Miami Activist Moves Homeless Into Foreclosed Homes
But in nearly every other respect, he is unlike any real estate agent you’ve ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don’t have a dime for a down payment.
Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own around Miami’s empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move into foreclosed homes.
Rameau and a group of like-minded advocates formed Take Back the Land, which also helps the new “tenants” with secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep. So far, he has moved six families into foreclosed homes and has nine on a waiting list.
With the housing market collapsing, squatting in foreclosed homes is believed to be on the rise around the country. But squatters usually move in on their own, at night, when no one is watching. Rarely is the phenomenon as organized as Rameau’s effort to “liberate” foreclosed homes.
Florida especially the Miami area, with its once booming condo market is one of the hardest hit states in the housing crisis, largely because of overbuilding and speculation. In September, Florida had the nation’s second-highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 178 homes in default, according to Realty Trac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. Only Nevada’s rate was higher.
Pierre herself could be charged with trespassing, vandalism or breaking and entering. Rameau assured her he has lawyers who will represent her free.
Two weeks after Pierre moved in, she came home to find the locks had been changed, probably by the property’s manager. Everything inside her food, clothes and family photos was gone.
But late last month, with Rameau’s help, she got back inside and has put Christmas decorations on the front door.
Tags: activist, bailout plan, christmas decorations, cleaning supplies, empty streets, family photos, foreclosed homes, foreclosed properties, foreclosure, homeless people, housing market, marketer, miami area, rameau, real estate agent, secondhand furniture, sweat pants, upkeep, vandalism, waiting list