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Human Rights and Housing Justice Organizations across the Country Decry the Eviction of Residents from New Orleans’ Lafitte Public Housing Development

(New York, February 11, 2009) – Last December, residents of New Orleans’ Lafitte Public Housing Development were informed that they would be evicted on March 31, 2009.

This decision came after the city made earlier promises that residents would be able to remain in the units until redevelopment. Many of the residents will be given Section 8 vouchers, but with rental prices rising an average of 40% since Hurricane Katrina, finding alternative housing will be extremely difficult.

In one of the worst economic crises this country has seen, and at a time where government officials should be seeking to secure housing for citizens, New Orleans city officials have decided to evict residents from stable, decent homes. The homeless rate in New Orleans has doubled since Katrina and for many of these residents finding affordable housing options will be next to impossible. This decision-making thwarts our international obligations, and makes little public policy sense given the current economic crisis.

As human rights and housing justice organizations working across the country, we decry this decision by the New Orleans’ government, and call on Mayor Ray Nagin and the New Orleans Housing Authority to fulfill their promise and halt the evictions. We also call on HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and President Barack Obama to place an immediate national moratorium on all public housing demolitions.

National:
Artist Relief Collective (New York, NY)
Blocks Together (Chicago, IL)
C3/Hands Off Iberville (New Orleans, LA)
Center for Constitutional Rights (New York, NY)
Center for Social Inclusion (New York, NY)
Chicago Independent Human Rights Council (Chicago, IL)
Coalition to Protect Public Housing (Chicago, IL)
Community Voices Heard (New York, NY)
Concerned Citizens of Greater Harlem (New York, NY)
Elim Transitional Housing, Inc. (Minneapolis, MN)
Good Old Lower East Side, Inc. (New York, NY)
Hip Hop Caucus (Washington, D.C.)
Hip Hop Congress – Community Organizing Chapters (Chicago, IL)
Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA)
Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco (San Francisco, CA)
Integrated Community Solutions, Inc. (Minneapolis, MN)
International Action Center (New York, NY)
International Socialist Organization (Chicago, IL)
Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness (Los Angeles, CA)
Los Angeles Community Action Network (Los Angeles, CA)
L'ORAGE Ltd. (New York, NY)
Louisiana Justice Institute (New Orleans, LA)
Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants (Jamaica Plain, MA)
May Day New Orleans (New Orleans. LA)
Million Workers March Movement (New York, NY)
Minnesota-New Orleans Solidarity Committee (Minneapolis, MN)
Minnesota Tenants Union (Minneapolis, MN)
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (New York, NY)
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (Washington, DC)
National Lawyers Guild - Minnesota Chapter (Minneapolis, MN)
Neighbors Helping Neighbors (New York, NY)
New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice (New Orleans, LA)
New York City Labor Against War (New York, NY)
New York City Public Housing Alliance (New York, NY)
New York Solidarity for Katrina and Rita Survivors (New York, NY)
Northeast Regional Survivors Assembly (New York, NY)
Northside Neighbors for Justice (Minneapolis. MN))
National Alliance of HUD Tenants (Boston, MA)
National Training and Information Center – Housing Justice Movement (Chicago, IL)
ONE D.C. (Washington, DC)
People for Community Recovery (Chicago, IL)
People's Organization for Progress (Newark, NJ)
Picture the Homeless (New York, NY)
Public Housing Residents of the Lower East Side (New York, NY)
Pueblo En Marcha II, Inc. (New York, NY)
Survivors Village (New Orleans, LA)

The Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless (Atlanta, GA)

The Poverty Initiative (New York, NY)
Troops Out Now (New York, NY)
Union de Vecinos de Pico Aliso (Los Angeles, CA)
Urban Justice Center (New York, NY)
U.S. Human Rights Network (Atlanta, GA)
William P. Quigley (Loyola University New Orleans College of Law)

International:
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (Geneva, Switzerland)
International Alliance of Inhabitants (Padua, Italy)
Urban Poor Consortium (Jakarta, Indonesia)

http://www.nesri.org

The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) promotes a cultural and political commitment to a human rights vision for the United States that ensures dignity and access to the basic resources needed for human development and civic participation.

Contact: Tiffany M. Gardner

212-253-1710, ext 304