I am slow sometimes, I often miss stories or overlook them. I blame those nagging things like, I don't know, work family and responsibilities that keep my attention away from what goes on in the world and what people report about it.
So this morning I found myself browsing a few of my tags I follow one of which is the Spotlight. We really do have some amazing writers and journalists around here just as a a side point, anyway so there I was catching up and reading this piece by Tool, great read by the way and it led me to this op piece on nola.com
And this piece is so true, so lets get some facts straight regarding public housing after the orange squiggle
I work for HUD, more specifically I work at a local Housing Authority. So because of this I am pretty well versed in the goings on with the two largest programs the Housing and Urban Development department runs. These are the Public and Indian Housing Program and the Housing Choice Voucher Program aka Section 8.
These programs are run very often by a local Housing Authority. Chances are pretty high that you have one in your municipality, although often you will find a city or county having or having run one of these programs. Some Housing Authorities are even direct departments of the City they operate in.
Housing Authority's have a very LONG history in this nation dating all the way back to the New Deal. Originally created in 1937 as a way to lend money to states so that they may clear slums and build new buildings as a way to spur construction jobs, it in its earlier years partnered with the then Works Program to lift many people out of abject poverty. It was amended to and molded through many years and bills until finally in 1965 Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act in law.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development Act was a sweeping piece of legislation. It had taken the cobbled together programs and bills passed in the last thirty years, combined and streamlined them under a single government department. It also expanded funding, created new programs specifically designed for Native Americans, the disabled, and elderly. In the wake of the civil rights act, this was the second biggest piece of legislation passed by Johnson. Part of this sweeping legislation was the ability to take that national Housing Authority model created in the thirties and inject into the many municipalities and localities around the nation.
We serve very often the abjectly poor and destitute. For instance there are residents who are elderly but they have no surviving family, no relatives, literally no net to catch them. They attempt to survive with social security benefits that might amount to a few hundred a month. We are literally talking about the most bottom rung of the ladder, for who would be in the streets without assistance.
We also serve women who have had their children's fathers abandon them. Unable to find employment because they lacked access to proper education growing up, they have almost zero future. These are women who WANT to provide for their children but very often CANNOT because they cannot find gainful employment nor access to resources that mitigate soft costs during employment like child care for instance.
So I see a child in a photo, sitting there with a ipad and I do not immediately go to the welfare queen reaction. No I see a child with access to an important piece of digital equipment that will enrich his life and possibly prevent his return to public housing. I KNOW this because I WORK in this. The Authority I am at provides a very well off computer lab with nice 20inch screens and computers with Windows 7 and fiber internet access. Very soon here within the next two years we may be able to offer reduced or free internet to all tenants. We are pushing technology to them because we realize how much of a difference it can make in their lives down road.
Now it turns out that the child was visiting relatives but that's not the point. The point is we need to dispel this Welfare Queen myth.
You see, I introduced you to Housing Authority history because we do important work. We partner with Churches and Charities to attempt to get resources where they are needed. We utilize our waiting lists and attempt to spread our resources as thin as we can so that we can help as many people as we can. We partner with various organizations to attempt to serve specific needs groups like the disabled, battered women, and veterans. We have our own internal programs within HUD like the Individual Development Accounts.
Did you know about this? Is anyone aware of what this is?
Here, lets give a quick run down. One of the small good things to come out of the horrible welfare reform in 1996 was Section 404(h). Essentially what an IDA does is allow a welfare recipient to set aside funds in savings. Those funds are then matched at a specific percentage by the program and those extra dollars are NOT counted towards your cash income for program eligibility. What does this do? It gives incentives for people to save for college, homes, hell whatever since as you exit the program the money is yours. You can do whatever you want with it.
What has it done here locally?
Many people now own a home using the funds as a down payment and many more people earned innumerable amount of certificates, degrees, and or are on their way towards them.
And we're just talking about the Public Housing side, the Voucher program has its own, Family Self-Sufficiency program. Over there, they work to provide things like access to child care, education, and transportation. It exists because very often those on the Voucher Program are the working poor. People making a barely sustainable wage, folks who yes might be making what minimum wage should be at, 11 dollars an hour, but they also have four mouths to feed.
Do some people take advantage of the programs at times? Sure, but the percentage is SOOOO small as to be insignificant, and when caught they are kicked out of the programs and required to repay. And to be perfectly fair much of any of the fraud often comes from the people who run the programs NOT the participants. And that fraud happens because HUD is never given enough in their budget to actually oversee the program. Talk to any Office of Inspector General agent and ask them if they are ever given enough time or funds to properly investigate.
And for those living on Public Housing or Housing Vouchers, please just go talk to them. Ask them a simple question.
Do you want to be on this program?
Almost universally you will get a resounding no. The great majority of people on these programs WANT a better job, they WANT a better home, they WANT a better life for their children. Those who want to stay, they will answer that because they literally have no where else to go.
And you know what?
Without things like Public Housing and Vouchers, and the previously mentioned programs like IDA for instance, there are a great many people who would NEVER had have a chance to improve their life. Without these programs we would suffer them in places like the slums of New York in 1920. There are countless people who have pulled themselves out of total poverty and into some stability of life because of this safety net of housing.
I'd invite everyone to go get involved with your local Housing Authority. Chances are pretty high you have one near you and that they have some form of outreach program or partnership with a local non-profit. Of hey, if you have a non profit or an idea for one, go visit your local Authority and see if they are interested in partnering. Our funding is always at risk which leaves us little resources at times so...
We could use the volunteers, trust me.
/rantoff
6:35 PM PT: Didn't notice this on the spotlight until late tonight, well late for us eastern timezone folk, but in any event thank rangers for the rescue. Thank you everyone else for reading. I wanted to have this update have a purpose so as pointed out by peregrine kate below volunteering isn't enough. HUD has taken battering after battering since the early 80's. Currently funding is around 80% of subsidy, meaning that for every 500 of median rent we might only receive 400. That leaves us needing to find creating ways to get that remainder 100 without detrimentally tenants by passing the cost off to them.
I could diary even more about the effects recent regulation changes have caused as well and how they prevent us from using those creative methods but its a discussion that would likely glaze your eyes over in its details.
If you want to know who to hold accountable in congress about HUD funding it comes out of the House Appropriations Committee. Recently they have approved sustained funding thankfully but rejected an attempt to increase the voucher program, arguably one of the most successful of HUDs programs.
You can read about the committee decisions here
http://www.ncsha.org/...
Things like this is why its important we take the house back.