Forum Post: Housing is a Human Right March (From Occupy Rochester)

On October 16th Metro Justice will march to City Hall in a “Housing is a Human Right March”. We hope that you will join us in co-sponsoring this march!

With hundreds of people homeless every night, in a city that has enough vacant properties to house them all, we know that our communities are in crisis! When thousands of homes have been foreclosed upon by massive banks in our city, we know that housing must be a human right.

Adequate access to housing is the cornerstone on which we build a thriving and vi brant community. At Metro Justice, we’ve taken that seriously and our Housing is a Human Right Campaign is growing. Our campaign makes two requests of the city that we intend to make very clear at our march on October 16th:

1. As a consequence of their awful foreclosure record across New York State and nationally, the City of Rochester should divest all public funds from JP Morgan Chase.

2. Due to the widespread fraud in mortgage foreclosures by big banks, the City of Rochester should halt police participation in evictions by those banks for one year.

We believe these requests are important steps for our city to begin to acknowledge the human right to housing. We know however, that there are many other actions that the city can take to ensure access to quality housing for all.

We hope that you will consider joining us in our Housing is a Human Right March on October 16th and that you can bring the important perspectives that you offer to this growing movement. This is a chance for all groups and individuals who believe we need to challenge the banks for kicking people out of their homes, and to bring ideas for what this change can look like!

We will be gathering first at Washington Square Park and then marching to City Hall, where we will have a rally in support of the idea that housing should be for everyone. After that some of us will head into City Hall to pack the place and show them what community power really looks like.

The event is already being co-sponsored by Band of Rebels, Citizen Action of New York, Coalition for Justice in Education, Green Party of Monroe County, International Socialist Organization – Rochester, National Organization of Women – Greater Rochester Chapter, Pride at Work - Rochester Finger Lakes Chapter, Rochester Against War, Rochester Red & Black, SEIU Local 200, Social Welfare Action Alliance – Rochester, Students for a Democratic Society – University of Rochester, Take Back the Land – Rochester, Working Families Party, Worker Justice Center of New York, Worker Justice Group Join us in co-sponsoring this event!