Zero evictions for 200 tenants but repair their homes!
The Westminster Court apartments in St. Paul, Minn. have been cited with hundreds of violations and are currently in foreclosure. (MPR Photo/Jeffrey Thompson)
The Minnesota Tenants Union is organizing with tenants in a 60 unit apartment complex foreclosed in St. Paul, Minnesota, under threat of displacement. We'd like your help. Specifically, some support messages from member groups worldwide to relevant city officials here would be a real shot in thearm for the tenants.
Here is the latest development in the tenants' struggle for recognition and to save their homes in St. Paul, Minnesota: on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, a court here has allowedtenantsto intervene as parties in the foreclosure case between the bank (Wells Fargo) and the landlords, with particular attention to the appointment of a receiver and how the receiver will operate. Now that a receiver has been appointed to replace the landlords in the operation of the buildings, we are determined the monitor the receiver’s actions closely to ensure, to the extent possible, that the receiver acts consistent with the tenants’ goals: all necessary repairs done / no tenants evicted due to housing code enforcement or the receiver’s decision that a “higher use” of the buildings in the bank’s view would be to vacate them and upscale or demolish them.
This is the first timewe areaware that tenants(whose homes are so directly affected by these kinds of suits) have been allowed to intervene as parties, or, as one of the attorneys for theestablished partiescondescendingly put it,"to tag along". We shall see who gets the last tag!
We see this work as part of the Zero Evictions campaign and the effort many of us have prioritized: to place our tenant advocacy work in the context of promoting consciousness of the human right to housing.
The immediate focus of our organizingnow turns to the City of St. Paul's Department of Safety and Inspections, which has issued orders saying that if about400repairs are not completed by January 18, 2012City officials may vacate the buildings,i.e., evict the tenants. We say no tenants should be evicted due to the landlords' neglect or due tounreasonable use of housing code enforcement powers. All repairs can and must be made without evicting tenants!
Specifically, we are arranging a meeting with key decision-makers in St. Paul City government. Our goals are 1) avoid any precipitous closure of the buildings and eviction of tenants following the January 18, 2012 re-inspection of the buildings; and 2) to begin a teamwork approach with on-going and direct tenant involvement to getting needed repairs done, for example, setting a practical and well-publicized schedule for repairs that follows priorities for repair proposed by the tenants.
Your letters of solidarity/support for these goals will be helpful and greatly appreciated.
Please send your letters using the sample, here below and in attach, directly to the relevant St. Paul officials , with a copy to us so we will know who is saying what to whom and, just as important, who we will thank for their support!
>>> Deadline January 24 2012!
(Your letterhead on your e-mail message if possible)
Kathy Lantry, President of the St. Paul City Council
Kathy.Lantry@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Amy Brendmoen, Ward 5 Councilmember
Amy.Brendmoen@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Ricardo X. Cervantes, Director of the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections
Ricardo.Cervantes@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Steve Zaccardi, St. Paul Fire Marshall
Steve.Zaccard@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Christopher Coleman, Mayor of St. Paul
Mayor@ci.stpaul.mn.us
cc:
Peter Brown, Secretary Minnesota Tenants Union
peterb3121@hotmail.com
USA/Canada Alliance of Inhabitants (USACAI)
info.usacai@habitants.org
International Alliance of Inhabitants
info@habitants.org
Honorable Officials of St. Paul, Minnesota:
Re: Zero Evictions for tenants in St. Paul, Minnesota, but repair their homes
We undersigned (name of organization) from (State) are deeply concerned by reports from the Tenants Union of Minnesota and the International Alliance of Inhabitants regarding the threat of eviction of 60 families of this city because of the negligence of the property in the maintenance of the apartments. In particular, these familiesare under threat of forced eviction by action of the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspectons.
If that were to happen it would be a serious violation of the human right to housing, recognized for example by Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), whose implementation is the responsibility of the states, i.e.,the relevant public authorities at various levels, as noted by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing during his mission at the United States (2009).
Expressing our whole solidarity with the struggle of affected tenants, we strongly urge you to recognize your obligation by opening a dialogue with the Tenants Union of Minnesota in order to:
1.avoid any closure of the buildings and eviction of tenants following the January 18, 2012 re-inspection of the buildings;
2.to begin a teamwork approach with on-going and direct tenant involvement to getting needed repairs done, for example, setting a practical and well-publicized schedule for repairs that follows priorities for repair proposed by the tenants.
We look forward to your positive response, to alert you that, on the contrary, we will not hesitate to increase the international mobilization including appealing the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing to take action.
Full name, organization, State
Date (not later than January 24 2012!)