Monday, September 5, 2011

Section 8, Section 8, who do we appreciate?

Wall Street Journal has published some good pieces lately so forgive me for posting more stories from that publication. Libertarian columnist James Bovard penned the following column on Section 8 Housing.

"Section 8 rental subsidies have long been one of the most controversial federal social programs. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Obama administration is making a troubled program worse.

In the 1990s, the feds were embarrassed by skyrocketing crime rates in public housing—up to 10 times the national average, according to HUD studies and many newspaper reports. The government's response was to hand out vouchers to residents of the projects (authorized under Section 8 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974), dispersing them to safer and more upscale locales.

Section 8's budget soared to $19 billion this year from $7 billion in 1994. HUD now picks up the rent for more than two million households nationwide; tenants pay 30% of their income toward rent and utilities while the feds pay the rest. Section 8 recipients receive monthly rental subsidies of up to $2,851 in the Stamford-Norwalk, Conn., area, $2,764 in Honolulu and $2,582 in Columbia, Md.

But the dispersal of public housing residents to quieter neighborhoods has failed to weed out the criminal element that made life miserable for most residents of the projects. "Homicide was simply moved to a new location, not eliminated," concluded University of Louisville criminologist Geetha Suresh in a 2009 article in Homicide Studies. In Louisville, Memphis, and other cities, violent crime skyrocketed in neighborhoods where Section 8 recipients resettled.

After a four-year investigation, the Indianapolis Housing Authority (IHA) in 2006 linked 80% of criminal homicides in Marion County, Ind., to individuals fraudulently obtaining federal assistance "in either the public housing program or the Section 8 program administered by the agency." The IHA released an update last month citing recent crackdowns on a "nationwide criminal motorcycle gang operating out of a Section 8 home." It also noted one "attorney who allegedly operated a law practice from a Section 8 home for eight years, providing shelter to unauthorized occupants who were linked to 10 homicides, 431 police calls and 394 criminal arrests during that time period."

Dubuque, Iowa, is struggling with an influx of Section 8 recipients from Chicago housing projects. Section 8 concentrations account for 11 of 13 local violent crime hot spots, according to a study by the Northern Illinois University Center for Governmental Studies. Though Section 8 residents account for only 5% of the local population, a 2010 report released by the city government found that more than 20% of arrestees resided at Section 8 addresses.

Dubuque's city government responded by trimming the size of the local Section 8 program. HUD retaliated by launching a "civil rights compliance review" of the program (final results pending).

HUD seems far more enthusiastic about cracking down on localities than on troublesome Section 8 recipients who make life miserable for the rest of the community. And because Section 8 recipients in some areas are mostly black or Latino, almost any enforcement effort can be denounced as discriminatory.

HUD launched an investigation of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority in 2009 after an Ohio attorney accused the authority of racially discriminatory Section 8 policies such as "eviction for offenses such as loud music." In June of this year, the authority signed a conciliation agreement with HUD, pledging to cease penalizing Section 8 recipients for nuisance offenses. Policing tenant behavior was the job of police and landlords but "an ineffective use of resources" by the housing authority that "could lead to inappropriate program terminations," HUD spokeswoman Laura Feldman told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

After the city of Antioch, Calif., formed a Community Action Team to assist the Contra Costa County Housing Authority in curbing violence and other problems in subsidized housing, the Bay Area Legal Aid sued the local police department in 2008, claiming it was guilty of racial discrimination because of an allegedly "concerted and unlawful campaign to seek evidence which could lead to the termination of participants' Section 8 voucher benefits." (The case is ongoing.)

Nevertheless, middle-class blacks are the program's least inhibited critics. Sheldon Carter of Antelope Valley, Calif., testified at a recent public hearing on local Section 8 controversies: "This is not a racial issue. It is a color issue. The color is green and it's my dollars." Shirlee Bolds told Iowa's Dubuque Telegraph Herald in 2009: "I moved away from the city to get away from all this crap. Dubuque's getting rough. I think it's turning into a little Chicago, like they're bringing the street rep here."

