Miami Gentrification
by Max Rameau
"Human beings are homeless because developers and
speculators seek to profit from the misery of the poor."
This article previously appeared in San Francisco Bay View.
October 23 marked one year since the rise of the
Umoja Village Shantytown in the Liberty City section of Miami in response to
the crisis of gentrification and low-income housing. In the year since this
"people power" action, much has changed and much more remains the
same. Black and other poor communities are ravaged by the crisis
of gentrification and the lack of low-income housing while the same government
which extracts taxes from us does nothing to alleviate the crisis. One year
later, the issue of community control over land remains fundamental in solving
the crisis.
As the real estate bubble explodes around us, vacant
foreclosed homes litter our communities and speculators choose to hold onto
vacant houses and apartments, waiting for the next market swing in order to
make their millions. For its part, in spite of all the scandal and crisis,
Miami-Dade County doggedly maintains an unconscionable and immoral stockpile of
vacant public housing units, units which otherwise would shelter some of the
41,000 families languishing on the housing assistance waiting list.
"Miami-Dade County doggedly maintains an unconscionable
and immoral stockpile of vacant public housing units."
All the while, the homeless population grows, particularly
among the "under-housed," those not living on the street but doubling
and tripling up in single-family homes, including public housing, where the
extra families live illegally, endangering the housing security of the entire
extended family, sometimes right next door to a boarded up vacant unit.
We are forced to conclude that Miami-Dade County
intentionally leaves units vacant, or tears down public housing altogether -
exemplified by the HOPE VI funded Scott-Carver public housing
project demolition - as a means of fueling the real estate
"boom." When governments take units of low-income housing off of the
market, the value of the remaining privately held units increases, as families
scramble to find new living arrangements. This is nothing short of tax-financed
market manipulation, designed to decrease supply at a time when demand is sky
high, resulting in a government sponsored - not market driven - real estate
"boom."
In the end, human beings are homeless because developers and
speculators seek to profit from the misery of the poor. The laws allow it and
the government provides direct assistance. There should be no right to profit
from human misery.
"Community control over land must now take the form of
direct community control over housing."
In spite of the crisis, scandal and controversy, the reality
is that local governments continue to enrich wealthy developers and have
intentionally failed to address this crisis in any meaningful way. Neither
Miami-Dade County nor the federal government operates based on the interests of
poor Black people. As such, we are left with no other option than to provide
for the people for whom the government is not providing.
Take Back The
Land again asserts the right of the Black community to control land
in the Black community. In order to provide housing for people, not for profit,
this community control over land must now take the form of direct community
control over housing.
Consequently, Take Back the Land has initiated the process
of moving families and individuals into vacant housing, whether public,
foreclosed upon or privately owned and intentionally vacated.
As of this writing, several families have already been moved
into housing and several more are desperately awaiting their turn. We will move
families and individuals into vacant housing units all across Miami-Dade
County.
Housing is not a privilege reserved for the wealthy. Housing
is a human right, and we hereby assert our humanity.
Email Max Rameau at
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afrimax@gmail.com.
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Take Back the Land is
a project of the Center for Pan-African Development, www.TakeBacktheLand.net.
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