Forest Park HUD apartments update : NOLA Indymedia

Forest Park is not the only publicly-funded housing complex whose tenants are facing eviction. Jackson Landing, Fisher Projects and the Iberville Housing Projects in New Orleans are all facing similar evictions, ALL OF WHICH ARE ILLEGAL, and completely heartless on the part of the management agencies. The residents of these housing projects, many of them displaced from the St. Thomas housing project in uptown New Orleans (destroyed in 2001 to make way for high-priced condos and a Walmart), suffered tremendously during the hurricane and the flood. Many evacuated to shelters in Houston, Baton Rouge and Arkansas -- many haven't even been able to return home yet!

This is a text of the letter that residents have drafted and submitted to the management of Forest Park Apartments.

The Forest Park Tenants Association demands that HUD stop using alleged hurricane damage to the Forrest Park Apartment complex as a pretext for cutting off section 8 payments to its residents. On October 14, 2005 the management of Forest Park pinned notices to the doors of residents announcing that we would have to vacate our homes because of alleged hurricane damage to apartments. The apartment that I live in is perfectly inhabitable. So are the apartments of the vast majority of other tenants in the complex. Our association knows full well that the management of the Forrest Park Apartments is using allegations of storm damage to the complex as a pretext for expelling working class African-Americans. This is ethnic cleansing, pure and simple!

We ask that HUD support the residents in our just quest for maintaining the existing lease and conditions of our lease as listed below:

1. Any tenant whose place of residence is still legally inhabitable under the building codes must be allowed to stay. We demand that the management of Forest Park Apartments and HUD respect Governor Kathleen Blanco's decree banning evictions.
2. Every tenant be accorded the right to return to his or her apartment within ninety days. Each tenant must be notified in person when his or her apartment becomes ready for occupation.
3. There shall be no raise in the rent upon reoccupation.
4. Any new lease contracts upon reentry of our apartments must not incorporate new restrictions on tenants terms of occupancy such as restrictions on
childrens or pets, etc.
5. Management must assist tenants in finding alternative temporary housing during the interim period while tenants housing is being renovated, so that tenants may move back into their home as expediently as possible.

We trust the management will respect the right of the vast majority of tenants whose apartments are inhabitable to remain in their homes.

Respectfully submitted,

Charlestine Jones
Spokesperson of the Forest Park Tenants Association
(504) 362-2833

Any individual or group that is willing to go on public record to support the demands of the Forest Park Tenant's Association can do so by e-mailing of message of support to forestparkresist@gmail.com

Related article:
Times-Picayune article:
http://www.nola.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/library-88/1129357504274730.xml

Washington Times: "HUD Chief foresees a 'whiter' New Orleans" - Sep. 30
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20050929-114710-8545r