Just who is max rameau?

Before I put you out of your misery, I'll just pose a quick question. What is happening to all of those foreclosed properties in the US that are now standing empty? Well, I'll tell you - in Miami, they are being taken over by homeless squatters, who are being pointed in the right direction by ‘squatters agent' Max Rameau...

Mr Rameau and his group, ‘Take Back the Land' are no strangers to housing the homeless. Back in 2006, they hit the headlines when they created the Umoja Village Shantytown in Miami, which was built on a lot belonging to the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County. Taking its name from the Swahili word for ‘unity,' the town operated as a self-sustaining community for its sixth month lifespan.

The public land, which once housed a low-income apartment complex, was controlled by its residents and the community at large and featured 20 wood-framed structures and includes multiple duplex-style housing units built from wooden pallets and a communal kitchen.

But, in April 2007, Umoja Village was destroyed in a fire and the City of Miami enclosed the lot in barbed wire to stop them rebuilding it.

Now, eager to help more homeless people off the streets, Mr Rameau has started to make use of the thousands of empty foreclosed properties that have been abandoned by owners who can no longer pay their mortgages.

Whilst homeless people all across America are moving into these properties, Miami is the only city in which there is an ‘agent' to help them. Unlike most estate agents, Mr Rameau takes no payment and breaks into each of the properties that he is showing, before conducting a full tour of the house, and allowing his prospective movers to choose between properties.

Once they have chosen a property, Take Back the Land will Change the locks, paint and clean and find a way to connect the water and electricity.

Mr Rameau said, "We call it ‘liberating the housing.' We're matching homeless people with people-less homes as I think everyone deserves a home.

"I have helped six families move into foreclosed property and have more on my waiting list. One was a 39 year old single mother who had been sleeping in a shelter with her toddler," he adds.

Surely the old owners won't be too happy to hear about this? Well, Mr Rameau says he is helping the owners as having someone effectively ‘house-sitting' their property could prevent thieves breaking in and stealing everything.

Florida was one of the states hit hardest by the credit crunch as its booming market, fuelled in part by foreigner's holiday homes, had that much further to fall.

Last year, Miami-Dade County recorded 26,391 foreclosures, a nearly threefold increase from 2006, and the pace has only quickened since then. The state now has the unenviable claim of having the nation's second-highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 178 homes in default.

Meanwhile, public housing is in crisis; at least four people are on waiting lists for each of the 10,000 available units, and the local housing agency, which is known to be corrupt, was taken over by the Federal Government last year.

Linda Couch, Deputy Director of the Washington, D.C. - based National Low Income Housing Coalition, said, "It's incredibly frustrating for housing advocates knowing that there are so many vacant houses amid so many people on the brink of homelessness."

According to the Miami-Dade County Housing Agency, squatters, if discovered, will be promptly removed from the premises and potentially prosecuted.

So far, though, nothing has been done about Take Back's foreclosure-squatting, and, whilst Rameau warns the families that they may be arrested, he says that ‘things are so desperate that they are willing to risk it.'

Picture by flickr