Labor council calls for moratorium

Jun 19, 2008

On June 9, the San Francisco Labor Council passed a resolution "For a Moratorium on Foreclosures, Utility Shutoffs, Evictions & Public Housing Demolitions."

The resolution declares that although “housing is a human right,” homelessness is increasing, public housing units are being demolished and “millions may lose their homes to foreclosure and eviction—all at a time when workers need the jobs at prevailing wages that building adequate housing for the people would provide.”

The resolution targets “the predatory practices of banks and mortgage companies” as well as “a big increase in the number of evictions of renters from their homes and apartments, and utility shutoffs facing those unable to pay their gas and electric bills.”

It recalls that “during the Great Depression of the 1930s, 25 states adopted a moratorium (freeze) on foreclosures, and such moratoriums were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court,” and adds that “Governors, State Legislatures, the President and Congress, as well as the Department of Housing & Urban Development, have the statutory authority to declare a moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions during a time of either natural or economic emergency disaster.”

Noting that “Michigan State Senator Hansen Clarke has introduced a bill calling for a 2-year moratorium on foreclosures, in a state that is suffering the worst housing crisis since the 1930s,” and that “4,500 units of habitable or easily renovated public housing are being demolished or threatened with demolition in New Orleans,” the Labor Council calls on “the President and elected representatives to implement a moratorium (freeze) on home foreclosures, utility shut-offs and evictions” and also “a moratorium on public housing demolitions.”

The San Francisco Labor Council resolves to “work together with housing advocates and the trade union movement in a joint effort to bring about these reforms, and to establish the principle and practice that housing is a right for every man, woman and child living in the United States.”