Children arrested in Housing Protest
henk - 16.08.2002 17:24
KWRU
 http://www.kwru.org/updates/08-15-02.html
Today, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union packed up and moved the Tent City. We moved in front of the Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD) at 1234 Market Street, in the heart of downtown Philadelphia.
Close to 100 people took over Market Street in front of the office and blocked traffic for over 5 hours in our struggle to find emergency housing for homeless families.
Negotiations to find housing for the homeless families went on for many hours, with the City finally offering emergency housing vouchers to a few of the homeless families, but only if they wait 30-60 days.
But these families have literally nowhere to go for those long months, so we pressed on and demanded that the vouchers be available within one week and that all of the homeless families are housed
It was over 100 degrees in Philadelphia today, but we stayed out in the street, and sang freedom songs
People vowed to stay as long as it took to house the homeless families.
The City responded by arresting 6 adults (Cheri, Maria, Diane, Anne, Julie, and Liz) and 6 children (Destiny, Barbara, Crystal, Terriny, Natosha, and Tyshimah). Pictured here are Philadelphia Police arresting homeless children for non-violently demonstrating that housing is a human right.
We are incredibly proud of our young people who bravely stood up for their rights to affordable housing. At this time all those arrested have been released, and will go to court tomorrow.
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