Can the Chicago Anti-Eviction campaign work?
Lenise's door, boarded up, and marked with a "No Tresspassing" Sign. Lenise Forrest was evicted from her home in the Cabrini Rowhouses on Tuesday for non-payment of rent, 10 months after she was laid off.
Right now, a dedicated group of volunteers and organizers are working to stop the poor from being thrown out in the cold.
The Chicago Anti-Eviction campaign started with Lenise Forrest, a Cabrini-Green woman who’s been unemployed for some time and was evicted Tuesday because she can’t pay her rent.
The Anti-Eviction campaign wants to keep Lenise and the hundreds like her in their homes.
Their slogan: Where’s our bailout?
The banks got bailed out. The big companies got bailed out. They made mistakes, fell on hard times, and got another chance. But not Lenise Forrest. Not the poor of Chicago.
It’s gutsy, for sure. But can their campaign work?
It’s based on the amazing work of activists in South Africa – the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign which was started after the end of apartheid in 1994. Even though apartheid was ended, black people were never given back the land and resources which their colonizers stole from them. And so even though people were “free,” they were enslaved by their economic condition, especially when the country’s resources, like water, were being privatized.
So they struck back. They made human chains to stop evictions or moved people back in when they had been put out. They broke water meters and instead created direct lines for water to move from the supply to people’s houses.
The idea is that basic human needs – shelter, water, health care – cannot be privatized. They are human resources – public resources.
That idea really got me thinking. I mean, what if our air started to get so polluted, so nasty, that some jolly fellow out in a pristine location started bottling air. You could buy your own personal air supply, if you had the cash, or get sicker and sicker on polluted air. Eventually, the air might be so polluted you couldn’t breathe it at all, and it’s either pay up or die out.
That would be outrageous, right? You can’t sell air. Everyone has the right to breathe.
And yet water, shelter, food – these are basic things everyone must have to live. But we allow someone to own these resources and sell them to others. You don’t have the money? You don’t get them.
That’s the basic principle behind evictions like Lenise’s. She ran out of money. She can’t pay her rent. So she’s out. It’s as simple as that. Whether it’s a basic human resource like shelter or a luxury item only the rich can afford, if you don’t have the money, you don’t get any.
The idea of charging for basic human needs seems wrong on some deep level, at least to me. Yet, it’s the system our economy is based on. Capitalism is all about private property. If you own something, you can sell it, and if we all make something to sell, we free ourselves up to make technological advances and innovations, instead of everyone just their own cow for eternity.
Capitalism is America. At one time, to be anti-capitalist was a crime, and although we’re not as strict these days, the word “socialist” is still mostly used as an insult.
We have these two huge ideas – a property based economy and a human rights plea for help – butting heads in a very practical circumstance.
Tuesday night, the Anti-Eviction Campaign volunteers tried to put Lenise back in her apartment, they told me. But the district police commander arrived, telling them it would be a felony charge if they tried to do so. When I arrived, police were watching the front and back door, making sure no one tried to go inside.
As one of the advocates put it, isn’t it a strange day in America when the police come to defend the rights of an empty building, rather than a family put out in the cold?
Who will win this fight?
Will a group of plucky, determined advocates break our capitalist system and convince Chicago that basic human needs cannot be privatized?
Or will our capitalist notions continue to plow forward, with the idea that individual property rights are an inherent part of individual liberty?
It’s not just an intellectual battle. It’s a practical one, and it looks like this: Will Lenise Forrest get her home in the Cabrini rowhouses back, or will she be forced to find a new one?
We shall see.
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There are 50 people facing eviction in Cabrini right now. As with Lenise Forrest, it isn’t so much an inability to pay rent as it is that the management company, (outsourced through CHA) claims that she, and many of the others facing eviction, owe a lump sum based on the miscalculation of rent in the past. This is a mechanism for evicting low and extremely low-income families from public housing, so that they will never be eligible for subsidized housing again. Go to Cabrini rowhouses and see for yourself how many homes are sitting empty. I cannot even see that the rule of capital is fully at play here in that Lenise made every effort to work with management and CHA to pay the sum. Like so many folks, she is recently unemployed and struggling, but why not work with her to collect the money? Why instead evict her and pay for a private company to pack her belongings? By the way, she has not been allowed to collect her belongings, so she is homeless and without even her own coat.
Hi Holly – Thanks so much for commenting!
You’re right – Lenise’s troubles start from a disagreement with the management company over what she owes and when she owed it. I didn’t get into it here because it’s sort of complicated to explain, but it does have to do with more than just paying. However, Lenise’s job situation certainly doesn’t help, and prohibits her from finding another place somewhere else.
