The results are in for the first day's matches: England, Ethiopia, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Poland, and Portugal have blown away their opponents in the first round of the Homeless World Cup 2008,

I would be remiss in my blogging duties if I ended my day and did not mention that the Homeless World Cup kicked off today in Melbourne!

Take a minute and check out the info and sites....

Kicking Off the Homeless World Cup

By Flickr user Benno Hansen
The results are in for the first day's matches: England, Ethiopia, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Poland, and Portugal have blown away their opponents in the first round of the Homeless World Cup 2008, which is taking place in Melbourne, Australia, from December 1 to 7. The tournament features over 500 football (soccer) players, men and women, from 48 different countries. All of them are homeless.

From the tournament website: "The Homeless World Cup is an annual, international football tournament, uniting teams of people who are homeless and excluded to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives forever. It has triggered and supports grass roots football projects in over 60 nations working with over 25,000 homeless and excluded people throughout the year.... The impact is consistently significant year on year with 73% of players changing their lives for the better by coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into jobs, education, homes, training, reuniting with families and even going on to become players and coaches for pro or semi-pro football teams."

Also this week, turn your attention to Chile for the South American Football for Hope Festival. Over 200 boys and girls from around South America (as well as Costa Rica and South Africa) are meeting in Santiago de Chile from December 1 to 7 for a street-football

tournament and cultural festival. The event aims to demonstrate football as a medium for intercultural dialogue and community development.

I learned about both of these exciting events from an organization called streetfootballworld, which I blogged about earlier this year. 

 

 

 (official site)

A BALL CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

There are one billion homeless people living in our world today.
The Homeless World Cup exists to end this, so we all have a home, a basic human need.

The Homeless World Cup is an annual, international football tournament, uniting teams of people who are homeless and excluded to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives forever. It has triggered and supports grass roots football projects in over 60 nations working with over 25,000 homeless and excluded people throughout the year.

The first tournament took place in Graz 2003 uniting 17 national teams. At the 5th Homeless World Cup in Copenhagen this summer, 48 nations, 500 players were united for a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country. Melbourne is the host city for the next tournament from 1-7 December 2008.

The impact is consistently significant year on year with 73% of players changing their lives for the better by coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into jobs, education, homes, training, reuniting with families and even going on to become players and coaches for pro or semi-pro football teams.
The Homeless World Cup supporters include UEFA, Nike, UN, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Ambassador Eric Cantona and international footballers Didier Drogba and Rio Ferdinand.

Watch Homeless World Cup TV to find out more.
 
Join the Homeless World Cup on Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, and Youtube and post your comments, photos and videos.
 

"He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don't have a dime for a down payment."

Not sure if a lot of folks will remember when the NHPP took over a HUD home in foreclosure last summer, but take it over they sure did.  

Not sure how long they were able to keep it; I seem to recall "Harold," one of the primary persons involved, telling me that they lived in the house for most of the summer but at some point everyone in the home happened to be gone on various personal missions and the home was retaken by the real estate company that originally had possession of it, thereby ending the "tenancy" of the takeover crew.

I suspect the inventory has grown considerably since that takeover and I also suspect there'll be plenty of folks who will be squatting in these homes for some time to come, given the state of our housing market and economy.  And frankly, since the penalty for entering the house is merely a trespass ticket - the same ticket many of the homeless around here get for walking along the railroad tracks or standing under an awning to avoid downpours - it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you're gonna catch a trespass beef, it might as well be for something like a house rather than a cold step over on Capitol Ave.....

Miami activist moves people into foreclosed houses

Monday, December 01, 2008

By TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press Writer

MIAMI —  Max Rameau delivers his sales pitch like a pro. "All tile floor!" he says during a recent showing. "And the living room, wow! It has great blinds."

But in nearly every other respect, he is unlike any real estate agent you've ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don't have a dime for a down payment.

Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own around Miami's empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move into foreclosed homes.

"We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," he said with a grin.

Rameau and a group of like-minded advocates formed Take Back the Land, which also helps the new "tenants" with secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep. So far, he has moved six families into foreclosed homes and has nine on a waiting list.
"I think everyone deserves a home," said Rameau, who said he takes no money from his work with the homeless. "Homeless people across the country are squatting in empty homes. The question is: Is this going to be done out of desperation or with direction?"

With the housing market collapsing, squatting in foreclosed homes is believed to be on the rise around the country. But squatters usually move in on their own, at night, when no one is watching. Rarely is the phenomenon as organized as Rameau's effort to "liberate" foreclosed homes.

Florida _ especially the Miami area, with its once-booming condo market _ is one of the hardest-hit states in the housing crisis, largely because of overbuilding and speculation. In September, Florida had the nation's second-highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 178 homes in default, according to Realty Trac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. Only Nevada's rate was higher.

Like other cities, Miami is trying to ease the problem. Officials launched a foreclosure-prevention program to help homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage, with loans of up to $7,500 per household.
The city also recently passed an ordinance requiring owners of abandoned homes _ whether an individual or bank _ to register those properties with the city so police can better monitor them.

