Unconventional Miami-Area Housing Activist Comes Up With "Bailout" Plan; Gets Homeless Off Streets By Moving Them Into Vacant Foreclosed Homes

In Miami, Florida, The Associated Press reports:

• [Max] 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. ''We're matching homeless people with people-less homes,'' he said with a grin.

• 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.

For more, see Miami Activist Moves People Into Foreclosed Houses.

For other media reports on this story, see:

• Miami New Times: Squatters Fight for Rights (A homeless mom wants her stuff back) (Thousands of homes in South Florida are in foreclosure, squatters are taking up residence, and when said squatters get booted, they demand a proper eviction notice),

• WPLG-TV Channel 10: Homeless Woman Takes Shelter In Vacant House (Housing Advocate Breaks Into House, Moves Woman In). Go here for the WPLG-TV Channel 10 video.

Thanks to attorney Donald Marritz of Regional Housing Legal Services in Pennsylvania for the heads up on the Associated Press story.

Go here for posts on squatters moving into vacant homes, foreclosures. squatter foreclosure zebra

Miami Community Activist Continues "Vacant Home-Finding" Service For Homeless

In Miami, Florida, WTVJ-TV Channel 6 reports:

• With the number of foreclosures continuing to rise in South Florida, squatting has become a growing trend among the area's homeless. "I had to squat because nobody gave a squat," said 'Mary.' We're calling her 'Mary' and concealing her identity because she's a squatter. She lost her job and took up residence in this vacant foreclosed house.

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• Community activist Max Rameau placed Mary in the home through his organization, Take Back the Land. "Our role is to identify these places and make them available for people who need places to stay, and that's what we do," said Rameau. He's placed seven such families in foreclosed homes.

For more, see With Growing Number Of Foreclosures, Homeless Turning to Squatting (read text) (watch video). squatter foreclosure zebra