Max Rameau first drew national attention with his outspoken advocacy for the residents of Umoja Village, an emergency shanty town in Miami that housed people who couldn't afford a place to live or who had been displaced from public housing. Rameau published the book Take Back The Land: Land, Gentrification, and the Umoja Village Shantytown, which chronicles the struggles that he, other organizers, and the people who lived in Umoja faced in their efforts to achieve housing equality in Miami. The shantytown was eventually destroyed and its inhabitants displaced and forced into even more precarious living situations.

This didn't deter Rameau, in fact, he is stepping up efforts to house people in many of the houses that have been lost due to the sub-prime mortgage collapse and the violent downturn in the global economy. The article below appeared earlier this month. Rameau's continued work is deeply inspiring, and sadly necessary in more places than just in Miami.

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Max Rameau says he's "matching homeless people with people-less homes." (By J. Pat Carter -- Associated Press)


Published on Monday, December 8, 2008 by Associated Press
Homes with No People, People with No Homes
Activist Moving Homeless People Into Foreclosed Houses in Miami

by Tamara Lush

MIAMI - Max Rameau delivers his sales pitch like a pro. "All tile floor!" he says during a recent showing. "And the living room, wow! It has great blinds."

But in nearly every other respect, he is unlike any real estate agent you've ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don't have a dime for a down payment.

Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own around Miami's empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move into foreclosed homes.

"We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," he said with a grin.

Rameau and a group of like-minded advocates formed Take Back the Land, which also helps the new "tenants" with secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep. So far, he has moved six families into foreclosed homes and has nine on a waiting list.

"I think everyone deserves a home," said Rameau, who said he takes no money for his work with the homeless. "Homeless people across the country are squatting in empty homes. The question is: Is this going to be done out of desperation or with direction?"

With the housing market collapsing, squatting in foreclosed homes is believed to be on the rise across the country. But squatters usually move in on their own, at night, when no one is watching. Rarely is the phenomenon as organized as Rameau's effort to "liberate" foreclosed homes.

Florida -- especially the Miami area, with its once-booming condo market -- is one of the hardest-hit states in the housing crisis, largely because of overbuilding and speculation. In September, Florida had the nation's second-highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 178 homes in default, according to Realty Trac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. Only Nevada's rate was higher.

Like other cities, Miami is trying to ease the problem. Officials launched a foreclosure-prevention program to help homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments, with loans of up to $7,500 per household.

The city also recently passed an ordinance requiring owners of abandoned homes -- whether an individual or bank -- to register those properties with the city so police can better monitor them.

Elsewhere, advocates in Cleveland are working with the city to allow homeless people to legally move into and repair empty, dilapidated houses. In Atlanta, some property owners pay homeless people to live in abandoned homes as a security measure.

In early November, Rameau drove a woman and her 18-month-old daughter to a ranch house on a quiet street lined with swaying tropical foliage. Marie Nadine Pierre, 39, had been sleeping at a shelter with her child. She said she had been homeless off and on for a year, after losing various jobs and getting evicted from several apartments.

"My heart is heavy. I've lived in a lot of different shelters, a lot of bad situations," Pierre said. "In my own home, I'm free. I'm a human being now."

Rameau chose the house for Pierre, in part, because he knew its history. A man had bought the home in the city's predominantly Haitian neighborhood in 2006 for $430,000, then rented it to Rameau's friends. Those friends were evicted in October because the homeowner had stopped paying his mortgage and the property went into foreclosure.

Rameau, who makes his living as a computer consultant, said he is doing the owner a favor. Before Pierre moved in, someone stole the air-conditioning unit from the back yard, and it would be only a matter of time before thieves took the copper pipes and wiring, he said.

"Within a couple of months, this place would be stripped and drug dealers would be living here," he said, carrying a giant plastic garbage bag filled with Pierre's clothes into the home.

He said he is not worried about getting arrested.

"There's a real need here, and there's a disconnect between the need and the law," he said. "Being arrested is just one of the potential factors in doing this."

Miami spokeswoman Kelly Penton said that city officials did not know Rameau was moving homeless people into empty buildings -- but that they are not stopping him.

"There are no actions on the city's part to stop this," she said in an e-mail. "It is important to note that if people trespass into private property, it is up to the property owner to take action to remove those individuals."

Pierre herself could be charged with trespassing, vandalism or breaking and entering. Rameau assured her he has lawyers who will represent her for free.

Two weeks after Pierre moved in, she came home to find the locks had been changed, probably by the property's manager. Everything inside -- her food, clothes and family photos -- was gone.

But late last month, with Rameau's help, she got back inside and has put Christmas decorations on the front door.

So far, police have not gotten involved.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/08-6

This image comes from a set on Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/rolferossphotographs/sets/72157594467133100/

We have been following developments with the Umoja Village Shantytown in Miami since they garnered national attention during the Super Bowl, thrusting the plight of America's poorest and most neglected citizens into the spotlight cutting through the false perma-happiness-cum-denial of corporate American media. Below is a video that introduces the shanty town (which was burned down) and some of its residents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAEyqi07as0

On August 1, Miami city officials reversed a decision they had previously made to convey the land to The Umoja Village Shantytown. This decision, along with vicious posted responses to the video above (follow the link and you will find them), demonstrate both how profoundly Americans don't understand the structural causes of homelessness/UNHOUSING, and an immoral lack of concrete action to provide decent housing for everyone. Neither do Americans spend any time just talking to folks who don't have homes to hear their stories, find some point of understanding, and get beyond the fear of being asked for change.

Here is more information from Takebacktheland on the decision against Umoja Village:

"Less than one week after voting 4-0 to support the conveyance of land to the Umoja Village residents, city of Miami officials completely reversed themselves after a wealthy, high powered lobbyist unilaterally killed the entire deal. The political settlement won by Take Back the Land was scrapped as those with the real power vetoed the vote and maintained the status quo, to the benefit of those in power and at the expense of the black community.

The Umoja Village Shantytown stood for just over six months, directly feeding and housing people and challenging the notion that developers should control land in the black community, before it burned in a tragic fire on April 26, 2007. After the fire, the city offered the land to the residents and organizers of Umoja, in order to build supportive housing, a deal ultimately accepted by Take Back the Land.

The city was embarrassed and hostile towards the Umoja Village, however, overwhelming community support and attention forced officials to deal with the crisis. After months of planning and last minute wrangling, the city of Miami Commission voted to support the conveyance of the land to the residents and organizers. Technically, the vote approved of the idea, and ordered the city Manager to work out the details for a final and official vote in less than a week. The implications of the victory, which was now within grasp, for the black power and broader social justice movements are significant, a fact not lost on local gatekeepers and power brokers."

Continues here