As many now know, the march by the NHPP occurred today and I covered most of the action for the Contributor. I don't have all the details at the moment but just received my confirmation call from the group leader of the NHPP, Jeannie Alexander, who stated that federal marshalls were arresting them at the moment.
Much more on the event that occurred today, as soon as I recover from the toll the whole process took on my body and my brain.
The call from Jeannie came in at 5:30PM and I do believe Cheri Honkala, Howard and Ann Allen, and Jeannie were taken into custody. There may be others arrested but I'll write more as details come in.
The last I knew, Clemmie Greenlee, pictured below with Howard Allen, had departed the premises and was not included in the arrest of the group.
UPDATE 6:21PM
Jeannie Alexander just called - they were cited and released and will head to court in the near future.
Final Update 8:22PM
It has been a wild day of filming the march, watching and waiting for the shoe to drop, and I am tired. I'll have much video of today's event available tomorrow, but here's the latest: 11 local police officers, nine cruisers and one helicopter arrived at the house and allowed anyone who wanted to leave to do so. Two members of the Nashville Homeless Power Project, Clemmie Greenlee and Jeannie Alexander, along with Cheri Honkala, defied orders to leave and were cited and released.
No jail, no booking, no hassles. I met with the three in their office at the Arcade and documented their reactions, thoughts and expectations for the coming months.
They must appear in court on May 28th to answer for the charge of criminal trespass of a HUD house. They will be pleading not guilty and are hoping to put homelessness on trial instead, calling forth as many witnesses as they can muster to discuss the problems of homelessness, the lack of response to the crisis that is occurring in the United States regarding homelessness, and they believe they are morally and spiritually on solid ground with their cause.
There are 12 other HUD homes currently being occupied elsewhere in the city and this trend will not only continue, but with the outcome of today's events, will undoubtedly increase, since there are some 4500 HUD homes currently in foreclosure in Davidson County - enough vacant homes to house just about every homeless person in the county, according to NHPP spokespersons.
This battle has just begun for the people at the NHPP. Many many people are pissed, they are tired of waiting, they are dying in the streets and they are fed up with our perceived lack of real progress on this issue. Whether it is legal or not I suspect has become irrelevant to many and they are so used to receiving citations, nights in jail and hassles from law enforcement that they feel this just comes with the territory. At least now they believe they have a choice where they will lay their heads, and with the number of available HUD units in and around Davidson County, it will be damned near impossible for the police to check each one of them every night.
Don't say I haven't been warning you that folks were about to take matters into their own hands...
Homeless forced off HUD property
Homeless advocates marched to a vacant house near Dickerson Road on Wednesday and helped Howard Allen Jr., a homeless man, move into the three-bedroom home.
For months, Allen has been sleeping on a bench at the bus stop behind the Sommet Center in downtown Nashville.
After setting up a makeshift bed in the Housing and Urban Development residence on Flamingo Drive the man said, “My brain has a sanctuary and now my body has a sanctuary.’’
But five hours later, Metro Police forced Allen and other homeless representatives
“Time has worn thin for talking and no action,” said Allen, who has served on several homeless commissions. “I’m willing to go to jail for this.”
Homeless advocates maintain that it makes sense for the homeless to move into the publicly funded building rather than allowing it to sit empty.
The nonprofit Nashville Homeless Power Project used a mid-day march to make the point. About 40 homeless advocates left the Metro Courthouse on James Robertson Parkway and walked to the house where police were directing traffic but did not immediately intervene.
Later, Pyramid Real Estate Services, which is trying to sell the home for HUD, asked police to remove them.
Organization officials say they’ve already taken over a dozen vacant HUD homes in Davidson County, but this was the first time they made their intentions public.
“It’s a point we appreciate but we don’t advocate breaking the law to do it,’’ said Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for HUD in Washington, D.C. He said the home is for sale, and as long as it’s occupied it can’t be sold.
But Allen said he has sent in an application and a check to HUD to legitimize his occupation of the home, and he intends to pay more as he continues in his new temp agency job.
He admits having a criminal record stemming from a voter fraud conviction, a non-violent felony, and he says that makes it difficult for him and other offenders to get housing.
“I’ve messed up but I’ve paid my debts. I was a failure and now I’m a success,’’ he said.
Between January 2007 and January 2008, the number of homeless men and women sleeping outdoors in Nashville grew about 19 percent, from 390 to 466, according to the Metropolitan Development and Housing Authority.
Another homeless advocate, Cheri Honkala, began doing housing takeovers 20 years ago in the Twin Cities area. She and her son had been living in their car but were left to the streets when their makeshift home was totaled in an accident with a drunken driver.
“It was that day we had to make a decision: Move forward and take over an abandoned house or stay on the street and freeze to death,” said Honkala, who works with homeless advocacy organizations across the nation.
Honkala, of Minneapolis, was cited with Allen, along with Jeannie Alexander, program director for the Nashville organization.
Contact Rachel Stults at 726-8904 or rstults@tenness
(From the UN Observer)
| U.S.: Nashville Homeless, Tired of Foreclosures, Reclaim Vacant Government Homes |
| 2008-05-07 | Nashville, TN The Nashville Homeless Power Project, a member organization of the PPEHRC in Nashville, TN, led a march of poor and homeless families for housing on Wednesday May 7th, a march which culminated with the takeover of vacant HUD homes. The march began at 1:00 p.m. in front of the Metro Court House then proceeded to Dickerson Road, an area that has been recently rezoned for luxury development. The homeless group is concerned that redevelopment will again not prioritize the needs of the poor and may push families out of the area. “In this time of foreclosures, many of us are facing homelessness. We need our city to prioritize poor and working families above luxury development. Despite repeated promises from local government the homeless are left the die in the streets while their demand for housing is ignored” said Clemmie Greenlee, formerly homeless grandmother and organizer with the Power Project. The march then became a caravan and participants were driven to Tom Joy Elementary School where the group held a brief prayer vigil for the estimated 1,800 homeless school children in the Nashville area. The march ended where one of the vacant HUD homes has been reclaimed. Homeless people vow not to leave the homes voluntarily. Cheri Honkala, National Organizer of the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign, also participated in the march and takeover and cited the City of Nashville for “their failure to address the homeless crisis and rise in foreclosures”. Representatives of the power project vow that the May 7th march and takeover is the next step in a fight that will not end until everyone has access to safe and affordable housing. Jeannie Alexander, program director of the Power Project further stated that the takeover was the first public takeover of a vacant HUD home by the Power Project but that the organization has “covertly taken over more than a dozen other vacant houses in the city” and will continue to take additional houses “as long as there are people who do not have homes”. Visit http://economichumanrights.org for more information on the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. |