Remarkably, HUD seems bent on creating a new civil right—the right to raise hell in subsidized housing in nice neighborhoods. Earlier this year, the agency decreed that Section 8 tenants (as well as other renters) who are evicted because of domestic violence incidents may sue for discrimination under the Fair Housing Act because women are "the overwhelming majority of domestic violence victims." In essence, this gives troublesome tenants a federal trump card to play against landlords who seek to preserve the peace and protect other renters.

In June, HUD encouraged local housing agencies to permit ex-convicts (except for the most extreme sex offenders or individuals caught manufacturing methamphetamine "on the premises of federally assisted housing") to move in with relatives in Section 8 or public housing after exiting prison. The Virginian-Pilot condemned the new policy last week, noting that "it's unwise to allow people with a history of violence into public housing developments designed for the elderly and disabled residents."

The Obama administration is now launching a pilot program giving local housing authorities wide discretion to pay higher rent subsidies to allow Section 8 beneficiaries to move into even more affluent zip codes. Hasn't this program helped wreck enough neighborhoods?
"

Needless to say, his opinion on Section 8 generated a few letters to the editor:

James Bovard's piece criticizing the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 housing ("Raising Hell in Subsidized Housing," Aug. 18) viciously scapegoats families who receive housing subsidies. His condemnation of survivors of domestic violence as "troublesome tenants" is particularly galling.

Domestic violence is a primary cause of homelessness among women, and many battered women are unable to escape abusive situations because they can't secure housing. By Mr. Bovard's logic, an abused mother must either stay silent and endure the violence she and her family are experiencing, or sacrifice her housing by reporting the abuse to police. Penalizing women who seek to protect their families is discriminatory and inhumane.

In these economic times, homelessness is an inescapable risk for increasing numbers of families. Families need access to more affordable housing, not less.

Sandra Park
ACLU
Women's Rights Project
New York


James Bovard describes Section 8 payments to recipients of subsidized housing in Stamford, Conn., Honolulu and Columbia, Md. as $2,851, $2,764 and $2,582, respectively. I assume these payments are tax free. Compare this to the monthly retirement check of an E-9, the highest enlisted rank in the Air Force, after 20 years of dedicated and noble service to his county. He would be in the top 1% of enlisted retirees, with most making substantially less. His pension system would start at approximately $2,500, all taxable. Considering the additional benefits and services the "subsidizee" may also receive from other federal and state welfare programs, the disparity just might double.

Michael Kohnen
St. Louis


Mr. Bovard paints a grim, if one-sided, picture of the state of rental subsidies. This relies, in part, on race to explain how supposedly hard-living voucher holders are ruining once nice (and mostly white) neighborhoods: "Because Section 8 recipients in some areas are mostly black or Latino, almost any enforcement effort can be denounced as discriminatory."

The truth is that for all the uproar around Section 8 vouchers, they've actually done very little to diversify communities, especially in cities like Chicago. IHARP, the Illinois Housing Assistance Research Project of which my policy shop is part, found that vouchers haven't reversed Chicago's stubborn segregation over the last decade. To the contrary, voucher recipients are more concentrated in African-American communities now than in 2000.

I agree with the author on one point: Section 8 vouchers aren't improving neighborhoods—white, black, Latino or otherwise. As the Obama administration looks to revamp the program, it must take an honest look at the systemized discrimination that limits housing choices for many families of color. If diversifying "good" neighborhoods is a pipe dream, let's rally efforts around transforming the poverty and crime in the "bad" ones. Everyone deserves an affordable, safe place to call home.

Sylvia Puente
Executive Director
Latino Policy Forum
Chicago


Under the current program, Section 8 voucher support never expires as long as one is "income eligible." Once recipients get on the program they can stay forever, as long as they don't break their lease or run afoul of the law. Infractions can be easy to spot but difficult to prove, so problem tenants tend to stay in place for years. Controlling the flow of unrelated people in and out of these units is nearly impossible.

There will always be those who need help. Seniors on fixed income and those with legitimate disabilities are unable to work, so they have no mechanism to keep up with rising costs. This constituency accounts for half of our program. The rest are families, some of whom have been on the program for decades. Rental support for the able-bodied should expire after five years, the fuse most states have adopted for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. This will go far to reduce dependency and allow the support to rotate to those who need it most.

