Operation Homestead, direct action for affordable housing

anarcho-cyndiquilism:

Operation Homestead (OH) was a collective of housing rights activists who organized squats in Seattle in the early 90s. Tired of the city’s tolerance of neglectful landowners who allowed their property to dilapidate into uselessness while folks lived on the street, OH started a direct action campaign to win affordable housing. They were incredibly successful, their two most famous victories being the conversion of the abandoned Arion Court apartment building (pictured above) and Pacific Hotel into low-income housing. 

Their organization was revolutionary and impeccable. OH was horizontally-organized, and prided itself on direct democracy and consensus decision making. Responsibilities were broken up fairly.  In 1991, over 50 people occupied the dilapidated Arion Court for five days, in that short time cleaning and repairing much of a building that had been abandoned for years and suffered numerous land code violations. When occupiers were forcibly evicted by police, protests erupted, prompting a collaboration between OH, neighborhood associations, the city, and the two landowners to convert Arion Court into low-income housing. OH trained dozens of homeless people on how to maintain the building, for and by themselves. In 1994, Arion Court was reopened, with all 37 apartments renovated into low-income housing units. It became the first self-managed permanent housing project in Washington state.

OH’s second and most large-scale victory was the Battle of the Pacific Hotel. Pacific Hotel’s owner had illegally evicted its residents and deeded it to SeaFirst bank to avoid foreclosure, advertising the vacant building to luxury hotel investors. In 1992, for seven days, at least 300 people squatted all 106 rooms. SeaFirst and the police harassed the occupiers and depended on the squat to collapse internally, but OH’s radical organizing persevered. Homeless folks (the vast majority of whom were PoC and multilingual) led the occupation. There were general meetings and subcommittees formed.  The Security Committee ensured every person who came in the building signed in/out at the front desk, compiling lists of who was staying in which rooms and handling any complaints about safety. The Renovation Committee gathered tools to fix the building’s plumbing. The Food Committee provided two meals a day, one at 6 am and one at 6 pm, and facilitated the meal donations from the squat’s countless supporters. 

“By cooperating with one another, the occupants were proving that homeless people are not helpless. They were running the city’s largest and most economical shelter: no private or public funds, no staffing, dozens of volunteers, and loads of donations.” –Jon Gould, Real Change

The Negotiating Committee brainstormed how to secure housing for the homeless occupiers if they were evicted. They got hundreds of signatures for a  proposal that the squatters would only leave the Pacific Hotel if the mayor assured them housing either in the hotel or elsewhere. This forced the mayor to open negotiations. Yet in a violent show of hypocrisy, he sent the cops to break up the occupation, deporting many people in the process and stealing their possessions. The massive backlash led the Plymouth Housing Group (a non-profit) to fundraise and buy the hotel. In 1994, it was renovated into 113 units of low-income housing, with varied layouts from one bedroom apartments to studios. One floor was designated for women residents only. 

No, this isn’t too amazing to be true. The Pacific Hotel and Arion Court are still active low-income housing today. Nearly all of their residents pay no more than 30% of their income on rent. OH is a testament to the power of grassroots, socialistic organizing and direct action, and seeing the homeless crisis Seattle is facing again currently, I’d love to see a comeback.