Abolition Park Housing Fund

THE CRISIS OF HOUSING IN NEW YORK CITY How many Black people are dying every day from being forced to choose between sleeping in a park or in an overcrowded shelter under the murderous scrutiny of the police? We believe that housing justice is part of racial justice, and we know there's something we can do to directly affect the survival of Black and brown activists in New York City. Currently, 80,000 New Yorkers are experiencing homelessness. The coming wave of evictions, which Governor Cuomo is doing nothing to halt, will surely swell these numbers, sweeping Black and brown low-income New Yorkers out of their homes, eroding neighborhoods and networks of care. Meanwhile in the middle of a global pandemic, worsening climate crisis and a massive recession with no end in sight, Mayor de Blasio lets our city's homeless sleep on stairwells in overcrowded shelters. When they go to the Department of Homeless Services to access one of the few hotel rooms that the city is parcelling out in the crisis, they're made to sleep two to a room, a situation in which they cannot meaningfully isolate or social-distance. And when, just weeks ago, bad actors like the fascist lawyer Randy Mastro threatened to sue the city over housing the homeless in hotels on the Upper West Side, de Blasio caved to this demonstration of white power and displaced over 300 unhoused men from their temporary shelter at the Lucerne Hotel. This racist, murderous dispossession has taken place while U.S. billionaires saw their wealth grow by nearly a trillion dollars in the first six months of the pandemic alone. The people of Abolition Park stand in solidarity in protest for UNIVERSAL HOUSING. We are working to provide the conditions that will ABOLISH HOMELESSNESS. We believe in homes, not shelters; care, not cops. Fully aware that skyrocketing rents are pushing Black people out of their homes at rates exponentially higher than non-Black people will experience in this city, we recognize that part of the devaluing of Black life involves refusing access to safe and stable housing. Working against the intentions of the racist, capitalist state, this Go Fund Me will contribute to our community forming robust mutual aid networks to provide the resources to sustain vulnerable Black lives. Everyone deserves safe, stable, permanent housing. We fight in solidarity with our unhoused friends, neighbors, and community members who are terrorized every day by police and property owners. The housed and unhoused people of Abolition Park are prepared to put our bodies on the line for housing justice. OUR GOAL: The mission of the Abolition Park Housing Fund is to provide dependable emergency housing funds for the frontline activists of our community. We subsidize housing costs for community members in need on a case-by-case basis, and refuse help to no one. Not only is Abolition Park stepping up to the challenge to create sustainable housing solutions for our community members, but also to provide a sustainable and sustaining community that increases the security, self-esteem, mental health, and motivation of activists experiencing homelessness. While the current costs of safely housing our community, which largely consists of poor and unemployed black and brown youth, averages approximately $6,000 per month, we have no stable or consistent source of funding. Every dollar shared with our community was given freely by and for the people. While we are moved and inspired by this ongoing support of individuals, we seek to secure additional funding by applying for grants to acquire or build more affordable permanent housing and space for our community to grow and thrive. WHY WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT: Abolition Park is not an organization, nor are we mobilizing towards becoming a non-profit or LLC. We exist solely as a community of like-minded individuals who are connected through an unspoken commitment that pushes us to show up for each other, psychically, mentally and emotionally day after day as we put our bodies on the line to stand-up against the imposing violence of our current police state. We thank you for your support as we build the capacity of the Abolition Park community to secure safe and stable housing for all the dedicated front-line activists of this movement in New York City.