Take Back The Land - Tactics

Tactics

Rameau states that having people occupy the buildings helps the owners by preventing looting and property destruction that he says would likely happen to unoccupied buildings. He also says that the group requires that tenants get electricity and provides solar panels if the electricity does not work. Take Back the Land activists help maintain and clean the yards of the squatted houses, and they give the families cleaning supplies and furniture. The group gains access to unoccupied houses, paints and cleans them, changes the locks, and connects electricity and water. Rameau says each occupation costs the group $200. Take Back the Land instructs tenants of the houses to occupy the houses openly; they enter and leave through the front door, pay for utilities in their own names, and are honest with neighbors. The families live in the houses they occupy until they either save up enough money to afford to pay for housing or are forcibly evicted by police.

The group maintains a waiting list of families who would like to move into foreclosed homes. Rameau says tenants are carefully chosen in order to avoid creating crack houses; drug addicts are rejected, and participants are assessed for their "urgency of need".

According to Rameau, he had approached banks in 2008 with the idea of buying them for a discount price and renting them to homeless people; they seemed interested at first but he says they stopped calling him back after the 2008 federal bailout was announced.

Take Back the Land uses illegal tactics. The group commits trespassing and tenants could be charged with crimes such as vandalism. Rameau says, "there's a disconnect between the need and the law. Being arrested is just one of the potential factors in doing this." The tenants are told that they may be arrested if caught. Take Back the Land has a pro-bono lawyer on standby. Kelly Penton, a spokeswoman for the city of Miami, said that the city was not taking action to stop Take Back the Land's activities stating that "it is up to the property owner". As of December 2008, police had not gotten involved.