Land of Opportunity Trailer

The ongoing reconstruction of New Orleans has laid bare key urban issues, including affordable housing, immigration, urban redevelopment and economic displacement. The Land of Opportunity project is proud to partner with NESRI and Housing is a Human Right to present an evening of testimony and film from New Orleans and New York that explores the meaning of home and community in an age of displacement and migration.

The main purpose of Land of Opportunity is to re-frame the 5^th anniversary of Katrina into the beginning of a discussion, rather than a conclusion.

What happens in New Orleans doesn’t stay there. Our tagline, “Happening to a city near you…,” is meant to convey that New Orleans is a starting point for a national conversation on the future of urban America.  Our work also provides viewers an opportunity to redefine “disaster recovery.”  From New York to Detroit to New Orleans, cities are experiencing disasters every day, whether they’re defined as economic, natural or man-made.

Both Housing is a Human Right and Land of Opportunity don’t want people to just passively consume our work and go on about their day, but to actively become part of something they may not have been before, and to engage with their communities in different and new ways.

Through the stories documented in these projects, viewers engage with complex problems in intimate ways that inspire engagement and action. These stories urge us to work to realize a vision of better cities for the future. What kinds of cities do we want to create? Will they be genuinely democratic and equitable spaces, or will they be exclusive enclaves designed for tourists and the wealthy?

The Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights, Housing is a Human Right and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) are proud to announce an upcoming documentary chronicling the trip.

The documentary was shot by volunteer videographers, audio recorders and photographers from around the US.

On Friday March 5, 2010 the Special Rapporteur reported her findings from the US mission to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.  Following her presentation, NESRI and the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, screened this trailer at UN Headquarters in Geneva.

“Inside Stories” is a blog and podcast about the many forms of storytelling — from journalism to genealogy to psychology to film to literature to walking tours and more. The regularly-updated blog features commentary, short interviews, links to current articles on storytelling, and occasional videos. A thrice-monthly podcast of 10-15 minutes features interviews, stories, and more.

Click here to read the article and hear INSIDE STORIES PODCAST 11: HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT

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The following article by Michael Premo was originally published on the New York Times The Local Blog with the title FG/CH Gets U.N. Visit

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing Visits Brooklyn, NY

On Oct. 23, Raquel Rolnik, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, visited Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) to hear residents from Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and the surrounding area testify to the abuses and disparate housing conditions that exist in the neighborhood.

The Brooklyn visit is part of the first official fact-finding mission to the United States by the office of the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing. During her visit Ms. Rolnik will travel to communities across the country, speaking with residents affected by the national housing crisis, highlighting issues of foreclosure, homelessness, public housing and rental assistance.

A U.N. Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to observe whether governments are protecting the globally recognized human right to housing, advocating for equitable and sustainable housing policies that protect all people, including the poor, indigenous and displaced persons. Selected for the post in 2008, Ms. Rolnik is also an international consultant for urban and housing policies and professor of urban planning in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Ms. Rolnick began in New York and will visit, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Washington, as well as the rural communities of Wilkes-Barre, Penn., and the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI), along with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and local housing groups, are facilitating the visit.

In speaking about the significance of the mission, Tiffany M. Gardner, Program Director of NESRI’s Human Right to Housing Program, explained that, “We are excited about Mrs. Rolnik’s visit because it allows communities that have been struggling for years to find common ground with those who are newly experiencing these housing challenges.”

“Mrs. Rolnik’s U.S. visit is profoundly important because it recognizes that Americans do have a human right to housing and that right is so deeply imperiled that it merits international monitoring at the moment,” Ms. Gardner said.

The U.S. tour kicked off at a town hall meeting, the night before her visit to Fort Greene, with individuals and advocates sharing passionate and sometimes tear-filled testimonies about predatory banking practices, inadequate homeless services and many other immediate concerns. Rob Robinson, board member of Picture the Homeless, coordinated the New York City leg of the tour along with a broad coalition of organizations from across the city. Mr. Robinson helped organize neighborhood site visits, as well as meetings with city and state officials including city council members and city housing agencies.

Crucial to the fact-finding mission are visits to the neighborhoods and even homes of those affected by the housing crisis. At FUREE’s Willoughby Street office, hosted in part by Fifth Avenue Committee, local residents shared first-hand accounts of civil and human rights abuses they are experiencing including landlord harassment, infestations and the use of housing court, and police profiling disproportionately targeting low-income members of the community.

Some residents believe these abuses are tactics designed to drive them from their homes, making way for luxury development. An example FUREE members point to is the demolition of the Associated Supermarket on Myrtle Avenue. Loss of this neighborhood grocery store has had a tremendous impact on the residents of Fort Greene north of Fort Greene Park.

In the multimedia piece at the top of this post, neighborhood residents share their housing conditions with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing. Ms. Rolnik will present the findings of her mission to the U.N. General Assembly in a public report on the human right to housing in the U.S. Visit restorehousingrights.org for more information on her visit to Fort Greene/Clinton Hill and the entire U.S. mission.

In case you missed the show check out the Laundromat Show in the news:

The Daily News

The Huffington Post

The L Magazine

Housing is a Human Right kicked off with an exhibit of sights, sounds and stories at Wash and Play Lotto Laundromat in Fort Greene Brooklyn.

The exhibit marked the beginning of this ongoing project.  And the response was overwhelming. We are currently in the process of producing more stories for broadcast and exhibition.  Thank you to everyone who shared their stories with us, our community partners, everyone who came by the coin-op, and The Laundromat Project.

If you would you like to share your story, invite us to exhibit in your community or place of business, or just tell us what you think, please drop us a line at info (at) housingisahumanright (dot) org or by phone by calling, toll free, 1 (888) 955-6653. We would love to hear from you, its an automated system so feel free to just call and leave a message, tell us what you think about the project our share comments about your own experience.

ABOUT THE LAUNDROMAT PROJECT:

The Laundromat Project is a community based arts organization committed to promoting the well-being of low-income communities of color. Understanding that creativity is a central component of healthy human beings; vibrant neighborhoods; and thriving economies, The LP’s programs bring art to where people already are: the laundromat. Its two core programs, Works in Progress and Create Change Public Artist Residency Program, focus on making art education broadly accessible for all ages and skill levels, as well as providing professional development opportunities for artists of color looking to build or deepen a community-engaged art making practice by creating new public works in their own neighborhoods.

Each year, The Laundromat Project sponsors three artists of color to develop neighborhood-specific artwork through its Create Change Public Artist Residency Program. Following selection by a juried process, participating artists are charged with creating socially-relevant works using the space of their local laundromat to engage their neighbors.