8
Squatters' rights in the age of foreclosure
M ax Rameau is leading the movement that pairs homeless people with empty houses
BY CASSANDRA KOSLEN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A s the current economy leaves many in
JLA a lurch, a handful of advocacy groups
X JLacross the nation are taking it upon
themselves to solve the latest surge in
homelessness by helping people locate and
move in to foreclosed homes as squatters.
One such group, Take Back The Land in
Miami-Dade, Fla., is receiving attention
nationwide for openly championing this
cause in their new campaign, Take Back
The Housing.
Max Rameau, the group’s director, says
that being conspicuous is what sets Take
Back The Land apart. It is primarily a land
control group, with a specific focus on
empowering the black community.
As more people become frustrated with
the surge in homelessness, the lack of
affordable housing and the ironic prevalence
of empty homes, many previously held
stigmas about squatting are softening. In a
New York Times article, a national organizer
likened the practice of organized squatting
that is growing in popularity to “a modern-
day underground railroad.”
Take Back The Land gained attention by
moving the Trody family back into their own
home of 22 years after it was lost to the
bank in a credit scam. Rameau was also a
founder of the Umjoa Village, a shantytown
in Miami that was lost to a fire in April,
2007. Recently, Rameau lectured at PSU,
discussing different social solutions to
homelessness that we all can be a part of.
existed, but it would not have always been
effective in its implementation. Right now it
is, given the crisis. People are saying, ‘I
need a house,' and across the street from
them there is an empty house. So, that is a
huge social contradiction. The contradiction
has always existed it just hasn’t been
One day I was in the office and the phone
rang, and there was a lady on the other end,
and she said, “There’s a house that’s next
door to me that’s been vacant now for
almost two years, the grass is up to my
knees, I’m getting sick and tired of this.” I
said, “Ma'am do you know where you’re
black-for-black organization, a n d y o u ’ve said
you speak to neighbors a n d potential tenants
before a move in. To be blunt, how does race
factor into yo u r selection process, in term s o f
both neighborhoods a n d fam ilies?
M.R.: Fundamentally, we are a land
C assandra K oslen: Obviously by doing
as w e ll a s
the reality that there are so many people uiho
need to be housed?
m u c h d o c s th e s ta te m e n t p la y in to
Max R am eau: We
have too many vacant
"People are saying, 1
houses, at the exact
need a house/ and across
same time as we
the street from them there
have too many
people that need
Is an empty house. The
places to stay. This is
contradiction has always
like a bizarro world,
exposed.So I think
existed, it just hasn't been
in many ways. And
we’re able to do that,
exposed."
then of course what
and in that sense,
the government does
yes.
in response is to give
billions of dollars to the people who have all
C.K.: You’ve been getting a lot o f media
these empty houses, rather then giving the
attention lately, have you been getting more
same amount of money or some other kind
response from the com m unity?
of support to the people who don’t have any
houses. It makes no sense in many ways,
M.R.: We’re getting supportive responses
and I think demonstrates what some of the
from people who live in these areas, and
limits of what this economic system is, and
we’re getting supportive responses from
how unjust it is. This strategy has always
people who think housing is a human right
PHOTO BY CASSANDRA KOSLEN
calling?” And she said, “This is Take Back
the Land, right? You guys move people into
places? Well, we need to move some body in
here, and mow the lawn!” So she was
demanding that we move somebody in, a
white lady in a white neighborhood, and we
mainly do work in the black community. So,
I think she understood the value of having
someone in the place both in terms of what
it does physically, but also for the stability of
the neighborhood.
organization. We’re not a homeless
organization; we’re not a h o u s in g
organization; we are a land organization. On
top of that, we’re a land organization
specifically dealing with land control in the
black community, and the black
community’s right to control land in the
black community. We talk about that openly
and clearly, even though most of the media
focuses on homelessness or housing. We
feel that the race component is important
C.K.: 7h&e B ack the L a n d is prim arily a
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