Labor council calls for moratorium
Published Jun 19, 2008 11:24 PM
On June 9, the San Francisco Labor Council passed a resolution “For
a Moratorium on Foreclosures, Utility Shutoffs, Evictions & Public Housing
Demolitions.”
The resolution declares that although “housing is a human right,”
homelessness is increasing, public housing units are being demolished and
“millions may lose their homes to foreclosure and eviction—all at a
time when workers need the jobs at prevailing wages that building adequate
housing for the people would provide.”
The resolution targets “the predatory practices of banks and mortgage
companies” as well as “a big increase in the number of evictions of
renters from their homes and apartments, and utility shutoffs facing those
unable to pay their gas and electric bills.”
It recalls that “during the Great Depression of the 1930s, 25 states
adopted a moratorium (freeze) on foreclosures, and such moratoriums were upheld
by the U.S. Supreme Court,” and adds that “Governors, State
Legislatures, the President and Congress, as well as the Department of Housing
& Urban Development, have the statutory authority to declare a moratorium
on home foreclosures and evictions during a time of either natural or economic
emergency disaster.”
Noting that “Michigan State Senator Hansen Clarke has introduced a bill
calling for a 2-year moratorium on foreclosures, in a state that is suffering
the worst housing crisis since the 1930s,” and that “4,500 units of
habitable or easily renovated public housing are being demolished or threatened
with demolition in New Orleans,” the Labor Council calls on “the
President and elected representatives to implement a moratorium (freeze) on
home foreclosures, utility shut-offs and evictions” and also “a
moratorium on public housing demolitions.”
The San Francisco Labor Council resolves to “work together with housing
advocates and the trade union movement in a joint effort to bring about these
reforms, and to establish the principle and practice that housing is a right
for every man, woman and child living in the United States.”
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