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Low income Americans face an acute housing shortage. But our guests have a victory to share. “Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square" is a newly-released documentary telling the story of how a diverse group of New Yorkers, led by housing organizer Frances Goldin, fought a 50-year struggle against abandonment, white flight, violence, drugs and "Power Broker" Robert Moses to save a 12-block section of lower Manhattan from being destroyed. They created the first urban Community Land Trust (CLT), and thousands of homes and businesses were saved from speculation. The CLT established permanent low-income housing for Cooper Square residents. The film, which is out now from New Day Films, was directed and produced by our guests Kelly Anderson and Ryan Joseph, with Kathryn Barnier. Anderson and Joseph, along with historian Johanna Fernández join Laura to discuss the significance of Goldin, rabble rousing and the Cooper Square story for today. Plus, a commentary from Laura on “lost causes” that aren’t. 

“The housing situation is only getting worse…We need policy solutions to address problems that were created through racist and classist policies to begin with.” - Kelly Anderson

“What [Frances Goldin] creates is a model for others to follow. And that is the notion that public lands should be connected to the idea of the public good, meaning that they can never be sold at a profit in the future by people who live there.” - Johanna Fernández

“[Frances Goldin] wanted to make sure that the movement was integrated from the start. And in doing so, she formed coalitions quickly between Blacks, Browns, Jews, Puerto Ricans . . . She was able to take the movement to City Hall because she had people in numbers.” - Ryan Joseph

Guests:

Kelly Anderson: Producer/Director, “Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square”

Johanna Fernández: Professor, 20th Century US History & the History of Social Movements at Baruch College & the Graduate Center CUNY

Ryan Joseph: Producer/Director, “Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square”

Full Show Notes are located HERE.  They include related episodes, articles, and more to dive deeper.

Music In the Middle:  “Place Delight” featuring Patti Austen, from the Home Ground project produced by Stephen Hemmer.

Chapters Summary:

(0:00:03) - The Fight for Cooper Square

(0:10:35) - The Legacy of Cooper Square

(0:18:52) - Advocating for Affordable Housing

(0:28:32) - A Collective Effort

Chapter Summaries:

(0:00:03) - The Fight for Cooper Square (11 Minutes)

In this episode, we explore the inspiring story of Frances Goldin and the Cooper Square Committee's fifty-year fight to save a twelve-block stretch of lower Manhattan from abandonment, white flight, and the powerful developer Robert Moses. The documentary film 'Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square' highlights this David vs Goliath battle, where a diverse group of New Yorkers came together to save thousands of homes and businesses from destruction. In 1970, they won approval for their alternate development plan, and today, a community land trust and mutual housing association are in place, providing affordable homes in the area.

(0:10:35) - The Legacy of Cooper Square (8 Minutes)

We delve into the factors that set the Cooper Square neighborhood apart from other communities threatened by Robert Moses' bulldozers, and how the 50-year battle for its survival succeeded. Key contributors to this success included collaborating with urban planner Walter Thabit to develop a vision for the community and securing control over the land. Additionally, the neighborhood's rich history of working-class politics and values, as well as its diverse and creative community, played a significant role in the victory. Today, the area is home to a diverse population and a range of minority-owned and woman-owned businesses, fostering a vibrant and sustainable ecosystem.

(0:18:52) - Advocating for Affordable Housing (10 Minutes)

We discuss the concept of community land trusts, which involve communal land that cannot be sold for profit and should be connected to the public good. The conversation touches on the housing crisis, the role of land speculation, and potential remedies such as reparations for African Americans. Various ongoing initiatives in New York City are mentioned, including efforts to keep public land public and increase community control over land. The importance of collective action and persistence in housing struggles is highlighted, emphasizing the need for a movement organized around the public good. The legacy of Frances Goldin serves as an inspiring example of successful organizing and advocacy for housing rights.'

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The historic Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles reopened in 2021 with a commitment to make it easy for low-income and unhoused people to occupy its rooms. So why have so few people taken advantage of this offer?

Today, we examine why this well-intentioned and funded solution to L.A.'s homelessness crisis is having trouble fulfilling its original vision. Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times Fast Break reporter Jaimie Ding

More reading:

A year after opening 600 rooms to L.A.’s unhoused, the Cecil Hotel is still mostly empty. Here’s why

LA Times Today: A year after opening 600 rooms to L.A.’s unhoused, the Cecil Hotel is still mostly empty

Once a den of prostitution and drugs, the Cecil Hotel in downtown L.A. is set to undergo a $100-million renovation

It’s estimated that half a million Americans are experiencing homelessness. Even a brief period of housing insecurity can make existing health issues worse, and bring up new physical and mental traumas. Doctors and nurses who help patients navigate these issues have a prescription: More housing, and more services. Is it possible to end chronic homelessness, even as eviction moratoriums end and rents increase? And is a housing-first model the best way to achieve that goal?

