Occupy Foreclosure protestors respond to article

The owner of a foreclosed upon Brooklyn home and the Occupy Wall Street protestors who helped relocate a homeless family into it, as part of the Occupy Foreclosure movement, have fired back at the New York Post, which claimed in a story this weekend that the homeless family OWS moved into the home did not stay there often and that the foreclosed upon owner was angry about protesters’ actions. Now, Gothamist reported, the homeless family living in the home, at 702 Vermont Street in East New York, has shot back, explaining that they live in the home and are in contact with the foreclosed upon owner, Wise Azadhi.

“On Dec. 6, I moved into a vacant, Bank of America-foreclosed property with the support of neighbors on Vermont Street because my family — victims of [Mayor] Michael Bloomberg’s housing policies and the big banks’ callous disregard for people — had been homeless for years,” Alfred Carrasquillo told Gothamist in a statement. Carrasquillo added that he has the support of the local community and has spoken with Azadhi and community leaders many times about keeping his own family and Azadhi’s from living on the street. “We all want the same thing: families who need housing living in these vacant houses.”

Carrasquillo added that the Post reporter found OWS protesters living at the house when the Paper visited last week because “[Carrasquillo] invited members of Occupy Wall Street to inhabit the house … until it was safe” to move in. [Gothamist]