Letters of Concern

In an urgent letter sent to Mayor Cherelle Parker on December 9th, 2024, Philadelphia’s Chinatown community leaders and advocates have raised profound concerns about the proposed 76 Place arena development. The letter details the community’s sustained opposition to the project, which threatens to fundamentally alter the neighborhood’s social, cultural, and economic landscape.

Community members argue that the current arena planning process has systematically excluded their voices, leaving them without meaningful opportunity to participate in decisions that will directly impact their neighborhood. The proposed arena, set to be constructed in the Fashion District adjacent to Chinatown, poses significant risks to the community’s cultural heritage, housing stability, and long-term well-being.

The letter to the Mayor articulates the community’s primary concerns, including potential displacement, cultural disruption, and the erosion of a historic neighborhood that has been a vital center of Philadelphia’s Asian American community for generations.

On 24 November 2023 the Global Director of The Shift and the Executive Director of the Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network wrote to Mayor Guthrie and their City Council to express concern over the Nov. 16th proposed motion “Encampments within the Downtown,” and his revised motion Nov. 22nd motion, “Encampments and Safe Spaces for All.”

Since 2021, we have been working with the Norwegian Refugee Council in “Area C” of the West Bank in Palestine to envision a planning regime that – with the support of the Palestinian Authority and the international community – would lead to Palestinian development, laying the foundation for statehood.

On August 11, 2023, we issued an urgent letter expressing grave concerns about potential human rights violations in Philadelphia’s Chinatown to 76 Devcorp. The letter focuses on the contentious proposal to construct a new stadium within the heart of Chinatown, emphasizing that this is not just an ordinary infrastructure project, but a threat to the community. The letter further details the disproportionate impact that the construction of a new arena in Philadelphia’s Fashion District would have on the lives, livelihoods, and cultural practices of the Asian American community who rely on Philadelphia’s Chinatown.

This threat not only endangers the existence of Chinatown but also mirrors the challenges faced by marginalized communities across the city.

In January of 2022 we wrote a letter to local government officials in Canada, urging them to take swift action to protect people living in homelessness from below-freezing temperatures and a new strain of COVID-19.

“In the early morning of the 18th August 2021, police and bylaw officers were called to the site of the Spring Garden Road library and Horseshoe Island Park and informed residents that they were required to leave their homes immediately or they would have their possessions confiscated and would be arrested.”

Note of concern to the City of Hamilton, after the City announced its intent to revoke its Bylaw Enforcement Protocol relating to homeless encampments, leaving hundreds of people at immediate risk of eviction.

Letter of Concern from The Shift regarding the proposed eviction of residents, and demolition and redevelopment of homes, at Sugar Hill Close and Wordsworth Drive, Oulton, Yorkshire, UK, by Pemberstone Ltd.

Pemberstone Ltd were provided with advanced sight of this letter to afford them with the opportunity to comment on these concerns prior to publication. No reply had been received at the time of publication but should one subsequently be it will be published on The Shift’s resources webpage.

The Shift is concerned that on 28 June 2021, a trial in La Ciudad de la Justicia de Barcelona will try Jaime Palomera, a tenants union leader in Sindicat de Llogateres Barcelona and two tenants for peacefully protesting violations of the tenants’ right to housing. We urge the Government of Spain to reconsider these charges and remind them that everyone has the right to promote and strive for the protection of fundamental human rights, including the right to housing, without retaliation or fear thereof. This is essential to building and maintaining strong, open, and democratic societies.