Podcasts

Reclaim the City has, through one of its projects, given a long-term home to over 1,000 people in Woodstock.

Cissie Gool House was an abandoned hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, empty and decaying for 40 years, when homeless activists snuck past security on the night of March 27, 2017, and began an occupation that, seven years later, has transformed it into a vibrant self-governing community of 1,000 formerly homeless, evicted, and displaced people. Two leaders of Cissie Gool House, Karen Hendricks and Fagmeedah Ling, join host Desire Wandan to discuss how the residents themselves renovated the building, set up working committees to deal with elder, youth, maintenance and security issues, and expanded their occupation into a movement that now convenes “Peoples’ Assemblies” to teach others about tenants’ rights, fights evictions, monitors the housing courts, and agitates for enforcement of South Africa’s constitution, which declares that, “everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing.” Listen here: https://eastsideinstitute.podbean.com/e/women-lead-the-fight-for-housing-rights/