Posted on 02/20/2008 10:10:29 AM PST by BenLurkin
The Section 8 housing program - is funded by the federal government and administered by local housing authorities across the nation - is supposed to provide a hand up for needy or disabled people to make ends meet. It's not supposed to be permanent and, most of all, it's not supposed to be for people with criminal records, or people who use illegal drugs, or people who invite in unauthorized tenants or people who receive unreported income to cheat the system.
Yet, as we've been reporting for the last two years, all these activities are rampant in Section 8 housing.
We've written many times in praise of Lancaster and Palmdale, as well as Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, for attacking the problem with regular inspections as well as for setting up a tip line to report fraud or abuse.
So it comes as no surprise that, as reported in a Los Angeles newspaper on Monday, federal auditors have found that Carlos Jackson, director of the county housing authority, has not properly administered the $200 million program.
Under Section 8, tenants pay what they are able for a house, condo or apartment, and the government pays the rest of the rent to the landlord. Tenants typically pay about a third of the full rent.
So, for example, if the rent is $1,500, the tenant pays $500 and the government $1,000.
But the Feds say money sent to Los Angeles County has been mismanaged - and they want millions of dollars back.
Problems include failing to check annually on tenants' eligibility and tenants receiving larger subsidies than they are entitled to.
Jackson disputes the findings.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
But the federal government is going to be able to administer a national health care system without ANY fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.
Really...We can believe them. (cough, cough)
>Yet, as we’ve been reporting for the last two years, all these activities are rampant in Section 8 housing
Doh!
ONLY 2 years? Criminy, I was reporting violations of Section 8 more than 10 years ago.........to no avail, I might add.
Don’t forget 2(a)- good neighborhood school ruined.
Finally, someone has the courage to talk about the real Third Rail of AMerican Politics: the blight of Section 8 housing. Section 8 is government’s favorite way of taking over entire communities and riddling them with drunks, derelicts, and druggies. As the economic planner in my community told me: “Once Section 8 moves in, the economic future of the town is in the tank.”
Thank God, someone finally has the courage to address this scourge — because the politicians sure don’t!
Los Angeles? Mismanaged? Providing free housing to illegal aliens at the expense of the American taxpayer is what Section 8 is all about there. Did anybody else see Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa {D-Atzlan} on TV last night talking about Hillary in his weird accent? That man totally creeps me out.
I will go with you up to #5. Beyond that, I’m not so sure, although I do know it happens of occassion.
I lived in a Section 8 neighborhood for 11 years and there was never any wholesale condemnation. In fact only one house was declared unfit for habitation but only after a fire, then it was repaired.
I’ve been out of there 5 years and it still exists, nothing has been razed and it was primarily a section 8 neighborhood for more than 10 years before I bought my house there, and I’ve been out of there 5 years.
Carolyn
I must be very fortunate in where I live . There is a Section 8 apartment complex about a mile away - I give a tenant there rides occasionally — have never seen any kind of problem in the area. Not saying there is no elgibility fraud — but no violence, obvious drug dealings, or any evidence of decay. Kids playing on the playground in a normal fashion. Quite a few units had nice Chrustmas decorations.
“Barcelona Briefcases.”
Yup.
That’s for sure. I started working in this program in 1984. Outright fraud on both sides, landlord and tenant. Property degradation? As a field inspector, I had to shoulder in more apartment doors than I care to count. Garbage piled so high on the floor you couldn’t even access the unit.
Had a woman try to bribe me once. Major slumlord in the town I worked in. Did a home inspection, found a number of items that would fail the unit [and henceforth deny the subsidy to the landlord until conditions remedied]. Told her she had to get them fixed. Overheard her tell the tenant in the next room ‘It will be okay, she’s just a girl [meaning me].’ Took me outside and offered me a very high paying job with all the perks if I would run interference for her with the Authority.....I offered her the chance to lead the way down into another part of the complex, where I promptly failed the entire BUILDING for a major cockroach infestation....
So much for the ‘just a girl’ idea. Wow, my first post and it’s a long one!
I’ve encoutered Section 8 housing projects in my last two neighborhoods.
There’s been nothing but problems. Not just the neighborhoods, but the school buses and the schools. Cops around all the time.
Another terrible social idea and a huge waste of my money. My neighbors have been moving out like mad and I’m next.
As always,
any liberal “solution” ends up exacerbating the problem.
Welcome newbie.
>...riddling them with drunks, derelicts, and druggies.<<
And subsidizing it.
Section 8 ruined East New Orleans.
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