 |
| Press Releases and Advisories |  |
 |
Housing Rights Groups Support Sheriff Dart
The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, along with dozens of advocacy groups and individuals, has sent a letter to Sheriff Dart of Cook County in support of his refusal to evict renters from foreclosed properties without adequate notice. The letter follows below:
Dear Sheriff Dart,
As human rights activists, community organizations and housing advocates, we applaud your decision to temporarily suspend forced evictions in Cook County resulting from foreclosures. As you correctly point out, in a vast number of cases the tenants are renters who are likely to have been paying their rent up to the time of eviction. Too many of these families have not been afforded adequate notice of the foreclosure procedures, and there is no system in place to ensure that the family is not thrown into homelessness immediately after the eviction.
In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt declared that the U.S. had adopted a "second Bill of Rights," including the right to a decent home. The U.S. signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 recognizing housing as a human right, and in 2004, the Cook County Board of Commissioners reaffirmed this in a resolution and stated it was committed to protect this right. Your steps to stop the use of the sheriff's department as a tool for these illegal forced evictions is an example of how to properly uphold Cook County's commitment to the right to housing.
As recent events have demonstrated, the United States government has not taken the steps to ensure a rational and affordable housing market, but - on the contrary - allowed rampant irresponsibility and greed to be the driving force behind rising housing costs. Cook County should not be forced to violate the human rights of its residents because of this abject failure of the federal government. The moratorium you have announced is a necessary first step towards providing adequate due process for tenants in these homes, as well as support to find alternative means of decent housing.
Your defense of basic human rights in these extraordinary times is something we want to recognize and honor. Our hope is that your strong leadership at this moment will inspire others to follow suit. Advocates for Environmental Human Rights Beyond Shelter Blocks Together Bread for the City California Reinvestment Coalition Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions Champaign-Urbana (Il.) Citizens for Peace and Justice Chicago Coalition for the Homeless Coalition to Protect Public Housing Concerned Citizens of Greater Harlem Good Old Lower East Side, Inc- GOLES Heartland Alliance for Human Rights & Human Needs Housing Action Illinois Independent Human Rights Committee of Chicago Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness Los Angeles Community Action Network Louisiana Justice Institute Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless May Day New Orleans Mennonite Central Committee--New Orleans Miami Coalition for the Homeless MICAH Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild National Alliance of HUD Tenants National Economic & Social Rights Initiative National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty National Training and Information Center Northside Neighbors for Justice People for Community Recovery Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign Solidarity Not Charity St. Peter Housing Committee US Human Rights Network Housing Caucus
Individuals:
Sharon Bey-Christopher, NC Patricia Goldsmith, CA Ellen Johnson, OR Brittany Porter Kerry G. Robinson Theda Saffo, MD Jeffery Thomas, Dallas, TX
For more information, please contact:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
