‘Haven’ works to fight homelessness

Since September 2008, between 10,000 and 16,000 individuals have been evicted from their homes in Philadelphia alone. Through discussions and rallies, one Penn group is working to raise awareness of the issue of homelessness.

On Tuesday evening, Penn Haven — an on-campus student activist group dedicated solidarity with low-income individuals — led a panel discussion with the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.

The Kensington Welfare Rights Union is an anti-poverty activist group headed by Cheri Honkola and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.

During the panel discussion, four activists spoke about their experiences with homelessness and questioned why people must go without even in a country as wealthy as ours. About 80 students attended the event.

“It should not be the case that people should have so little in the midst of plenty,” said Gaylen Tyler, an activist for the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.

The discussion also highlighted the stories of four formerly homeless individuals now devoted to helping the poor community.

Following that discussion, Penn Haven led a rally in Center City Thursday morning.

According to Penn Haven president Jimmy Tobias, a College senior and Daily Pennsylvanian features writer, the rally started outside the federal building on 6th street and ended up blocking an intersection in front of the building. There, Tobias, Honkola, and others from the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign spoke.

According to Tobias, the rally was peaceful and considered a success.

“We are trying to revive the use of activist tactics — from political theater to nonviolent civil disobedience — to rejuvenate the student power movement on Penn’s campus,” Tobias said.

During her speech, Honkola called for a much larger protest and a sit-in on the federal building in January if a moratorium was not put on evictions across the country by the federal government.

“Every 13 seconds, a house goes into foreclosure in Philadelphia,” Honkola said.

Interestingly, Philadelphia has been commended by The New York Times as the provider of the nation’s most successful foreclosure reconciliation program.

Honkola contested this accolade strongly, making a point to distinguish between a truly conciliatory foreclosure program and one that simply delays evictions but does not stop them.

“It’s not that Philadelphia has been the best at preventing foreclosure, it’s that we’ve been the best at delaying it,” Honkola said. “Is it really so great that we know how to drag out the inevitable?”

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.