The idea is not new. HUD has tried to impose limits through regulation, only to be beaten back by an army of activists and advocates. The solution must be legislative.

Matther T. Sternberg
Executive Director
Lancaster Housing & Redevelopment Authorities
Lancaster, Pa.


Here is a list of Section 8 complexes in the Jackson metro area (excluding complexes accepting only elderly Section 8 renters) on the HUD website:

Berwood Apartments
Commonwealth Village
Lakeview Manor
Madonna Manor
North Hills Apartments
Willowood Development Center
Northwood Village
Pine Ridge Gardens
Southbrook Garden Apartments
Southwest Village Apartments
Sunset Plaza
The Lodge Apartments
The Village Apartments
Timberlawn Place
Villa Hope
Webb Park
Westwick Apartments I & II
Wood Village
Canton Estates
Canton Family Units
Canton Garden Apartments
Pride Gardens
Crestview
Crosscreek Apartments



30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great aticle!

Thanks for posting it KF.

I wish there was a way to correlate the entire cost of Section 8. Police, Court, Jail space, Emergency Room visits
(from the shootings, fights, knifings, multiple production of fatherless children), Lawsuits against Landlords. It would be a helluva lot more than 19 billion.

Anonymous said...

The wisdom of Mayor Mary vindicated once again. It is plainly obvious why cities all over the metro have declared moratoriums on new apartment construction.

Why hasn't the journomarm, her hoochie koochie economics man and those ever mindful 'interns' demanded Watkins accept Sec8 vouchers in the KE and SL digs?

Kingfish said...

That is the difference I noticed between what Watkins is doing and that article about downtown Detroit. It seemed the prices in Detroit fell low enough to the point where young people could afford them and started moving in. Supply and demand at work. Downtown Watkins projects seems more like a mixture of tax credits, government loans, subsidies, and the like in exchange for keeping rents for residential at $900 and up. Not so much with water finding its own level through supply and demand but creating something hoping demand will develop, which apparently it has so far.

Anonymous said...

With their hats in hand begging for public money all the downtown projects promise a set aside of units at below market rates ostensibly for those not as well off. How many units in the KE and SL are being leased below market? Betcha the answer is ZERO.

Shadowfax said...

Seems I recall for two decades the Jtown city council, when considering taking any action at all, opens the process to a discussion of 'how many black' this or that, does this represent. Used to be the acceptable figure was somewhere around 15-20% of the 'whatever black' was being sought. Jobs, construction contracts, housing units, storefronts, loans, sidewalks paved, street lights, large plastic catfish in front of which businesses, yada yada.

Now, with the demographic shift in council seats, the figure is probably 55-80%.

Not at all surprising that Choke-Mo-Keb and the boys are demanding half of the high rise and low rent units be marketed to 'the less fortunate' or at least available to them.

How can anything be marketed with a vision of lowest common denominators? This is why we don't see Dollar Tree and Fred's at Renaissance. Or a radiator shop next to Malco Grandview.

Anonymous said...

@ 10:48

You obviously don't know anything about Section 8. First of all it is NOT specific to apartments. The vouchers can and many times are accepted by landlords of single family residences. See Kingfish's video of Mcdowell Rd?

I don't like Mary's methods, but I can't argue with the results, however, she will lose everytime if HUD ever comes knocking on her door.
Frankly, I predict some sort of HUD "thrust" into the City of Madison one day. The liberals can't stand nice places built by the people who can actually afford to live there.

Anonymous said...

Where were 10:48's comments limited to only apartments? I don't see it.

Anonymous said...

" radiator shop next to Malco Grandview "

That's a good one Shadow.

Choke-a-way-fee-mom-bay,
... IKO ! IKO ! ...
is as sly as 2 foxes and one K-Stokes.

Kenny's MOA is to appear just ig'nant. Lum-baw-
baw, plays the same politic with a somewhat
educated voter base.

Both of these two are brilliant politicians.
They play to the educational level of their
constituents.

Section 8 residents within the King Edward is a
great idea !

Whatch'a think Watkins ?

Anonymous said...

Way to go Jackson.

"A Terry Road Shell gas station clerk is fighting for his life after being shot this afternoon, according to the Jackson Police Department.