I was thinking about all those vacant units, and people being evicted, and wondering if some kind of system could be worked out for people who couldn’t pay and can’t find a job. So many people can’t find a job, and their talents and intellect are going to waste. What if they could do simple things like maintenence or pick up trash? Could the tutor kids after school or help local teachers? Could they file papers in the management office or work in the community garden down the street? It doesn’t do anyone any good to have these vacant apartments and have families on the street. Certainly, we can do better for them. What do you think of that idea?
In response to another comment. See in context »Its pretty clear why there are empty units and the evictions keep coming. Its an attempt to empty out the development. Cabrini Green is in a prime spot in Chicago, one needs only too look across the street to see the future.
In response to another comment. See in context »Update: As predicted, because CHA hasn’t yet allowed Lenise back into her unit to get her stuff, the unit has been burglarized. As we speak there are ten police officers guarding her home refusing to let her in to see what was taken. They’re not out trying to recuperate what was stolen. They’re not out preventing crimes. They are standing in front and back of her apartment trying to stop her from getting in.
There are so many issues at play here. For one, despite the lack of a job, Lenise IS working. She is raising a family. She is caring for her community. When will our society recognize this as valuable work?
Then there is the fact that this is the richest nation in the world and yet we still cannot guarantee the most basic of human rights – a roof over everyone’s head. You are riht, Megan, to point out that the notion of a human right to housing stands in direct contradiction to the idea that housing and land are private commodities, that the private market should allocate housing to people based on who can pay. But I should hope that now, after seeing the entire global economy crash because of this exact notion, because of allowing speculation to run rampant in the housing market, that people would be open to the idea that maybe the market isn’t the best domain for housing, maybe it is time to go back to a simple idea – that a home is a home, not a commodity, that a community is a community, not a parcel of land to be bought and sold.
Can we, the Chicago Anti-eviction Campaign, by ourselves, take on and reverse the privatization of housing? Can we stop all evictions? Can we defeat this system and replace it with a humane one that sees housing as a human right? No. Not by ourselves. But we can fight like hell to expose the de-humanizing disgusting immoral nature of this system and open up spaces of resistance that, taken together with the actions of our sisters and brothers around the country and world, will eventually show that another world is possible and that we are going to make it a reality.
I think you would better serve this woman by finding her an attorney to help her. I believe its illegal to withhold her property.
[...] } Jan. 8 2010 – 1:43 pm – Megan Cottrell – TrueSlant Lenise’s door, boarded up, and marked with a “No Tresspassing” Sign. Lenise [...]
Oh Megan. As sympathetic as I am to the plight of the Lady in question, I have to take exception to your comments about rights and property. You can’t equate a right to breathe to things like food and shelter for the simple fact that food and shelter has to be *created* by someone. What incentive is there to build housing or grow food if it can then be declared public property, free to all? Of course, that can only happen *after* it’s created; you can lay claim to a vacant lot or empty field all you want and declare all sorts of rights but without people to create you get nothing. And guess what? People want to be compensated for their work! Hey! I think we’ve just defined a JOB, the very thing people want.
I’m hardly a conservative, but you do your cause(s) no credit by the kind of muddle-headed thinking shown in your piece. Good luck and hope to read more from you in the future.
Amiga Joe, by your line of thinking, if someone had to drive or fly to a far off place to find clean air that we hadn’t polluted and bring it back to us so we could breathe – well, that would be work, perhaps a JOB, like you stated. And they would deserve to be compensated for that.
If anyone found a vacant lot in Chicago, set up a tent and declared it theirs, they would be hauled off by the police. The last time something like that was legal was during the Homestead Act of the 1860s.
Did I say that people should grow food or create housing and not be compensated for their work? Absolutely not. What I asked is whether basic human resources can be commodified, in the same way that we do with a Lexus or a Coach purse.
In response to another comment. See in context »I live in Chicago and go past Cabrini Green daily, My question is why put your efforts into getting her back into that god-forsaken hell hole? Have you been there? You efforts should be towards getting better housing. The management may be doing her more of a favor than you.
