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HOUSING ISSUES
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M-D Green Party Supports Housing Rights Advocates At Umoja Village
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The Miami-Dade Green Party recognizing the long and sad history of housing abuses with our poorest citizens opposes any city intervention or invasion of the Umoja Village Shantytown.
On October 23, 2006 homeless persons of the Take Back the Land movement occupied the vacant lot at 6201 NW 17th Ave.and built a shantytown in response to gentrification, and the severe housing crisis and public corruption which resulted in the diversion of tens of millions of low income housing dollars into the pockets of wealthy politically connected developers.
The shantytown was protected by the landmark 1996 Pottinger settlement, in which the City of Miami agreed not to arrest homeless people on public land engaged in "life sustaining conduct," such as bathing, sleeping, eating and building "temporary structures" to protect themselves from the elements. However, the Settlement does exempt certain public land, such as city hall, fire stations and hospitals.
The City of Miami City Coucil now threatens the Village with a recent emergency ordinance which places vacant lots owned by the city in the same category with exemptions such as hospitals, thus gutting Pottinger, endangering homeless people sleeping or eating on those lots and giving legal grounds to a city sponsored raid on the Umoja Village.
Today, the Umoja Village feeds and houses approximately 40 residents. In late November, the Village reached it's building capacity and has been turning away potential residents on a daily basis. The operation subsists entirely on donations.
"This is clearly a provocative move by the Manny Diaz administration and his proxy on the commission, Michelle Spence-Jones, to move poor people out of Miami as part of his poverty reduction program," said Max Rameau of Take Back the Land.
The Miami-Dade Green Party feels it is a priority and committment for this city to not only fulfill back promises but to ensure a meaningful and democratically determined housing policy that does more than feed land speculation for the few.
For more information, and to join support for the people of Umoja Village, you can contact Max Rameau at 786-556-6881.
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