One male juvenile suspect is being interviewed by police and charges are pending, said police spokesperson Officer Colendula Green.

Police got a call around 1:21 p.m. when the 49-year-old male was shot in the head as a green Volvo with four people inside pulled off."

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20110905/NEWS/110905015/Jackson-store-clerk-fights-life-after-shooting

Shadowfax said...

Ain't no cap-poppin' in the Grandview parking lot for sure. If one do dat, his ass is popped by the PO PO within four minutes.

@10:48; 'section 8' is a euphemism as used in this context. It refers to all things 'entitled'. You know, those things not labored for, not earned, not deserved, just gotten from somebody else's labor. You probably have a few within arm's reach.

Anonymous said...

As a comparison we live in Annandale Estates, a nice gated community in Madison. Our house note is with a local bank, and we have relatively little equity. Any of the three subsidy amounts listed in the article would exceed our monthly payment for housing.

How do we get on the program? ;-) I'd love Uncle Sugar to pay my house note, and the government would save money compared to what they spend elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

I steer clear of anyone who describes his residence as either 'gated' or 'an estate'.

PS: 'relatively little equity' doesn't go well with 'low housing payment'.

Anonymous said...

I steer clear of anyone who describes his residence as either 'gated' or 'an estate'.

Thanks anonymous but you're anonymous so BFD.

KaptKangaroo said...

This is pretty disturbing in the face of the economic reality. Additionally, it looks like phase two, to reconcile phase one. What absolute craziness!

Anonymous said...

The Obama administration is now launching a pilot program giving local housing authorities wide discretion to pay higher rent subsidies to allow Section 8 beneficiaries to move into even more affluent zip codes. Hasn't this program helped wreck enough neighborhoods?"


If this goes forward they will destroy any remaining safe neighborhoods.

Anonymous said...

Not all of the costs of Sec 8 housing go for rent subsidy. It's a lucrative federal program for those who build Sec 8 housing and a guaranteed income for slum lords. The administrative costs should also be included in any analysis of the programs costs.

The late Milton Friedman ,a conservative economist who advised Nixon, pointed out correctly that a percentage of our population is unemployable due to mental, emotional or physical handicaps. We can add another percentage who are unemployable due to substance abuse or criminal history. Friedman suggested a negative income tax at subsistence level. Both liberals and conservatives rejected such a plan but as yet, have failed to offer alternatives.

Both will point out, correctly, that any suggestion will contain the ability to abuse any plan.

I've watched different attempts to deal with housing for the unemployable or underemployed for 40 plus years. Whether it was creating high rises or pockets of single family housing, nothing seems to work well. But, homelessness , over time, also becomes a bad problem for any community. Whether it's cardboard box dwellings or beggars on the street, inadequate housing for the dysfunctional quickly becomes a problem for everyone.

And, suburbia can't fairly stick it on the cities and then criticize the cities for their poverty and crime problems. And, cities that are suceeding in gentrification of downtowns are simply driving poverty to rural areas.

So, pray tell, what answers have you critics?

Once upon a time, a family was responsible for their crazy, ineffectual relative but families no longer easily obtain guardianship or conservatorship. Nor can, in a society where there is not a woman at home to tend to the needs of a dependent relative, can a family effectively care for problematic relatives. We can't lock crazy Aunt Millie in the attic anymore.

Suggestions, particularly,tying government assistance to birth control, meets loud criticism on the right as well as the left. So we continue to increase the number of citizens with either inherited problems or who cannot raise children. Indeed, the right objects to providing birth control information or free birth control to those who will be having another generation of children dependent on the government.

So, point me to something that works. I've already seen how shifting the burden to others doesn't work. And,preventing the problem with mandatory education, effective protection of at risk children, and preventing unwanted pregnancies is not acceptable to either conservatives or liberals. Both will get up on the bandwagon of individual rights as you both seem to agree having a child is a right. So, tell me what your plan is?

As Frazier would say, " I'm listening".

Anonymous said...

Section 8 vouchers really destroy middle class black neighborhoods faster than any other neighborhoods (at least in the Jackson area). Just think about it. The voucher holders aren't trying to get to Annandale. They probably don't even know it exists! They ARE trying to get to Woodhaven and other areas around Calloway with hard working black people. Now they definitely know about THAT area. There goes the neighborhood!