IN THE CASE OF PUBLIC HOUSING THE LANDLORD IS NOT PRIVATE IT IS THE CITY,HOUSING AUTHORITY. THEY ONLY SUBCONTRACT PROPERTY MANAGERS WHO MADE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS LOOK UP A QUESTIONABLE CONNECTION. THE CITY CAN REDUCE HOMELESSNESS BY STOPPING THE EVICTIONS AND FORCED DISPLACEMENT OF PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS. THE CITY DOES THIS BECAUSE THEY THINK WE ARE NOT ORGANIZE NEWS FLASH DALEY AND LEWIS JORDAN WE ABOUT TO TENDER OVER YOUR FILES TO THE FEDS ON YOUR HOUSING MONOPOLY AND CONTRACT STEERING INVESTIGATION COMPLETE. “TRAVEL LIGHT AND PACK YOUR FAITH” WHERE U GOING U GONNA NEED IT
Lenise Forrest house was broken into Friday evening. Police had the suspect but let him go. Will poor people ever receive justice.If we start taking the law in our own hands then we are considered Criminals>When Local Government violates federal Laws that impact us poor people they are forgiven,or slapped on the wrist. With over 2000 evictions scheduled in Cook County a majority in the Chicago area how many of these people will find assistance or rapid re-housing with the A.R.R.A. funds chicago has. Or will Mayor Daley use it for his cronies operational and administrational budgets
“Isn’t it a strange day in America when the police come to defend the rights of an empty building, rather than a family put out in the cold?”
Great quote. Nice work, Megan.
Nope, not by ourselves. Below is the info about the next Chicago Anti-Eviction event. Please join us. We do have power in numbers:
TOWN HALL AGAINST EVICTIONS
Thursday – 1/14/09 – 6pm
Park Community Church
1001 N Crosby (just West of Larabee on Oak)
CALL-IN :
1) Tell CHA and HUD- “Move Lenise Forrest back into 933 N. Cambridge and declare a moratorium on all evictions at public and subsidized housing.”
CHA: (312) 742-8500 and press “0″ twice to get an operator then ask for CHA CEO Lewis Jordan
HUD: Midwest Director Beverly Bishop (312) 913-8139, Director of IL Office of Public Housing Steve Meiss (312) 913-8300
2) Tell Cook County – “Extend the holiday moratorium on evictions.”
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart – 312-603-6444
Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans – 312-603-6000
Judge E. Kenneth Wright Jr., 1st Municipal District Presiding Judge – 312-603-6132
The idea is that basic human needs – shelter, water, health care – cannot be privatized. They are human resources – public resources.
“Public” has an unfairly bad reputation, I think that’s certain; per your air analogy, you might note the deleterious effect water-system privatization has had on Illinois towns. Examples are legion – the role of the military in creating some of the most important technology we use (the Internet, GPS, etc), the role of government agencies and state universities in the creation of prescription drugs and other medical treatments, and so forth. There are a lot of things that could theoretically be privatized and aren’t, and everyone is okay with that, because we all believe it works, for good reason.
Having said that, the history of public housing in the 20th century is filled with disaster and misery, which is a real barrier to what you propose. There’s a good case to be made that its unfortunate history has more to do with mismanagement and bad faith, but bad associations with public housing specifically are strong.
What went wrong, in the abstract, is a fascinating question. For better or worse, you’re reporting from a good city to examine it.
PS: If you haven’t, drop what you’re doing and read “Family Properties” by Beryl Satter and “Our Lot” (at least the first chapter of the latter, though the whole thing is amazing).
[...] of three orphans and their guardian, to the protested eviction of a Cabrini-Green mother, to the Chicago campaign to stop evictions from happening this winter. Matt [...]
“The idea is that basic human needs – shelter, water, health care – cannot be privatized. They are human resources – public resources.”
“And yet water, shelter, food – these are basic things everyone must have to live. But we allow someone to own these resources and sell them to others. You don’t have the money? You don’t get them.”
It scares me that you want housing to be some sort of communal resource. My house is my own, and it is not yours.
I am a landlord. I wouldn’t do it for free. People like me expand the market for available housing and give people places to live. To read your article I am some sort of villan.
Once everyone gets free food and housing who is going to produce the free food and housing?
Thanks for reading and commenting, shakes.
I did not say I wanted housing to be a communal resource. I questioned the idea that basic human needs can be privatized and taken from people who can’t pay, through little fault of their own.
I never said landlords were bad people. Landlords, in my opinion, have very tough jobs, and are in most cases, nice people just trying to do their job like everyone else. My landlord, for instance, is very kind and helpful.
I am not a member of the Anti-Eviction Campaign, and I am not espousing that American take up some sort of socialism. I’m questioning their tactics as well as questioning our own policies that bail out big banks but do little for families left in a lurch because of the economy.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] PDRTJS_settings_365845_post_3925 = { "id" : "365845", "unique_id" : "wp-post-3925", "title" : "Eviction+is+for+black+women+what+incarceration+is+to+black+men", "item_id" : "_post_3925", "permalink" : "http%3A%2F%2Fantieviction.org.za%2F2010%2F02%2F03%2Feviction-is-for-black-women-what-incarceration-is-to-black-men%2F" } Jan. 27 2010 – 1:00 pm – Megan Cottrell – TrueSlant [...]