“It’s because I stood up for myself”.

That was Carol Vialdores’ response. Heard of her? She’s a single mom, a woman of color, who has become a pretty fearless activist. She just fought billion dollar housing conglomerate, AIMCO, who had filed an eviction case against her. And she won. What did they argue? ‘’She violated her lease’. In fact, they argued in court that they needed to prove just one lease violation to put Carol and her 4 kids out of their home of 16 years. Of course their lawyers, Sanford Kahn Ltd, (retained by AIMCO, and evictions are all they do), objected to any language that would suggest evicting a single mom from her subsidized “unit” would make her homeless. It might bias the jury. Duh. What other result could there be?

AIMCO is just one of a number of private companies that own (through HUD loans, our money), and manage (with HUD subsidies, more of our money), what was once public housing. HUD, under Secretary Shaun Donovan, proposes to complete this privatization of public housing, in which private companies get market rate for each apartment, with apparently very little oversight from local housing authorities like IHDA of CHA. For many of us this begs a very practical question: Who is responsible for people’s right to housing? Who will be accountable for the people put out of subsidized housing when these corporations find an economic advantage in putting them out? But, then again, “why is she being evicted?” Must be a good reason.

Well, Carol Vialdores did stand up for herself. She questioned management when they tried to charge her for things that were management’s responsibility to pay or for failing to respond to work orders. She objected to disrespect and disrepair. She complained to the property manager’s boss. When management tried to evict her, (claiming her argument with management over these issues constituted a lease violation, adding other allegations to strengthen their case), she fought back. She became even more active in the tenant organizing--which was built off of the successful campaign to stop another wrongful eviction at Northpoint/AIMCO, that of Carol’s friend and neighbor, Erica Bledsoe.

Carol fought back and won. She, Erica, and others have come together, reached out to the community, and are still organizing. They have inspired others to fight back and to learn their rights. This work has compelled a HUD inspection of pending evictions and outstanding work orders. Still, many other have already been evicted. The Daley center, according to the Lawyers Committee for Better Housing, sees over 35,000 eviction cases per year. How many of those folks will end up homeless.

Internally displaced persons. IDP’s. That’s the phrase that approximates this devastation and puts it in a proper context. Certainly that was what U.N. special rapporteur on the right to housing, Raqqul Roinik must have found while visiting the U.S. last year. Identifying large-scale homelessness in a number of cities, she commented, “It is a constant fight, a constant struggle for people to get the government to ensure their right to housing”. Why? Actually, I prefer the question posed by Matthew Monahan of Legal Assistance Foundation: “How did a depression era housing program (Section 8), become a for profit industry?”

So, what are we going to do about it? Nationally, there are housing activists, e.g. the Moratorium Now Coaltition in Detroit, demanding a moratorium on eviction in their respective cities. In Miami the Take Back the Land campaign is putting homeless families into foreclosed houses, (sometimes their own). In Chicago a number of non-profits have been working for Affordable housing, e.g, Sweet Home Chicago, which is seeking TIF money to build affordable housing in Chicago. The Rogers Park Rental Improvement Fund is a proposal to create a new TIF to give private owners grants to maintain affordable rent (based on 30% of the area median income).

More recently, the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign is looking at the fact that we actually have available housing in Chicago. There were 20,000 units of rental property impacted by foreclosure last year alone. National People’s Action estimates there is a foreclosure every 22 minutes—more than the banks know what to do with. There are 3,300 active evictions filed at the Sheriff’s office right now. Do we need to build more housing? Do we need to give more money to private companies, many of whom are doing the evicting and foreclosing? Maybe we have housing, (once our own), also unemployed workers prepared to make necessary repairs on them, and certainly plenty of homeless familes ready to make a foreclosed “unit” a home. As for me, I’m looking to Carol Vialdores and her Northpoint/AIMCO neighbors. While I coordinate the local organizing, they are leading the way in fighting for housing as a human right--a right that can neither be outsourced nor commodified, and is ensured in proportion to our willingness to fight for it.

Holly Krig
Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign
Holly.Krig (at) gmail.com