[Peace-discuss] Re: [cu_citizens] Questions about Section 8

[John W.]

At 03:27 PM 10/16/2007, Laurie wrote:

>I personally think that Chris's questions are excellent ones that someone
>should bring up and ask the Champaign City Council tonight at the Council
>Meeting.  I do not think that the asking of these questions will change any
>votes; but it will put the questions on the record and put the Council
>Members on the spot.  As such they may actually discuss the questions and
>the possibility of giving answers to them; and they may even be forced to
>respond if merely to rationalize and justify their votes.
>
>Long term, John is right; but unfortunately looking for long run solutions
>to the affordable housing problem is like looking for long term solutions to
>the health care problem, the quality education for all issue, and/or the
>provision of adequate, livable wage, non-"dead-end" job opportunities for
>minorities and the poor problem.  It is not going to happen in capitalist
>corporate Amerika, expect in the form of a series of small privately funded
>demonstration projects.  The people of Amerika, unless it is happening to
>them, would rather spend the money on police chasing and arresting the
>homeless poor from their camps and the city sidewalks, streets, and
>properties so as to keep them out of sight than on subsidizing the building
>of affordable housing or the making of rental properties affordable to those
>who need it without stigmatizing them.  They would rather give money to
>build prisons to house the arrested homeless than to build living quarters
>for them.

You're absolutely right, and hence my weariness and frustration and 
discouragement.  Amerika is a place where ever greater punishment is seen 
as the solution to everything.  "If we can't get compliance, let's just 
make the laws even MORE draconian.  And whatever we do, let's not address 
the root causes of ANYTHING!"  Whoever coined the phrase, "The right to 
life stops at birth" certainly had Amerika spot-on, and s/he wasn't talking 
only about Republicans.

At the same time, I'm aware of churches in larger cities, for example, that 
purchase blocks of apartment buildings, rehab them, and make them available 
for low-income tenants or purchasers.  Then they plow the money back into 
purchasing more units.  It can be done.  Where there's a will, there's a 
way.  You call them "demonstration projects", but there's a point at which 
demonstration projects could burgeon into a significant number of housing 
units (and rehabbed neighborhoods).  I wish I had the business acumen and 
the energy to make it happen.

And yes, Chris's questions ARE good ones.

John




> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net [mailto:peace-discuss-
> > bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of John W.
> > Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 2:17 PM
> > To: Christopher Evans; cu citizens; Caroln Aaron; Brian Dolinar;
> > Danielle Chynoweth; Peace-discuss
> > Subject: [Peace-discuss] Re: [cu_citizens] Questions about Section 8
> >
> > At 11:10 AM 10/16/2007, Christopher Evans wrote:
> >
> > >The key questions about Tonight's Section 8 vote:
> > >
> > >1) Where are Section 8 voucher holders supposed to live?
> > >2) Will this proposal reduce available low-income housing in Champaign?
> > >3) What educational steps has the City taken to educate landlords about
> > >the Section 8 program?
> > >4) Why do landlords need the right to refuse Section 8 voucher holders?
> > >5) If the council votes to allow Section 8 discrimination, will the City
> > >publish a directory of landlords who refuse to rent to Section 8 voucher
> > >holders to aid Section 8 families in their search for housing?
> > >6) Does this ordinance tarnish the reputations of Section 8 holders and
> > >thus make housing less available for Section 8 Voucher holders?
> >
> > As one who has tried and failed to even get someone to TALK to me about
> > GETTING ON THE LIST of qualified Section 8 recipients, it strikes me that
> > our time might be better spent in exploring alternative ways of creating
> > more affordable housing for the less affluent citizens of Champaign and
> > Urbana.  I can (barely) imagine a society in which, instead of wrangling
> > about niggling ways of legalizing ever greater discrimination, we all asked
> > ourselves, "What can _I_ do, in partnership with others, to alleviate the
> > shortage of affordable housing in my community?"  Habitat for Humanity is
> > the right concept, but it's merely a drop in the ocean.
> >
> > John Wason