Elsewhere around the country, advocates in Cleveland are working with the city to allow homeless people to legally move into and repair empty, dilapidated houses. In Atlanta, some property owners pay homeless people to live in abandoned homes as a security measure.

In early November, Rameau drove a woman and her 18-month old daughter to a ranch home on a quiet street lined with swaying tropical foliage. Marie Nadine Pierre, 39, has been sleeping at a shelter with her toddler. She said she had been homeless off and on for a year, after losing various jobs and getting evicted from several apartments.

"My heart is heavy. I've lived in a lot of different shelters, a lot of bad situations," Pierre said. "In my own home, I'm free. I'm a human being now."

Rameau chose the house for Pierre, in part, because he knew its history. A man had bought the home in the city's predominantly Haitian neighborhood in 2006 for $430,000, then rented it to Rameau's friends. Those friends were evicted in October because the homeowner had stopped paying his mortgage and the property went into foreclosure.

Rameau, who makes his living as a computer consultant, said he is doing the owner a favor. Before Pierre moved in, someone stole the air conditioning unit from the backyard, and it was only a matter of time before thieves took the copper pipes and wiring, he said.

"Within a couple of months, this place would be stripped and drug dealers would be living here," he said, carrying a giant plastic garbage bag filled with Pierre's clothes into the home.

He said he is not scared of getting arrested.

"There's a real need here, and there's a disconnect between the need and the law," he said. "Being arrested is just one of the potential factors in doing this."

Miami spokeswoman Kelly Penton said city officials did not know Rameau was moving homeless into empty buildings _ but they are also not stopping him.

"There are no actions on the city's part to stop this," she said in an e-mail. "It is important to note that if people trespass into private property, it is up to the property owner to take action to remove those individuals."
Pierre herself could be charged with trespassing, vandalism or breaking and entering. Rameau assured her he has lawyers who will represent her free.

Two weeks after Pierre moved in, she came home to find the locks had been changed, probably by the property's manager. Everything inside _ her food, clothes and family photos _ was gone.

But late last month, with Rameau's help, she got back inside and has put Christmas decorations on the front door.

So far, police have not gotten involved.

"The economy reached a peak of activity in December 2007 and has been declining since"

Many months ago I was posting about the sorry state of our economy and many of the articles I was citing and/or quoting from argued that while it was certainly difficult to tell at that point whether we were indeed in a recession, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, well.....

Around about that time, a mad wingnut started arguing with me in the comment section about my "doom and gloom" predictions while using standard rightwing talking points to buttress his rationale.  

I finally gave up trying to talk with the person and began deleting his increasingly ugly comments at the moderation stage.  He eventually stopped comin round, and darn it, right at the moment I kinda miss him.  

Actually, I think I miss more being able to rub his nose in NBER's assessment, since I do remember him pointing to NBER and claiming they hadn't made the claim yet.

Glad to see that it was listed as a recession prior to Obama taking office cuz you just know that the righties would be blaming him for the "worst recession since the Great Depression" four years from now....

ECONOMIC REPORT

Recession began a year ago, economists say

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

Last update: 2:36 p.m. EST Dec. 1, 2008

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. economy entered a recession in December 2007, a committee of economists at the private National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday. 

 

The economy reached a peak of activity in December 2007 and has been declining since, according to the business cycle dating committee of the NBER. 

 

The government, academics and the private sector generally defer to the NBER's judgments about recessions.

The committee does not judge a recession as two consecutive quarterly declines in gross domestic product; rather, it examines quarterly data along with four key monthly economic indicators: employment, incomes, industrial output and sales. 

 

Employment and incomes peaked in December, industrial output peaked in January, and sales peaked in June, the NBER committee said. 

 

The committee's definition of a recession is as follows: "A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators." 

 

The committee, which includes academic economists, met on Friday by conference call. Several members of the committee had said earlier that the economy was likely in a recession, but said they were waiting for more information before making the call about when the recession had begun. 

 

Democrats on Capitol Hill said the news was hardly surprising and reiterated calls for an economic stimulus package. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said he and other Democrats will send a package to the White House as soon as possible after President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January. 

 

"The announcement simply makes official what we have long known - with rising costs of living, rising unemployment, record foreclosures and depleted savings, we must do more to help families make ends meet," Reid said in a statement. He said a recovery package must create good-paying jobs in the U.S., cut middle class taxes and instill confidence to stabilize the market. 

 

The committee members are: chairman Robert Hall of Stanford University, Martin Feldstein of Harvard University, Jeffrey Frankel of Harvard, Robert Gordon of Northwestern University, James Poterba of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David Romer of the University of California at Berkeley, and Victor Zarnowitz of the Conference Board. 

 

One member of the committee, Christine Romer of California Berkeley, did not participate in the conference call. She resigned from the committee last week to join the Obama administration as head of the Council of Economic Advisers. 

 

The expansion from November 2001 to December 2007 lasted 73 months. The previous expansion lasted 120 months. The average expansion since the end of World War II has lasted 57 months. The typical postwar recession has lasted 10 months.  

 

Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch.