Atlanta Residents March on Fulton County, Challenge Cruel Eviction Process

Residents Take to the streets

 Yesterday members of the Housing Justice League took the streets of downtown Atlanta and Marched to the Fulton County Courthouse and the County Commissioners office. The march will be led by Atlanta residents who have experienced or in the process of experiencing the eviction in Fulton County.

Residents Sopke about their experience with eviction process

Carver Highschool Band helped keep the spirits up

Atlanta has been declared to be in a renter’s state of emergency. Right now in Fulton County the number of evictions has dramatically spiked to 500 a week! Many of those evictions are as a result of arbitrary rent increases that often come with no changes in tenant amenities. The eviction process in Fulton County is not only cruel, its decades behind the rest of the country. During eviction court in Fulton, which happens twice a week, Judges sign off on an average of one eviction per minute. A whole sickening economy has developed around the eviction process in our county with over ten 3rd party eviction corporations thriving off the crisis.

 

We call on the Fulton County Commission to take immediate action to change the eviction process in Fulton County. The following recommendations are working in other parts of the country, they are not revolutionary proposals but they would make the eviction process more humane and less difficult to bounce back for tenants in hardship. These changes are but a step in the right direction.

Residents Hold Space Outside Fulton County Courthouse

1.       Scheduled Evictions

Many counties and states around the country schedule evictions. We already know that evictors have to schedule eviction with moving companies, why not schedule evictions with the resident. As things stand now residents are subject to a knock on the door at any hour. Scheduled evictions allow residents the final reminder of the coming crisis at hand and gives them a last chance to secure their own belongings.

2.       No evictions after hours

After hours evictions can leave families with nowhere to go, no truck to rent, no storage facility to move things into. We know after hours evictions have been facilitated in DeKalb County. This is a cruel practice that no family should be subjected to. We ask that you commit to making evictions outside the hours of 9am-4pm against DeKalb County policy

3.       No evictions during extreme weather

Going through the evictions process means immediate homelessness for some, it also means all of your life belongings are put out on the street in the elements. Many counties will not do evictions in freezing, raining, or 100 degree weather.

4.       Costs paid by the evictor or a cap of public spending

Evictions can bring an enormous cost the county. The banks and private equity groups that do most of the evicting make an enormous profit. In many counties the evictor pays for the process, in some cases counties put a cap on what they will pay for.

5.       Relocation and 30 days storage for belongings

One of the most dehumanizing parts of the eviction process is having your things dumped in the front yard. Not only are families immediately faced with the prospect of having nowhere to go, they also have to protect their belongings. Furthermore this process is bad for the whole community, effecting the financial and spiritual value of the neighborhood. Many counties, and some states, require the evictor to pay property to be moved to a storage facility for at 30 days.

6.       Handle belongings with care

Often times peoples belongings are destroyed or stolen during the eviction process. We hope that as Sheriff you are able to facilitate stringer accountability for your constituent’s belongings during the eviction process.

7.       Referrals for housing services

Many facing evictions have now where to go. As a point of policy it would be fairly simple to provide those being evicted with a comprehensive list of service providers in the area. Often time’s people are given assistance finding temporary shelter for their animal but no assistance finding temporary shelter for themselves, this should change immediately.

Residents posted "Final Notice" with demands on the Fulton County Government Building and the County Courthouse

Families With Disabilities Bring Special Delivery to Fulton County Chairperson John Eaves

Today American Friends Service Committee joined Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, residents with the Fulton County OETH Permanent Supportive Housing Program, and representatives from Atlanta Jobs With Justice and American Postal Workers Union to deliver a demand letter to Fulton County Chairperson John Eaves office after hearing the concerns of women in the program and doing and onsite visit earlier in the week.

This isn't the first time we have had serious issues with the program and their treatment of the women in it. Click here to read about the last time we organized alongside women in the program.

Months ago Chairman Eaves office had promised to find housing for a number of the women who refused to be displace from the community the had come to embrace, he had also promised to assist with temporary housing, both promises never happened. More recently Eaves had made a commitment to bring improvements to the program during a face to face meeting with the women and hasn't followed through with those commitments either.

With a number of women's housing on the line we decided to take action with a number of women that were brave enough to be front and center with their grievances, there we many who met with us privately who did not come out of fear.

We delivered the following letter to Chairman Eaves office and we were able to meet with program staff.

Dear Chairman John Eaves,

We are here today because you have the power to fix the Fulton County OETH Permanent Supportive Housing Program and clear barriers from our path to self-sufficiency. In July, you moved our families from Vine City to the airport and we pulled our children through yet another new start. They are still struggling to find their footing in a new school and we are experiencing yet another round of staffing, program terminations, and threats. The staff says we must hold a job without access to childcare. They tell us we may not finish our degree. Every step invites termination from the program and return to homelessness. The shelters are full, Mr. Chairman.

We ask that you use your power to lift our destiny out of the hands of a vindictive program staff and the employees of the Regency Park Apartments. How can you put a flesh and blood woman and her six-year old child out in the street for making noise? Every woman facing program termination must be allowed to appeal and an impartial jury must hear her case. Stop Tracey DelGado’s termination immediately. We have signatures from Tracey Delgado’s neighbors who deny she has been noisy.

Program termination must not be used as a threat to coerce any woman to give up her right to freely decide or to protect the rights or the privacy of her children. If you do not allow a transparent process, the right to appeal, or a fair hearing then this is just a cruel weapon that beats us down and keeps us submissive under your control.

We ask you remove all barriers to our pursuit of education to lift our families out of poverty. The promises of the program are so often unmet, are communicated so poorly, and have changed so many times, that we cannot risk relying on it solely. Please don’t cut off our opportunity to prepare in advance of the day that you decide to put us out.

We ask that you allow us to watch each other’s children so that we may go to work and move our families up and out.

We ask that you allow our children to play in the front of the complex like other children who live at Regency Park. You have told us to send them to the dog park. Our children are not dogs.

We are asking for the right to be treated with respect and compassion by the case manager and supervisors in the Fulton County OETH housing program. We understand that there are rules to be followed and we are not asking for a handout, just stability for our families and the chance to go on.

 

After delivering the letter we were granted a rather long meeting to hash out many of the concerns the women had. While it's clear that the program still has a laundry list of problems we are glad that the County was willing to meet with us to discuss concerns and we are happy the women of the program led the discussion. We did come to some agreements and set a time for a follow-up meeting to discuss problematic policies of the program, explore how groups like Occupy Our Homes Atlanta might work with these families, and develop a stronger understanding of how the program works.

We certainly don't believe this issue is resolved, but we are hopeful that a path of resolution may have begun today. Many of the women in the program launched an online petition yesterday, and we encourage folks to check it out by clicking here.

Vine City Residents Face Immediate Displacement

 Last week we received a call from the Vine City Civic Association. Members VCCA had been working with families that had been living a permanent housing program for people with disabilities. The program is facilitated by Fulton County Office of Emergency and Transitional Housing(OETH) and designed for low income families that are living with serious disabilities in the household.

Several members of the VCCA had called us extremely concerned with Fulton County's treatment of families in the program. VCCA got involved after hearing multiple complaints from women in the program that had become strongly integrated into the Vine City community.

Last week things moved into crisis when residents were informed that they would all have to move out of their homes by June 23rd, something that came of a shock to many of the households.

Today several of the single mothers who live in the program organized a small rally outside their community. They were joined by several members of the Vine City Civic Association in calling on Fulton County to do the right thing and treat them with dignity.

During the rally several Fulton County representatives came to Vine City residents and promised to work on the matter, though after they left a car pulled up and became taking photographs of all the women demonstrating. When residents said they preferred not to be photographed the men in the car said that folks should leave if they didn't want to be photographed. Sadly it turns out the two men in the car work for Fulton County and were driving a truck marked with the Fulton County emblem.


Please SIGN and SHARE the online petition initiated by the community.

The Figaro's were ripped off, and they want their wealth back

Yesterday Mike and Patrice Figaro, along with several members of Occupy Our Homes Atlanta and myself, met with Fulton County Commissioner Bill Edwards 

More than 60 days ago the Figaro's met with the Fulton County Commissioner to discuss fraud the county had let slip by them that ended up costing their family hundreds of thousands of dollars. At that meeting Commissioner Edwards said he and his staff would look into the forged documents and unpermitted wiring and have a report in 60 days.