Guests:

Ana Rausch, Vice President of Program Operations at Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County

Kimberley Richardson, therapist

Maggie Sullivan, family nurse practitioner, Boston Health Care for the Homeless and instructor and human rights fellow, FXB Center, Harvard University

Credits:

Host/producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert

The Better Off team: Kristen Dweck, Elizabeth Gunner, Pamela Reynoso, Stephanie Simon, and Ben Wallace

Audio engineering and sound design: Kevin O'Connell

Additional research: Kate Becker

Dr. Andres Lopez, research director for the Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC), and Dr. Mira Mohsini, CCC’s senior researcher, talk about community based participatory action research and research justice. Their work recognizes and uplifts the expertise that exists within the community, and the ability of those most impacted to offer insight into solutions that work best.

Todd Ferry from Portland State University shares the results of his study on villages as alternative shelter and the how-to guide developed from the research. A key finding in the Village Research and How-To Guide was that 69% of villagers said that they should share in decision making at the village, and it was a key contributor to villager satisfaction. Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative researchers Dr. Marisa Zapata and Dr. Greg Townley were also part of the research team. Ferry also talks about how he got into this work and a little bit about the history of villages in Portland. 

What's up to my marvelous muntjacs and terra cotta tegus!

Welcome back to the BNP everyone and thank you so much for joining! To my patrons, you're the gluten-free croutons in my salad- you add texture and taste and I appreciate you.

This episode is a heartfelt solo journey into both the light and the dark, the beauty and the wretched. It's a real yin yang ep up in here this week folks. You already know I got the zany audio tidbits you know, love, expect, and ye, demand. 

I share a simple yet powerful meditation technique I've been utilizing effectively in my practice, and I speak from the heart about poverty in the inner city here in Phoenix, knowing full well it's the same story in every major urban center here in the "wealthiest nation on Earth." I speak about the grinding gears of gentrification, brutalizing dejection of acute homelessness and the immense sorrow I feel seeing so many kind souls languishing on these sweltering streets. Next week I will do some research and provide some practical solutions we can all do to help alleviate homelessness in the U.S. 

Stay tuned to the end folks because I include a recent Barbarian Yak Fest segment where Dr. Sylvie and I provide incontrovertible proof that President Vibin is in fact possessed by demons. I got one word to prove it all: ftubbissufut. It'll make sense, just listen to the end. 

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"The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired."

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

People living doubled up with friends or family due to economic hardship, sometimes called invisible homelessness, is not always clear to communities or even those experiencing it due to stigma and lack of resources. The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless teamed up with advocates and researchers to develop a unique way to count people living doubled up using U.S. Census microdata. In this episode, we talk with researcher Molly Richard, a student at Vanderbilt University, Samuel Carlson, manager of Research and Outreach at Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and Edrika Fulford, a community organizer with lived experience of doubled-up homelessness. 

We dedicate this episode to Edrika who died shortly after this recording. Those who knew her said that Edrika brought immense passion and resolve to all that she did as a leader and advocate, whether speaking at rallies, testifying at press conferences, officiating events, or providing interviews with the media. She will be deeply missed and forever part of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless’s mission and legacy.

Dr. Norweeta Milburn and Earl Edwards from UCLA share their recent study with co-authored with California Policy Lab colleagues Dean Obermark and Janey Roundtree: Inequity in the Permanent Supportive Housing System in Los Angeles: Scale, Scope and Reasons for Black Residents’ Return to Homelessness.  A key finding shows that Black residents were 19% more likely than White residents to return to homelessness from permanent supportive housing in Los Angeles County. The higher rates of homelessness and inequitable outcomes mirror trends across the country. The researchers talk about the reasons behind the results, which are also outlined in their report. 

When Portland State University instructor Kacy McKinney got the idea to create a series of comics featuring PSU students with lived experiences of homelessness and housing insecurity, her goal was to change the narrative around homelessness. The project—which has blossomed into a 80-page printed comic collection and two gallery showings—has done that and much more.

FREE EVICTIONS SUPPORT: Tenants facing eviction can get help at (888) 585-9638 or at oregonlawcenter.org/eviction-defense-project.

Becky Straus and Emily Rena-Dozier co-run Oregon Law Center’s Eviction Defense Project, which provides free legal help and representation to anyone facing an eviction in Oregon. Straus is the Managing Attorney for the EDP and Rena-Dozier supports and mentors legal aid attorneys statewide on housing law cases. In this episode they talk about illegal evictions, the need for representation in an unjust system and their work to help all those who need it. Tenants facing eviction can reach their team at (888) 585-9638 or at oregonlawcenter.org/eviction-defense-project.

