ALAMEDA, CALIF.
Tenants win battle to keep Section 8 housing
By Shane Hoff
San Francisco
Whoever said "You can't fight City Hall" never
met the people of Alameda, Calif.
In early June, 238 tenants received notices in the mail that
they and their families were being dropped from the city's
Section 8 program. Without that program, the largest source of
subsidized housing for poor people, most tenants faced
homelessness. But they didn't accept that fate. For a month
they waged an unprecedented struggle to get Section 8 housing
funds restored.
And on July 20 they won. Gathered at the steps of City Hall
with their children, tenants were jubilant when they heard the
Alameda Housing Authority had reinstated every single housing
voucher.
"One month ago I stood here crying my eyes out," said Kenija
Henry. "The Hous ing Authority told us there was nothing we
could do. But we went to their houses and shook up their
meetings."
The battle began when tenants and their supporters showed up
at an Ala meda City Council meeting in June, although the issue
of Section 8 wasn't on the agenda. After listening to a long
discus sion about a parking lot, the tenants disrupted the
meeting and demanded that the council discuss the housing
crisis.
In response, the director of the Alameda Housing Authority,
Michael Pucci, met with the tenants in an effort to quell their
protests. Pucci told them "nothing could be done" since the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had cut
funding for Alameda's Section 8 program.
The tenants wouldn't accept that. They rallied outside the
Alameda Housing Authority. And then about 40 tenants and
supporters occupied Mayor Beverly John son's office demanding a
meeting with her. Ignored by the mayor, they held a picket
outside her home, as well as Pucci's.
A few days later they led a march to City Hall. The city and
Housing Authority relented with a special City Council meeting
where officials worked out one month of relief for the tenants.
The victories were piecemeal as the city and Housing Autho rity
tried to see how little they could get away with. But the
tenants were determined that not one person would be
evicted.
Pucci trekked to Washington, D.C., where he met with HUD
officials. Some how the agency found $600,000 for Alameda. So
half of the city's tenants got their Section 8 vouchers back.
But that still left 108 people facing evictions.
So the Section 8 Tenants Union and Campaign for Renters
Rights held a rally July 20 at City Hall where the City Council
was to discuss the tenants left behind. When the tenants showed
up they got a surprise. Pucci had issued a media release that
day announcing that everyone's vouchers would be restored.
Organizers said Alameda was the first Housing Authority in
the country that tried to put people on the streets. But it may
not be the last. Pucci's release noted that about 25 percent of
housing authorities across the country--between 800 and
900--have funding shortfalls. The San Francisco Bay Guardian
reported that the federal government has proposed cutting
Section 8 funding by another $1.6 billion in 2005, which would
put 268,000 households at risk for homelessness in 2005.
"This is going to be happening around the country," tenant
Malika Nassirruddin told the crowd. "We have to show the people
how to fight."
Speakers at the rally stood in front of a big sign declaring
"Save Our Homes." During the rally Nassirruddin painted another
message in red across the sign: "We saved our homes."
Reprinted from the Aug. 5, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe to WW by Email: wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Donate to
support pro-labor, anti-war news.
Email
this article
Printable
page