Open Letter to Mayor Richards and Gary Walker Concerning Rochester's Foreclosure Crisis

Dear Mayor Richards and Mr. Walker,

I just read your office's comments in the Democrat and Chronicle today claiming that the Mayor and the City of Rochester can have no role in halting bank evictions in the city of Rochester (see http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110730/NEWS01/107300319/Gr...). I must say I was very surprised to hear your understanding of the matter.

In the case of Virginia Henry's family at 11 Appleton Street, Cathy Lennon's family on 9 Ravenwood Avenue, and many others, a significant number city taxpayer's resources are devoted to carrying out the evictions. Some examples are the City of Rochester ordering RTS buses to potentially arrest everyone protesting homelessness and evictions (March 28, 2011 on Ravenwood Avenue), ordering traffic enforcement vehicles to block off the streets during evictions, sending massive number of Rochester police to support the City Marshal to execute the evictions, or arresting people that attempt to prevent forceful evictions. The City of Rochester and the Mayor are not passive players in the current foreclosure crisis and homelessness crisis. The allocation of these types of resources to forcing more people into homelessness and making more homes vacant seems to me a clear conscious decision.

What the Mayor's Office Can Do

1) Declare a Moratorium on Bank Foreclosures. The Mayor and City Council can vow not to devote city resources to supporting bank foreclosures throughout the city. For example, in Chicago the Cook County Sheriff has declared a moratorium on court-ordered foreclosures on multiple occasions (see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/19/tom-dart-halts-foreclosur_n_768...)

2) Call a Meeting with City Court Judges. The Mayor and City Council can call a meeting with Rochester City Court judges and demand they rethink the way they are treating these cases. A lot of people don't have access to adequate legal resources to defend themselves from large banks. Currently almost all the large banks are under investigation massive fraud and malfeasance, but in the meantime people are being put out of their homes.

3) Pass Legislation Supporting Local Control of Housing and Land. The Mayor, City Council, and the citizens can partner to draft and pass legislation that elevates housing to a human right (to bring Rochester in alignment with the housing section of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and support community land trusts, mutual housing associations, limited equity housing cooperatives, and other initiatives that can keep land and housing affordable and under local control. This can be done in conjunction with other cities efforts to pass a No Empty Homes Bill of Rights. With three times more houses than homeless people we know the housing crisis is actually just a political crisis involving housing.

These are just a few things that to come immediately to mind. Please consider these and other possibilities. I hope the Mayor's office will use its considerable power as a force of good and help the rest of the community elevate housing to a human right in Rochester. Please let me know what you think.

Sincerely,

Ryan Acuff
Rochester, NY 14608