Homeless Evicted in House Takeover

By RACHEL STULTS - The Tennessean - May 8, 2008

After setting up a makeshift bed in the federal Housing and Urban Development residence on Flamingo Drive, the man said, "My brain has a sanctuary and now my body has a sanctuary.''
But five hours later, Metro Police forced Allen and other homeless representatives off the property. Allen and two other people were cited for trespassing.

"Time has worn thin for talking and no action," said Allen, who has served on several homeless commissions. "I'm willing to go to jail for this."

Homeless advocates maintain that it makes sense for the homeless to move into the publicly funded building rather than allowing it to sit empty.

The nonprofit Nashville Homeless Power Project used a mid-day march to make the point. About 40 homeless advocates left the Metro Courthouse on James Robertson Parkway and walked to the house, where police were directing traffic but did not immediately intervene.
Later, Pyramid Real Estate Services, which is trying to sell the home for HUD, asked police to remove them.

Organization officials say they've already taken over a dozen vacant HUD homes in Davidson County, but this was the first time they made their intentions public.

"It's a point we appreciate, but we don't advocate breaking the law to do it,'' said Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for HUD in Washington, D.C. He said the home is for sale, and that as long as it's occupied it can't be sold.

Allen said he had sent an application and a check to HUD to legitimize his occupation of the home, and that he intended to pay more as he continues in his new temp agency job.

He says he has a criminal record stemming from a voter fraud conviction, a nonviolent felony, and says that makes it difficult for him and other offenders to get housing.

"I've messed up but I've paid my debts. I was a failure and now I'm a success,'' he said.
Between January 2007 and January 2008, the number of homeless men and women sleeping outdoors in Nashville grew about 19 percent, from 390 to 466, according to the Metropolitan Development and Housing Authority.

Homeless advocate Cheri Honkala, began doing housing takeovers 20 years ago in Minnesota. She and her son were living in their car but the makeshift home was totaled in an accident.

"It was that day we had to make a decision: Move forward and take over an abandoned house or stay on the street and freeze to death," said Honkala, who works with homeless advocates across the nation.

Honkal was cited along with Allen and Jeannie Alexander, program director for the Nashville organization.

Contact Rachel Stults at 726-8904 or rstults@tennessean.com.