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Update on Homes for the
Holidays: Operation Bring the Money Home!
KWRU
Meets with HUD Officials in Philadelphia: City Meets Initial Demands!
| Following the tragedy of baby Raul’s accident Monday morning, KWRU families piled onto buses outside of our Bushville Tent City, headed to Washington, DC, to the national HUD office. |
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HUD’s building security was forced to deal with us as we approached the doors to their building while officials were out to lunch. Given strict orders not to let us inside, the security guards locked each door as we approached it, leaving us once again standing outside in the cold December weather. |
| We remained patient and began singing “Rich Man’s House” as HUD officials tried to re-enter their building on their return from lunch. Chanting and holding signs that said, “We need outside intervention!” and “House your people!” we let those trying to enter know that HUD was officially closed today because of the human rights violations it has been causing in communities all over the US. |  |
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After empty threats of arrest, HUD Public Affairs officials were sent outside to finally talk with us. We demanded that we be let inside to have a serious meeting in a dignified setting, just like any other human being would, and HUD officials were forced to concede. A delegation of our membership was allowed to meet with HUD officials while the rest of our group was allowed to wait in another indoor room. |
| In our meeting with Nelson Bregon, the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, Patricia Carlile, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Needs, Mark Johnston, with HUD Homeless Programs, and Douglas Duvall and Brian Sullivan with HUD Public Affairs, we addressed a number of issues. We addressed the issue of access to our HUD officials in both Philadelphia at the regional office, and in Washington at the federal office. We addressed the housing crisis in Philadelphia, and specifically, the 92 homeless people that are in desperate need of housing right now. We also addressed the lack of domestic violence shelters in the city of Philadelphia. |  |
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At the end of our meeting and as a result of our pressure, these officials made direct phone calls to Philadelphia and we were guaranteed a face to face meeting with HUD officials there for Wednesday morning, December 8. While this was a big step, we assured officials in DC that we would not rest until these housing crises were solved. We reminded them that we are organizing the homeless and inadequately housed all over the country and that we are preparing for hearings to the Organization of American States to expose the violations of the human right to housing that the US commits everyday. |
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On Wednesday, December 8, members of KWRU met with Milton Pratt, the Regional Director of Housing and Urban Development, Leticia Hinton, the Director of the Office of Emergency Shelter Services, Kenneth Hannah, the Homeless Czar of Philadelphia, and other city representatives with Homeless Services and Community Planning. It was clear our efforts had forced the city to take our organization and the families in it seriously. Reminding the city of the desperate situations our 92 members are facing, we demanded that they immediately take care of our most urgent members before the end of the day. We also got a promise from them that we would have a follow-up meeting in the near future to address the remaining families on our list of crises, a list that grows everyday. |
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Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign
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