#StopBlackstone. Our Homes Are not a Commodity!
Join members of PAH (the Platform of People Affected by Mortgage in Spain), the Right to the City Alliance, Picture the Homeless and other New York city based housing groups, grassroots community members and activists as we let Blackstone know Our Homes are not a Commodity!
The event is in conjunction with events taking place around the US and around the world: the International Day of Actions - Platform of People Affected by Mortgages and the World Zero Eviction Days - Declared by the International Alliance of Inhabitants and USA Canada Alliance of Inhabitants, the Month of Community Power to Reclaim the Commons - USFSA’s Land and Resource Grab and Reform (La Via Campesina), the National Day of Action - Peoples Climate Movement and the
On Wednesday October 14th, New York City will rise up and stand with social movements around the country and around the world and demand the world We want to see!!
Join members of PAH (the Platform of People Affected by Mortgage in Spain), the Right to the City Alliance, New York city based housing groups, grassroots community members and activists as we let Blackstone know Our Homes are not a Commodity!
We will will converge on Blackstone offices at 1:30pm EDST , after we stand with Vocal NY at City Hall 9am ,
Picture the Homeless on the steps of City Hall at 12 noon. We then travel uptown to to join the Peoples Climate Movement, 12 noon at corporate offices of JP Morgan Chase and on to the rally at Blackstone!!. A full press release for the Blackstone action is attached to this message.
The above events are in conjunction with events taking place around the US and around the world.
Wednesday October 14th is National/International Day of Actions
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The US FoodSovereigntyAlliance- a member of worldwide La Via Campesina
The USFSA’s Land and Resource Grab and Reform team is launching the 2015 (October)
Month of Community Power to Reclaimthe Commons!
World Zero Eviction Days - Declared by the International Alliance of Inhabitants and USA Canada Alliance of Inhabitants
National Day of Action - Peoples Climate Movement
International Day of Actions - Platform of People Affected by Mortgages
"The forces people are facing on the ground today are global in nature; therefore the resistance must be global in nature".
Miloon Kothari (1st UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing) - Sept 2013 @ New School in NYC
#GlobalSolidarity
#StopBlackstone Our Homes Are not a Commodity
Right to housing protest against Blackstone to take place in NYC
14th October at 1,30 pm EST at 345 Park Avenue
Coordinated with simultaneous international protests in Spain, England, Ireland and Japan.
New York City, NY - A protest against the Wall Street giant Blackstone Group will take place in front of the firm’s headquarters in NYC, next Wednesday, October 14th. At 1,30 pm EST. Several New York based grassroots organizations are calling on Blackstone to stop its abusive practices across the world, denouncing its treatment of tenants and its speculation with housing.
This protest against the private equity firm Blackstone is part of a campaign initiated by the Spanish Platform of People affected by Mortgages (PAH) and The Right to the City (RTTC). Together, these two housing collectives have united with a number of communities and grassroots organizations from around the world to tell Blackstone to implement the following demands: Stop purchasing occupied, foreclosed and subsidized (public or social) housing, stop unjust evictions and harassment to tenants, ensure that 25% of all Blackstone housing in a city is affordable to people who make 0 to 30% ami., ensure all utility systems and materials used in Blackstone buildings are sustainable, allow equal access to Blackstone homes for all people and offer responsive and quality customer service providing business and industry information.
Entitled '#StopBlackstone Our Homes Are not a Commodity' this action will be a historic international protest against Blackstone. In the USA, Right to the City, an organization that responds to gentrification and calls to halt displacement of the most vulnerable parts of society has helped to coordinate New York, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and Phoenix. This will be the third action that the PAH, a mutual-aid horizontal initiative that has more than 250 nodes in the Spanish state and fights for the human right to housing, has held together with other housing organizations against Blackstone in NYC.
Blackstone is the largest owner of single family home rentals in the US. The firm spends about 100 million dollars a week on foreclosed properties in USA. It buys properties that have lost value, and wait for the value to increase. It also buys rental properties, raise rents as much as it can and evict tenants without hesitation.
WEB SITE
Last year, Blackstone decided to expand their business by venturing into Spain. After Spain’s housing bubble popped in 2008 about 75.000 families are losing their housing every year; due to unpayable mortgages. Blackstone and other so-called "vulture funds" are even buying rent-controlled housing. Now many tenants have received demands for higher rent, many have been threatened with eviction, and some have already been evicted.
For more information please contact:
Rachael McCullough
917 596 7339
For information about actions across the U.S.:
Toni Romano
404 593 5227