Ref. Urgent Appeal regarding the prosecution and eviction threat of Ms. Sharon Jasper of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

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1 August 31, 2010 Mrs. Margaret Sekaggya Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders C.C. Ms. Raquel Rolnik Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Ref. Urgent Appeal regarding the prosecution and eviction threat of Ms. Sharon Jasper of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Dear Mrs. Sekaggya: We are writing to you on behalf of Ms. Sharon Jasper, an elder black woman, of New Orleans, Louisiana to request that you investigate the recent persecution and pending threats directed at Ms. Jasper. We urge you to investigate the allegations that authorities in the United States acted in violation of Ms. Jasper s fundamental rights and that you raise your concerns with the US government. We hope that you can both protect the basic rights of Ms. Jasper and help ensure that the right to defend human rights in the US is respected. As we hope this petition makes clear, it is Ms. Jasper s position that she has violated no criminal or civil law or regulation. Nonetheless, the very existence of the laws and regulations referenced herein, regardless of how they are applied, pose a severe threat to democratic expression in the defense of human rights, as well as security of tenure for all public housing residents. Background In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, hundreds of thousands of people living in the Gulf Coast region of the US were displaced. Consequently, these people were entitled to human rights protections defined by the UN s Guiding Principles on the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Some of the indivisible rights of IDPs include the right to return, the right to adequate housing, and the right to participation. Yet, local, state, and federal government action during and after Katrina and Rita has consistently appeared to be designed to prevent poor and predominately African American communities from returning to their homes. Perhaps the most egregious attacks on human rights post Katrina and Rita has been government actions directed at public housing communities in New Orleans. When public housing residents attempted to return to their homes, most of which sustained little damage, they were met with police harassment, armed guards, and, in some instances, newly erected barbed wire. Instead of opening undamaged and minimally damaged affordable housing units to displaced residents, the Housing Authority of New 1

2 Orleans ( HANO ) boarded up and purposefully failed to repair the units or take steps to mitigate mold contamination. HANO has been operating under the receivership of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD ), the national agency charged with oversight of public housing across the nation, since In June 2006, shortly after the hurricanes hit, HANO released plans, which HUD quickly accepted, to demolish 4,800 units of public housing, many of which were not damaged by the storms. The New Orleans City Council, on December 20th, 2007, also approved the demolition of the four major public housing complexes in the city (the Big 4). Approximately 500 tenants and their supporters were locked out of the meeting, as well as pepper-sprayed, tasered, and about a dozen arrested for demanding that the city council allow residents to attend the meeting. Despite skyrocketing housing prices across New Orleans and the doubling of the city s homeless population since Katrina and Rita, on April 10th, 2008, the last of the Big 4 was demolished. Mixedincome redevelopment plans for the Big 4 have been based on privatization models and, generally, an exasperating reduction in the number of units affordable to low-income families, up to 80 or 90 percent. Government reports confirm that half of the working poor, elderly and disabled who lived in New Orleans prior to Katrina and Rita have not returned. Furthermore, the African American population has plummeted by 57%, compared with a 36% drop in the White population. International Response A significant number of United Nations human rights monitoring bodies have assessed the US Government s response to the hardships facing Katrina survivors in light of the government s human rights obligations, including: The Independent Expert on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, in March 2006, published a report based on his October 24th through November 4th, 2005 mission to the United States, which included New Orleans. The UN Human Rights Committee, in December 2006, vocalized its concern that the poor, in particular African Americans, were disadvantaged by rescue and evacuation plans and continue to be disadvantaged by reconstruction plans. The then UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Miloon Kothari, and the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Gay McDougall, issued a joint press release in February 2008, following a private communication to the US Government on December 17th, 2007, expressing their concern over the process leading to the demolition of public housing in New Orleans. The experts expressed dismay over reports of violations of the right to participation and the right to adequate housing for former public housing residents. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in February 2008, also expressed concern about the disparate impact the hurricanes have continued to have on lowincome African American residents. 2

3 The Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Walter Kälin, condemned post-katrina redevelopment efforts for prioritizing economic interests over residents needs. The UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, Doudou Diène, in May 2009, expressed concern that the US Government was not ensuring the return of displaced persons to New Orleans and criticized the demolition of public housing. The International Advisory Group on Forced Evictions, which reports to UN-HABITAT, completed a fact-finding mission to New Orleans in July The pending publication documents numerous ways in which forced evictions and displacement have violated human rights for Katrina survivors, including rights related to IDPs, housing, discriminatory effects, health, life and dignity interests, and participation. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Raquel Rolnik, filed a report in March 2010 based on her fact-finding mission to the US in November 2009, in which she asserted that new housing should be made available for displaced residents before any unit is demolished and that residents right to return must be ensured to the area where new developments are located. Regulatory Context for Public Housing HUD eviction and termination regulations dictate housing security for residents of public housing, as well as recipients of vouchers through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. A recipient of a Section 8 voucher seeks housing in the private market and receives government assistance in paying the fair market value for the unit. For many, eviction or termination of a voucher means immediate homelessness and displacement from the community. US Congress has enacted a law, often called the one-strike rule, which authorizes public housing agencies ( PHAs ) and owners of federally-assisted low-income housing ( owners ) to use leases with language enabling the PHAs and owners to evict tenants for any criminal activity that threatens the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other tenants... on or off [site], engaged in by a... tenant, any member of the tenant s household, or any guest or other person under the tenant s control. 42 U.S.C. 1437d(l)(6). A tenant can be evicted under the one-strike rule regardless of whether the... person has been arrested or convicted by a court of law. 24 C.F.R Furthermore, given that the rule can be used to evict a tenant on the basis of a guest s activity, the Supreme Court of the United States has also held that the tenant can be evicted under the onestrike rule even where the tenant has no knowledge of the activity. Dep t of Housing & Urban Development v. Rucker, 535 U.S. 125 (2002). Despite the high stakes, the federal government grants PHAs broad authority to interpret and administer HUD regulations. 24 C.F.R HANO, the local PHA in New Orleans, has developed thirteen grounds for eviction or voucher termination, which cover a broad range of fairly ordinary 3

