We refuse to watch any more of our neighbors forced out of our community.

As our community has suffered 835 foreclosures since 2007, our elected officials refuse to act. Though the Central and Powderhorn neighborhoods are among the poorest in Minneapolis, we owe Wall Street over $52 million in negative equity. While many of us are homeless, abandoned homes sit uselessly vacant, vulnerable to crime and blight. As Wall Street and the big banks are again making record profits, in our community we have seen no relief from the foreclosure crisis.

We will no longer be held hostage by the tyranny of the financial institutions that crashed our economy. We have come together as a community to voice our collective demands, and will not move from our homes until they are met.

• A moratorium. State and Federal authorities must declare an immediate stop to foreclosures and evictions until policies are in place to ensure stable, affordable, quality housing for all.

• No public resources for unjust evictions. Our public servants, city officials, police officers and sheriffs must not interfere with any negotiation by evicting residents who intend to negotiate with their lender. City and County officials could enact a de facto moratorium by publicly refusing to carry out evictions of unjust foreclosures.

• Principal reduction. Lenders must rewrite all mortgages to reflect today’s housing prices at an affordable fixed interest rate. Households in Powderhorn Park and Central neighborhoods owe at least $52 million in negative equity to the big banks. Relieving this unjust debt would provide relief to thousands of families.

• Housing is a human right. Hundreds of bank-owned vacant properties sit uselessly in our neighborhoods while in Hennepin County homelessness is at a six-year high, and over 30% of all people experiencing homelessness are children. Bank-owned vacant properties should be placed under community control, to be used for affordable housing.

We believe that safe, equitable, and affordable housing is a human right. Until this vision becomes a reality for all of our neighbors, we stand together against foreclosures and evictions. We hereby declare the Powderhorn and Central neighborhoods of South Minneapolis an Eviction Free Zone.

We, the residents facing eviction, shall not be moved.