Latest news with #housingRights
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Displaced Chelsea Gardens tenants still waiting on help that was promised
The Brief The College Park City Council approved additional funds to support displaced tenants, including a $20,000 payment on top of $86,000 already given to Sage Hands International for assistance. Housing rights activists confronted Mayor Pro Tem Jamelle McKenzie, accusing her of not fulfilling promises to fund moving costs and provide rent for displaced tenants, which she denied. Despite city claims of providing aid through local nonprofits, many displaced tenants report not receiving the promised assistance and some remain in the condemned complex due to lack of alternatives. COLLEGE PARK, Ga. - Displaced tenants of the condemned Chelsea Gardens apartment complex say they're still waiting for promised assistance, even as the College Park City Council approved additional funds Monday night to support residents forced from their homes. City officials had ordered residents to vacate the dilapidated complex by Sunday, citing unsafe living conditions. While the city says it has paid local nonprofits to provide aid, some tenants and housing advocates accuse officials of facilitating what they call illegal evictions. What we know The City Council voted Monday to accept a $20,000 payment intended to help residents who have been displaced. That's in addition to $86,000 already paid to Sage Hands International, an organization tasked with assisting tenants. Attempts to reach Sage Hands for comment and clarity on what has been done with the money have not been unsuccessful. What they're saying Over the weekend, housing rights activists with the Party for Socialism and Liberation confronted Mayor Pro Tem Jamelle McKenzie at a community event, alleging she had promised a council vote to fully fund moving costs and provide three months of rent for former tenants. "Some of us were fortunate and were able to get help, but a lot of them don't have that option," said former resident Sarah Ganzy, who moved out two weeks before the building was condemned. "They provided a moving truck, but that's [all] they've done—like financially, they haven't done anything." "It is only the power of us that brought it to this point," said activist Bezaleel Jupiter. McKenzie pushed back, saying she never made such a commitment. "No, there was no strong-arming," she said. "This is something that they need to discuss with other council members and the mayor. It's not even my jurisdiction." McKenzie defended the city's actions, saying, "Everything that the City of College Park has done has been in the best interest of the residents." Ganzy said she believes some people remain at the complex, now living there without legal housing because they have nowhere else to go. What's next City officials say they've also sent funding to other local charities to help meet residents' needs. Still, displaced tenants like Ganzy say they haven't seen those resources firsthand. SEE ALSO: Deadline near for residents of condemned College Park apartment complex College Park city manager fired amid Chelsea Gardens controversy Chelsea Gardens residents protest water shutoffs and alleged eviction tactics College Park residents given days to pack up and get out their apartments Residents of condemned College Park apartments call for extension to move-out deadline The Source FOX 5's Rob DiRienzo attended Monday's College Park City Council meeting to gather details for this article.
Mail & Guardian
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
‘Policies skewed against women'
House of cards: Despite constitutional assurances of gender equality and the right to housing, women find themselves up against patriarchal norms, unequal treatment under customary practices and little protection from the law. Photos: Seri A The 52-page shadow report, compiled by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (Seri) and the Women and ESCR Working Group of the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, outlines widespread discrimination against women regarding access to housing and security. The report paints a bleak picture of women facing entrenched patriarchal norms, unequal treatment under customary law and weak enforcement of legal safeguards. 'We are not illegal occupiers. We are mothers, workers, survivors — this land is the only place we have,' said Thoko, a resident of an informal settlement outside Durban, who did not want to give her real name. She has faced constant eviction threats for more than 10 years, despite calling the settlement home. The Constitution guarantees gender equality and the right to housing, while laws such as the But the report outlines that land and housing policies often prioritise married, male-headed households. Women living in informal settlements, farming areas and urban townships find themselves sidelined by a system that continues to see them as dependents, rather than rights-holders. 'Women are treated as invisible in housing policy. You only matter if you are someone's wife,' said Nandipha Mntambo, a community organiser with the 'And if your husband dies or leaves, you can lose everything.' Interviews with residents of Slovo Park, Johannesburg and in Cato Crest in Durban found that in rural areas under traditional authorities women often can't get land because of patriarchal customs. 'Land allocations are rarely given to single women and those without male relatives often face social stigma and institutional exclusion,' the report said. It states that 'They came at 4am and started tearing down my shack while my children were still sleeping,' recalled Zanele, a domestic worker in Gauteng, who also did not want to be named. 'I have nowhere else to go and every week they come back with more threats.' (Graphic: John McCann/M&G) The report points out that city teams tasked with stopping land grabs often use force and scare tactics and wreck the property of women living in makeshift camps. Yet accountability remains elusive. 'We don't ask for special treatment — just to live without fear,' said Amina, an asylum-seeker from the DRC in Joburg. 'But they treat us like criminals for trying to survive.' The report added that housing policies ignore the specific struggles of migrant women, despite the Constitution promising housing rights for all. The report highlights a major issue — national According to Seri researcher Mary Maseko: 'If you can't count us, you can't serve us.' She added: 'Budgets, data and laws need to work together. Right now, they don't.' The report calls for a gender-focused strategy in housing and land reform requiring joint ownership in government housing projects, securing women's rights to use customary land and ensuring accountability by gathering data and changing laws. South Africa is set to meet the UN committee later this year. It will review how countries are meeting their responsibilities under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which South Africa signed in 2015. 'Women's rights to land and housing are not just legal issues — they are life and death,' said Seri executive director Nomzamo Zondo. 'We need a state that sees women, not as appendages to men, but as citizens in full.' The report warns about how urban growth and planning rules have created gender-based exclusion. In many cities, authorities carry out evictions under the guise of upgrades and 'cleaning up' of urban spaces, which has hit women-led households in informal areas and urban centres the hardest. The removals often happen without offering new housing that considers women's caregiving needs, school access and closeness to jobs. Abahlali baseMjondolo housing activist Thandeka Mlambo said: 'We've seen women pushed to the edges of cities where there's no transport, no clinics or schools. This is a planned form of displacement.' The report urges an immediate need to revise how government housing is allocated. 'Current systems often work against single women, queer people or domestic violence survivors who cannot show proof of cohabitation or nuclear family ties,' it said.