4 human behavior. For example, the following are grounds for eviction or termination of rental assistance under a HANO lease: missing two appointments for housing inspection, using abusive language with a HANO employee, disturbing the peace, and poor housekeeping. Too often, PHAs and owners exercise their expansive discretion under HUD policies in ways that target and discriminate and, at best, are arbitrary and capricious, leaving residents to live in constant fear of eviction. This has a particularly chilling effect on advocacy and activism by residents. More than one in ten public housing residents and rental assistance recipients recently surveyed in New Orleans by the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative had been threatened with eviction or voucher termination, while nearly half of respondents reported living in fear of eviction or voucher termination. Attack on Emerging Human Rights Defenders As the severity of the human rights crisis became increasingly clear, post Katrina and Rita organizing has inspired the emergence of a range of human rights defenders, including Ms. Sharon Jasper. Ms. Jasper is a disabled and elder African American woman of New Orleans. Prior to Katrina and Rita, she was a longtime resident of the St. Bernard public housing development, one of the Big 4 public housing complexes demolished (in February 2008) pursuant to federal policy. Ms. Jasper was displaced by Katrina and has been fighting for her family and her community s right to return to their homes for the nearly five years since the hurricane hit the US coast. Ms. Jasper has become a housing rights leader and vocal advocate with MayDay New Orleans and Survivors Village the two independent public housing resident organizations in New Orleans. MayDay New Orleans was created shortly after Katrina in reaction to city officials plan to demolish the city s public housing stock. The not-for-profit organization is run and led by public housing residents and works to ensure the right to return for displaced public housing residents, adequate affordable housing options for all, and greater community participation in the rebuilding plans of New Orleans. Survivors Village started as a tent city erected by residents of public housing in New Orleans in response to the federal government s continued hindrance of residents right to return to their homes. This organization of residents has continued to work for resident self-determination and the right to return. Before and after Columbia Parc, a mixed income development, replaced the demolished St. Bernard, Ms. Jasper has participated in countless non-violent rallies and protests organized by MayDay and Survivors Village in New Orleans. On May 28th, 2010, in opposition to the imposition of strict eligibility requirements targeting former St. Bernard residents right to return, Ms. Jasper participated in yet another non-violent demonstration. On the day of the demonstration, she, and approximately 30 others, marched around Columbia Parc and staged a sit-in in the new development s rental office. After the group vocalized their concerns in the presence of Columbia Parc security officers and New Orleans police officers, the group left the rental office peacefully. Nearly a full week after the May 28th demonstration, on June 3rd, 2010, at approximately 9:30 PM CDST, officers with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), accompanied by a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, arrested Ms. Jasper in her home. The arrest was allegedly made by NOPD Officer Sam, Badge Number 01017, Unit Ms. Jasper was held for nearly two hours in the back of a 4

5 NOPD squad car in front of her house without access to medication and was made to feel humiliated, disgusted, nervous, and shaky. Ms. Jasper was subsequently taken to central booking, Orleans Municipal, where she was, only then, informed that she was being charged with misdemeanor battery. The charge was based on a complaint filed by Columbia Parc on June 2nd, 2010, claiming that Ms. Jasper assaulted a rental agent at the May 28th demonstration, despite widespread dissemination of video footage clearly showing otherwise. At approximately 3:45 AM CDST, Ms Jasper was released from custody. On July 7th, 2010, Ms. Jasper received a letter at her home from HANO. The letter threatened to terminate her Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, the publicly subsidized rental assistance Ms. Jasper has received ever since being displaced from her home in St. Bernard. The voucher is set to be terminated on August 31st, The decision, the letter stated, was based on her failure to comply with the terms of Family Obligations of the Housing Choice Voucher Program. This means that Ms. Jasper is being threatened with eviction under HANO s administration of HUD s one-strike rule. As explained above, under current federal regulations, Ms. Jasper may be evicted whether or not she is found guilty of the assault. Furthermore, because she has been charged with an assault and the one-strike rule may be used against a tenant based on the alleged conduct of a family member or guest, Ms. Jasper will not be able to stay with her daughter who is also a voucher recipient. Thus, should HANO complete Ms. Jasper s voucher termination, Ms. Jasper will be homeless. The threat from HANO can only be interpreted as an effort to silence Ms. Jasper, as well as an effort to send a message to other public housing residents organizing to fight back against the onslaught of attacks on their human rights. Ms. Jasper s case is part of a disturbing pattern where threats of eviction and voucher termination intimidate and silence public housing tenants who exercise their right to speak out and organize in defense of human rights. International Protection of Human Rights Defenders The Declaration on Human Rights Defenders sets out the obligations of the state with regards to human rights defenders. In particular, pursuant to article 12 of the Declaration, states have the obligation to "take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of everyone against any violence, threats, retaliation, adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the Declaration." Petition The circumstances described herein, concerning the arrest, detention and threats by US authorities on Ms. Jasper, raise urgent concerns about imminent and continuing violations of internationally protected rights to freedom from threats, retaliatory and arbitrary action against human rights defenders and rights of minorities, among others. We therefore request that you investigate this matter and communicate your concerns to the US Government. 5

6 Please contact us should you require additional information. This letter is submitted by the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights. 6