[News] PHRF makes a breakthrough on price gouging and tenants rights in New Orleans

[Anti-Imperialist News]

PHRF makes a breakthrough on price gouging and tenants rights in New Orleans

Thursday, March 15, 2007 – More than 100 members, 
supporters, and coalition partners of the 
People’s Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) and Tenants 
Rights Working Group (TRW) – some as far away as 
Houston - including Critical Resistance, 
Survivors Village, C3/Hands Off Iberville, Zion 
City Community Organization, Common Ground 
Collective, and the NAACP won a major concession 
from City Council on the question of price 
gouging and the lack of tenant rights in the city of New Orleans.

In the face of mounting pressure from the more 
than 10,000 signatures gathered on the price 
gouging and tenants rights petition, 
demonstrations outside the home of Council Woman 
Stacy Head organized by Survivors Village, and 
the barrage of phone calls and emails sent to the 
various City Council members demanding rent 
control, an agreement was reached in principle 
that the City Council, through its Housing and 
Human Development Committee, would:
1) Develop policies to address the question of rent control in New Orleans.
2) Work with PHRF and the TRW on this Committee 
to craft the necessary policies.
3) Would challenge the State Legislature and 
Constitution to address the crisis of price 
gouging and lack of tenant rights protections.

Several other critical breakthroughs were made at 
the Council Meeting. The 15th action marked the 
first occasion since the Hurricane and Great 
Flood where renters and tenants spoke and acted 
on their own behalf and were directly included in 
the decision making processes of the government 
determining the course of the city’s 
reconstruction. To this point the reconstruction 
process has been totally dominated by developers, 
property owners, and designers. Another critical 
development was the organic connections and 
identifications made by private and public market 
renters as “tenants”. This emerging consciousness 
is critical for the development of the TRW, which 
seeks to unite public and private market renters 
into one powerful organization or block to win 
Affordable Housing and the Right of Return.

The concessions of the City Council are but the 
first step in the struggle to win Affordable 
Housing in New Orleans. PHRF and the TRW are very 
clear that we must continue to grow, build, and 
mount escalating pressure to actually win a price 
gouging and rent control ordinance and renter 
relief and restitution. We are going to need the 
ongoing support of all our supporters, allies, 
and partners to attain this victory. We are 
asking that everyone continue to support us in 
our outreach efforts to Internally Displaced 
Persons (IDP’s) to build the TRW, and to support 
our upcoming forums and mobilizations, including 
a critical forum on Class and Class Conflict in 
the Reconstruction Movement in New Orleans in 
April, to win this undeniable human right.

The Tenants Rights Working Group (TRW) will host 
its next meeting on Tuesday, March 20th at 6 pm 
at the offices of the People’s Hurricane Relief 
Fund (PHRF) located at 1418 N. Claiborne Ave. #2, 
New Orleans, LA 70116. For more information call 
504.301.0215 or email phrfoc at gmail.com, Also 
visit our website at www.peopleshurricane.org.


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