Aid funneled to NGOs, contractors and internationals fails to fulfill needs of fractured nation Despite billions in aid which were supposed to go to the Haitian people, hundreds of thousands are still homeless, living in shanty tent camps as the effects from the earthquake of January 12, 2010 remain.

Eight young people, who the Fire Department said were “trying to stay warm,” perished in a raging fire during the night in New Orleans. The young people were squatting in an abandoned wood framed tin walled warehouse in a Ninth Ward neighborhood bordering a large train yard. The young people apparently had a barrel with [...]

May has seen an upsurge in local organizations exercising their human rights to housing. Most people recognize that international human rights guarantee all humans a right to housing. With the millions of homeless living in our communities and the millions of empty foreclosed houses all across our communities, groups have decided to put them together. Organizations across the US are engaging in "housing liberation" and "housing defense" to exercise their human rights to housing. Here are a few examples.

“Everything we owned got smashed. We lost everything.” Getro Nelio was not referring to the devastating earthquake of January 12. The unemployed, 24-year-old Haitian was speaking about losing his home a second time in three months, on this occasion due to the government. Since late March, armed Haitian police have been closing camps and destroying the shelters that quake victims created out of whatever supplies they could scavenge, from cardboard to small strips of tin. U.N. troops sometimes aid in the evictions.

The 7.3 earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12 was only the start of Haiti’s most recent catastrophe. It has been followed by an ever-deepening social and economic crisis for those whose survival was precarious before the quake, especially among the 1.3 million who were left homeless or displaced. For this group, who are now packed into camps or squeezed into the most marginal of open spaces, some daily elements of life include rape and other violence against women and girls, at high levels since the earthquake, and continue to be rising.

Fuente: IPS por Daniel Zueras SAN JOSÉ, 25 mar (IPS) – Unos 600.000 haitianos siguen a la intemperie en zonas inundables desde el terremoto del 12 de enero, y falta poco para que empiece la temporada de lluvias y huracanes en el Caribe. Los planes para proteger a la población avanzan muy lentamente. Expertos de América Central y [...]

Fuente: Agencia de Noticias Pelota de Trapo por Vicente Zito Lema 21 de diciembre, 2009 Esta tierra de albas rosas se pudrió, no por la lluvia; Ya nada crecerá de buena eternidad; Cielos baldíos ¡Que la desgracia sea! Esta materia sin sentido / lejos del sueño; Sin otra lágrima que el grito, sin más voz que el silencio… ¡Que la soledad sea! Estos cuerpos apenas / fuera [...]

by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler SUR BAHER, Occupied East Jerusalem, Oct 29 (IPS) – “We knew something bad was about to happen when we saw the roadblocks being thrown up, and police everywhere. It soon came down the grapevine – the Israelis were demolishing more houses.” Naim Awisat, an East Jerusalem Palestinian community leader and entrepreneur, [...]

UN special rapporteur says wealthy US ignoring deepening homeless crisis while pumping billions into bank rescues • Investigator meets homeless victims of American dream by Chris McGreal (in Los Angeles) November 12, 2009 A United Nations special investigator who was blocked from visiting the US by the Bush administration has accused the American government of pouring billions of dollars [...]