Port St. Joe Home Protest
May 11th, 2009 by Mike VasilindaEight houses in Port St. Joe are sinking after being built on wet land filled with wood chips and sold to black families by the St. Joe Company. The company is fighting a law suit over the houses, which could end up costing taxpayers if the families default on government backed loans. Tuesday, the families and more than 50 people are expected to protest outside the headquarters of the St. Joe Company. Attorney Ben Crump says the goal of the protest is to make sure the companies stock holders know what St. Joe has done.
“We want the company do to the right thing,” Crump said. “That’s simply to let these people have decent housing. Give them a decent house to live in. They made that investment, an investment in the American Dream. They didn’t want anything else but their chance at the American Dream. They worked hard all their lives, some of them are working two and three jobs to get this house, they’ve got USDA loans from the government to buy their houses. So not only does St. Joe deprive them, they also deprived the U.S. government.”
St Joe has argued the families, which bought the homes in the late 1980’s, waited too long to bring their case to court.
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