CAMPAIGN tO rESTORE nATIONAL hOUSING rIGHTS

Background

The Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights is a coalition of housing rights organizations and community groups around the country that is calling on the national government to reclaim its historic commitment to provide adequate housing for everyone.  The campaign has been meeting with Representative Maxine Waters’ office (Chair of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity) and requesting that she conduct congressional field hearings on the crisis in affordable rental housing, including public housing demolitions, under-funding of Section 8 and rising homelessness.  As poor and low income communities are disproportionately impacted by the national foreclosure crisis, we hope the hearings will bring needed attention to the plight facing these communities.  The hearings will be aimed at highlighting the crisis in housing facing poor communities, moving forward progressive legislation in this area, and advancing the notion of a human right to housing within the United States. 

Campaign Documents

• June 23, 2008, The Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights sent a solidarity letter to Representative Waters requesting regional congressional hearings on the crisis in affordable rental housing. >>>

• August 13, 2008, Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Congressman Barney Frank sent a letter to HUD Secretary Steven Preston demanding that HUD immediately implement a moratorium on all demolitions and dispositions of public housing. >>>

• October 1, 2008, NESRI issued a press release about a solidarity letter sent by national housing rights groups to congressional members of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity urging them to ensure that any bailout plan includes ample resources and commitments for affordable housing.
  

• November 19, 2008, The Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights issued its  policy position paper regarding national housing policy. >>>

• December 3, 2008, NESRI signed onto a national solidarity letter to President-elect Barack Obama urging him to make equitable rebuilding of the Gulf Coast a focal point of his administration. >>>

List of Organizations Calling for Regional Congressional Hearings on the Crisis in Affordable Rental Housing

National Groups:

• Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions  
• National Alliance of HUD Tenants  
• National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
• National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty
• National Training & Information Center  
• Right To The City
• US Human Rights Network (Housing Caucus)

Local Groups:

• African American Leadership Council
• Alliance to Develop Power
• Atlanta Jobs with Justice
• Beyond Shelter, Inc.
• Bowan Homes Resident Association
• CAAAV (Organizing Asian Communities)
• Cabrini Green Rowhouse Council
• Camden United
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• Central Illinois Organizing Project
• Coalition to Protect Public Housing
• Coalition to Save Harlem
• Communities United for Action
• Concerned Citizens of Harlem
• Elim Transitional Housing
• Friends of the Court
• Friends of Public Housing Residents
• Georgia Task Force for the Homeless
• Good Old Lower East Side
• HomeBase/ The Center for Common Concerns, Inc.
• Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco
• Integrated Community Solutions, Inc.
• Iowa Citizens for Community Action
• Jewish Community Action (JCA)
• Kalamazoo Homeless Action Network
• Legal Redress Committee of the NAACP Minnesota/Dakota State Conference
• Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness
• Los Angeles Community Action Network
• Louisiana Justice Institute
• Masjid An Nur
• Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants
• May Day New Orleans
• Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless
• Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH)
• Minneapolis Branch of the NAACP
• Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
• Minnesota Council on Black Minnesotans
• Minnesota Tenants Union
• Minnesota Welfare Rights Committee
• Muslim American Society-Minnesota Chapter
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP Minnesota/ Dakota State Conference
• National People's Action
• New York City Public Housing Residents Alliance
• Northside Neighbors for Justice
• Park Plaza Residents Union
• People for Community Recovery
• People Organized for Westside Renewal
• Poverty Initiative
  
• Public Housing Residents of the Lower East Side
• St. Paul Branch of the NAACP
• St. Paul Department of Human Rights
• St. Stephen'sHuman Services
• Save Our Children
• Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center
• Soul Patrol (New Orleans Diaspora)
• South Austin Coalition Community Council
• Survivors Village
• Urban Justice Center
• Working In Neighborhoods
• Washington Tenants Union

Human Right to Housing Listserv

NESRI’s Housing program recently launched the Human Right to Housing Listserv.  The listserv provides a national forum for the housing justice community to discuss strategies and tactics, as well as garner national support for local housing rights campaigns.  We also hope that the listserv will serve as an avenue for building the human right to housing movement in the United States.  To join the listserv, email Human_right_to_housing@lists.mayfirst.org.