It's had been more than 70 days and still no report has been issued. Last time the Figaro's met with the commissioner he had two Occupy Our Homes Atlanta advocates escorted out of the building under threat of arrest. 

Yesterday we made sure to multiple our numbers and make it clear that we would not tolerate being shut out of meeting that was set up by our members. The commissioner also invited lawyers from John Wieland's office.

Patrice and Mike both were able to really present their case, maybe for the first time, uninterrupted by the county or John Wieland's lawyers. As they presented evidence it became clear, even to Commissioner Edwards, that there was wrong doing on John Wieland's behalf and maybe event the Fulton County. 

Although the Figaro's were hoping for totally resolution, wrong doing was acknowledged and  clear next steps were put into motion at the close of the meeting. Now it's our job, our mission to hold those next step commitments from Commissioner Edwards to some level of accountability.

The Figaro's case is really like no other Housing fight we have been involved with. At first look it can seem complicated, it's really not though. After building wealth in their California home they decided to move to Georgia. They invested everything into building a home they could pay cash for. Mike made sure the house was built custom for Patrice, as she is handicapped. They essentially hired John Wieland homes to build their house. 

Shortly after they moved in everything started going wrong. There we water faucets that spilled out water, a sink hole showed up in the yard, the foundation cracked, there was an electrical fire. Turns out proper permits were not only not obtained, it appears they were forged.

John Wieland sold a bad product, and the Figaro's bought it in good faith. Unlike most people these days they purchased the home in full, upfront. The home was faulty and quickly became a hazard. The Figaro's were ripped off, and they want their wealth back.

Sign the Figaro's online petition.

Homeowners Stop Foreclosure Sales on Cobb Co. and Fulton Co. Courthouse Steps

Just 24 hours before the monthly home auctions that occur at every County Courthouse in the state, Occupy Our Homes ATL  had several frantic homeowners reach out. Why are they frantic? ...Because their homes were set to be auctioned off today on the court house steps.

The story of Pearl Scott, a Fulton County resident looking to defend her home from foreclosure, sounds like that of many others in the state of Georgia and across the country. She has lived in her Vine City home for seventeen years and kept up with her mortgage payments for all that time until just a few months ago. Pearl Scott is a 69 year old retiree who is now getting by on her Social Security checks and is struggling to make ends meet, but she is determined to stay in her home. Even after falling behind on her mortgage at the beginning of the year, she continued to diligently send in every penny she could afford. All of Ms. Scott's efforts seemed to have been in vain when she was informed that her home was set to be auctioned off. Rather than giving in, Ms. Scott reached out to Occupy Our Homes Atlanta to help her come up with a plan to save her home from being auctioned off to investors.

The Scott Family's last minute efforts to save their home inspired fellow homeowner Steve Boudreaux to take action to save his own home on the Cobb County Courthouse steps (on the Roswell Street side). Occupy Our Homes Atlanta joined both the Scotts and Steve this morning in Fulton and Cobb respectively to discourage anyone from bidding on their homes.

After a long day of vigilantly listening for their addresses to be cried out and their homes bid on, Pearl Scott and Steve Boudreaux can rest a little easier now. Homeowners and dozens of allies turned out with enlarged family photos and signs that read "Buy this home and you get an occupation for free!" to discourage investors from bidding on their homes. And it worked! No one bid on Pearl's home at the Fulton County auction, nor on Steve's in Cobb County. In fact, investors and homeowners all gathered round to see if anyone dared bid on the properties.

While the homes were not purchased, we know Pearl and Steve's fights to stay in their homes are far from over. Occupy Our Homes Atlanta is committed to pressuring Everhome Mortgage and Wells Fargo respectively to make deals that will keep a secure roof over their heads.

In Cobb county, a coalition of everyday people--inspired by Steve's struggle--formed on those very courthouse steps. They are excited to meet next week to start building a campaign to demand that Wells Fargo keep Steve in his home.

AFSC is excited about the new doors of nonviolent resistance that Occupy Our Homes has opened all over the country, and we plan to continue to support the movement.