Poor people have to live somewhere. They shouldn’t all be warehoused in D.C., or PG County either, for that matter. They need to be scattered around so that a critical mass of problem cases doesn’t become self-sustaining ... so that their kids don’t overwhelm the local schools ... and so that they can live in reasonable proximity to entry level jobs.
Big low income housing projects have proven to be a disaster. So start with the planning objective of closing those down and moving the assisted living folks into scattered site housing.
That’s easy to say. It’s harder to do. Immediately the barriers go up; even small scale projects get zoned out; the neighborhood rallies against any encroaching sec. 8; the occupancy regulations prohibit doubling and tripling up (although a lot of that happens illegally, as it’s often the path of least resistance). So where are the poor supposed to go? Refrigerator boxes in the woods?
Then add to that a critical shortage of moderate priced housing in many of the more affluent jurisdictions. I get frosted when the teachers, police officers, and young professionals — not to mention the retail clerks and secretaries — can’t afford to live anywhere in the communities they serve. I’m not suggesting that we need to have low income housing on every cul-de-sac, but moderate income folks ought to be able to find decent affordable housing within five miles, give or take.
There are no easy solutions. The gentrification of DC means that the old default option — dump the poor in projects in Anacostia — is no longer viable. So where would YOU put them?
In the second paragraph above I used the “p word,” which will be a red flag to many here. Planning. There, I said it again.
Someone will pop up and say “get the planners out of it; just let the market decide.” Fine with me. Let’s get rid of zoning and let developers throw up high rises in the middle of leafy cul-de-sac land. Let’s get rid of occupancy regulations so six Mexican or Vietnamese families can move into the three bedroom house next door. And let’s scrap the rental regulations so people can rent out basements and spare bedrooms at will, and set up boarding houses on your block. These rules and regulations are “planning,” every bit as much as affordable housing projects and section 8. So let’s get rid of them.
This is how free markets have historically solved housing shortages. These approaches work. They will work again if we let them. What I object to are suburban patriots who rule these things out of bounds in order to preserve the quiet and safety of the burbs, and then turn around and denounce “big government planners” for trying to find other options. What such objectors really want is the status quo of quarantining the poor in someone else’s backyard.
This Section 8 housing is BS. All the sustainable walkable new multi-use complexes where I live include a third to one half Section 8 housing.
Every city has a general plan and its own unique layout. Here, where I live in the San Fernando Valley, people are used to their own shade tree yards, gardens and flower beds. We weren’t asked if we wanted high-rise apartment buildings. Apartment buildings, up until recently were restricted to two stories. Most of the new apartment buildings are 4 stories now and they are planning 10 story apartment buildings.
Judge Mariana Pfaelser overturned our proposition 187 that denied welfare to illegals, and now most of the Section 8 housing goes to illegal mothers getting paid to have American kids.
Listen to this insane segment from our local talk radio station.
Lancaster mayor complains Section 8 housing gives priority to ex-cons
Section 8 housing is big business and the rich real estate holding companies fund the re-election of the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors.
Mayor Rex Parris says there are only 3 Section 8 fraud investigators in the entire county. Section 8 housing subsidizes 80% of the rent and many of the homes are 4 bedroom new homes with swimming pools.
There are 191,000 people on the wait list and only 22,000 homes available.
People wait 10 years to get a Section 8 home, meaning they have to plan on being poor 10 years from applying, but now the Supervisors are giving priority to the ex-cons.
You, FRiend - are definitely posting on the wrong site.