Tenants Visit Vicepresident

August 12, tenants from the Tenants Defense Committee and from the Warsaw Tenants Association paid an unannounced visit to the office of Vicepresident Andrzej Jakubiak. A large group of people managed to walk right into his office without any interference with their protest. The tenants are angry at Jakubiak because of what he did at the last session of the City Council. Before voting on a new resolution on housing policy, Jakubiak made a speech providing incorrect information. The city changed the maximum amount of money people can earn to qualify for public housing. Although city officials claimed that this amount would be raised (since in fact the minimum wage was raised), it was actually LOWERED. Jakubiak gave incorrect figures which contradicted what was in the resolution right before voting. Nobody on the City Council corrected him. Jakubiak claimed that representatives of the tenants were lying.

After publication of the official stenogram and final copy of the resolution, it is clear that one thing was written in the resolution, and another thing promised at the council meeting.

Jakubiak will most likely claim he "made a mistake" but tenants are not likely to let him get away with this. Members of ZSP involved in the tenants movement were the first to discover the discrepancy and notify the public of the misleading information. The city housing office also gave this incorrect information to the press so it seems as if this was no slip of the tongue by the vicepresident, but a deliberate attempt to hide the fact that the city significantly cut the qualifying income for public housing to less than 80% of the minimum wage, meaning that no person in full-time employment can qualify for public housing.