In this episode we talk with Julia Delgado, the vice president of the Urban League of Portland, about the higher rates of homelessness for black residents, historic lack of access to housing and services and how that inspired the Urban League and other culturally specific providers to get into housing.

In this episode, we talk with Jessica Mathis and Calvin from Welcome Home Coalition, a group of organizations working together to advance the idea that everyone deserves a place to call home. Mathis is the regional organizer and Calvin is an advocate. They talk about the speaker advocate program, and the value of hearing and connecting to people with lived experience of homelessness. And why that’s key to effective public policy.

In this episode we switch it up, and Dr. Marisa Zapata is the one answering the questions about rates of homelessness, affordable housing, and how to help those living unsheltered. Community leader and housing advocate Shannon Singleton gets to ask the questions that many community members have. She is the former executive director of JOIN, a local nonprofit that provides street outreach and housing placement support to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. 

Editor’s note: This episode was recorded before Shannon Singleton announced her candidacy for Multnomah County Chair, and is not meant as an endorsement of any campaign. 

In this episode, we talk with Raven Drake, manager of the Streets Roots Ambassador Program. The program builds on the talents and expertise of people on the streets to do public health outreach, surveys, and training while also helping participants build skills, make professional connections, and earn additional income. Drake also helped create C3PO, a collection of three alternative shelter communities built during the pandemic. She talks about why self determination is key when it comes to creating these spaces, and why efforts to create camps without it will fall short. She also shares her personal journey and how even on the darkest of days, there is a pathway forward.

The following audio exclusive  features the entire uncut interview with NDN Collective’s Director of Racial Equity, Sunny Red Bear of the Lakota Nation.  Excerpts of this interview were included in our recent special  “LANDBACK! A Tipi Town Approach to Healing & Homelessness”.   In this special feature, Laura traveled to the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota where NDN Collective is reclaiming ancestral lands to address homelessness, addiction and violence against Native Americans.  Laura reported on  Camp Mniluzahan, a tipi village built on tribal trust land, that welcomed hundreds of unhoused Indigenous people and others in the Rapid City area in the dead of winter last year.   Catalyzed in 2020, by an action in which Land Defenders blocked former President Donald Trump’s road to Mount Rushmore, this Landback campaign is about reclaiming, along with stolen land, native ceremonies, spirituality and traditions of community care.

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The Laura Flanders Show Crew:  Laura Flanders, Sabrina Artel, David Neuman, Nat Needham, Rory O'Conner, Janet Hernandez, Sarah Miller and Jeannie Hopper

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UPDATE: Since recording this episode, Oregon has expanded legal support to all low-income tenants facing a court eviction. For more information, contact the Oregon Law Center at (888)-585-9638 or evictiondefense@oregonlawcenter.org

This is part two of our conversation with Don’t Evict PDX where we talk about the violence of eviction, systemic issues, biggest fears for the future, and what is next for the organization. Don’t Evict PDX is an all volunteer tenants’ organization that mobilized during the pandemic to observe eviction court and organize around what they saw. The end of the show also includes resources for those battling eviction.

UPDATE: Since recording this episode, Oregon has expanded legal support to all low-income tenants facing a court eviction. For more information, contact the Oregon Law Center at (888)-585-9638 or evictiondefense@oregonlawcenter.org

Don’t Evict PDX is an all volunteer tenants’ organization that mobilized during the pandemic to observe eviction court and organize around what they saw. While some additional supports have since become available, listen for those at the end of the episode, their efforts still underscore housing injustices in the Portland Metro Area. Eviction is a key contributor to homelessness. This is part one of our conversation with Don’t Evict PDX. Listen to the next half in episode 5.

UCLA researchers and graduate students Marques Vestal, Fernanda Jahn Verri, and Andrew Klein join Then & Now to discuss the Luskin Center for History and Policy's research report detailing the history of the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles County. They discuss how the last century of housing policy, racial dynamics, and policing practices all contributed to the crisis we find ourselves in today. This is the first episode in a series covering the report findings. Read the report, "The Making of a Crisis: A History of Homelessness," here.

Then & Now is taking a summer break in July and August, and will return with a new season in September. Please enjoy a look back at some of our favorite episodes over the last year!

Community health worker, activist and grassroots organizer LaQuida Landford talks about her roots in Belize and her lived experience of homelessness, and how both shape her vision for the AfroVillage Movement. She has worked for several Portland area nonprofits working on homelessness including Central City Concern, JOIN, and Urban League of Portland. Now she is creating her own movement. The AfroVillage will be a healing space for communities of color.