR
• Cleveland, OH
• Waveland, MS
• Fresno, CA
• New York City, NY
• St. Petersburg, FL
• Rochester, NY
• Boston, MA
• Toledo, OH
• Madison, WI


Last year a record 3 million plus homes were foreclosed in the U.S. and this year is set to surpass that number. The same banks that caused the housing collapse received billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts and are now kicking millions of people out of their homes – the same people who financed their bailouts! Some of those banks are earning record profits from these practices. Meanwhile, national resources continue to be allocated towards wars abroad and away from social services at home. Across the country we see these policies result in the cruel increase of both homelessness and vacant properties. We think it’s morally and economically unjust for children to be homeless while surrounded by empty houses. Houses should not be tools for corporate profit. They should serve to house people who need them. Housing is a human right!


The housing crisis mirrors a larger economic pattern - the massive concentration of wealth and the global spread of poverty. The problem is not one of scarcity, but of distribution. It is a fundamental problem of our economic system. Our government serves the wealthy. It is bought and controlled by the corporations that dominate the world’s resources and finance political campaigns. So instead of chasing politicians we work directly with our communities. PPEHRC supports people taking action throughout May 2010 to challenge this unjust economic system of privatization and corporate control. We will continue to challenge injustice and build a nonviolent movement to heal our communities and our planet.







Visit our international partners, the International Alliance of Inhabitants: http://www.habitants.org/

Visit our national partners, the Take Back the Land Movement: http://www.takebacktheland.org/

Meet us at the U.S. Social Forum 2010 from June 22 – 26 in Detroit to build this movement with thousands of others: http://www.ussf2010.org/

Labels: Bank Demonstrations, Foreclosure, Housing, Housing Takeover, May 2010 Month of Action