Philadelphia activists have been busting into vacant homes owned by PHA, fixing them up, and handing them over to houseless mothers and children.
Philadelphia Housing Action claims victory after 6 month direct action campaign forces City to relinquish 50 vacant homes to community land trust. On September 25, Philadelphia Housing Action and the City of Philadelphia reached a tentative agreement to resolve a months long standoff over the fate of two homeless protest encampments and 15 vacant city-owned homes occupied by mothers and children. The unprecedented agreement to give homeless activists 50 vacant, viable homes comes after many months of housing takeovers, protest encampments, eviction defense of the houses, barricaded and blockaded streets and mass mobilizations to defend the encampments.
Under the agreement, the 50 vacant city-owned houses will be transferred into a community land trust set up by Philadelphia Housing Action – a coalition of housing activists who have all experienced either homelessness or institutionalization. The land trust will permanently designate the properties for use as extremely low-income housing ($25,000 and below) and be managed by local control committees.