I hate the way homeowners move out an rent the house. It's a sure fire way to tell that the neighborhood will soon go down. Renters in general don't take care of rental properties, and when the owner is getting his rent money from the gov't each month (Section 8 pays the owner directly, so there's no fear of late payments), he's not really worried about the yard, the property values, or the behavior of the renter. He's moved on, and he usually has little concern about the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

If we could apply common sense to a government program then this should be stopped right where it is. No more destruction of neighborhoods. There must be a better way.

KaptKangaroo said...

Here is a solution September 6, 2011 10:46 AM, "don't solve the problem with a larger problem."

The percentage of population that is invalid, etc. is minute in comparison to the $19 Billion spent. Criminals and substance abusers - so you want me to solve their woes?

The only ones I really would be concerned with are the long-term unemployed due to lack of leadership with regards to the economy.

Here is a novel idea. The last number I saw for unemployed is 14MM (CNBC 8/31/11). Let us disect this number and discuss how to get them jobs so that they can afford homes that do not require subsidies.

Spending more money on a problem created by spending money is the same thing as repeating a process over and over and expecting different results.

Anonymous said...

You know, the more I think about this, the more I think that this administration is trying to bring down the overall wealth of the working class all the way up to the top. By bringing them all down, depressing their earnings, home values, etc. they will effectively raise up those in poverty. Interesting. I wish we could have some leadership in this country to spur growth.

The best plan I have heard so far is investment in our power grid along with private sector investment, incentives, removing regulatory barriers, to spur real growth for the future. This would be the one area where US innovation could really come to bear on the rest of the world in regards to lowering the effective costs of energy.

Anonymous said...

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/american-murder-mystery/6872/

Anonymous said...

10:46,

As a conservative, I can tell you I have ZERO problem with those getting public assistance going on mandatory birth control. I would go one further and say forget the pill, give them the implant. The fewer chances those folks have to procreate (white and black) the smaller my "share" for supporting their children.

Of course, liberals would howl about mandatory birth control. Takes away from their built-in voting bloc.

Shadowfax said...

@anon 10:46. Although I'm not sure it was Milton Friedman, as you suggest, who originally advocated a 'negative income tax', we damned sure have it in the form of the so-called Earned Income Tax Credit.

Anon 12:05 is just now realizing Barack Obama has a goal of destroying capitalism and the middle class as a means of 'raising up' the entitled lower class. No shit! (light bulbs go off).

Anonymous said...

It was Friedman in CAPITALISM AND FREEDOM and it was a part of his flat tax proposal. Rhys-Williams in Britain in the '40s was probably the first to suggest a negative income tax.

Unfortunately, our politicians don't understand economics and so they cherry pick ways to increase revenues without looking at the tax system as a whole.

Nevertheless, my main question is how do those who hate section 8 plan to deal with the reality that not all of our population is employable or has any practical means of supporting themselves?

Anonymous said...

KaptKangaroo,
I agree with your frustrations about the manner in which the money is currently being spent.

10% of our population is mentally ill. I don't have the statistic for the percentage that is mentally challenged ( though our average IQ has dropped to 90 which suggests an increase in those with IQ below 70) or severely handicapped. But, just 10% of 300,000,000 is a significant number. We now have the added increased statistics on autism so we are looking at a huge population of autistics coming along and any plan must account for them as they now represent nearly 20% of all live births.
So, just with 10% being mentally ill and 20% in the future being austistic, that's nearly a third of the future population.

It's all very nice to have an overall philosophy, but eventually one has to deal with the dirty little realities of life and explain how one's philosophy will deal with those realities.

You're on.

KaptKangaroo said...

I purposely left out the issue of those unable to work due to infirmary.

As an aside and in my volunteer experience, those with IQ's deemed disabled, are able to work, house themselves, and function as a contributor to society; not all, but some. This is a section of the population that is easier to write off than to get involved. I guess we agree here.

Those physically, mentally or otherwise due to no other factor other than the hand dealt them, is indeed an important issue. I fully support programs that help families in this regard. I also support hospice.

What I do not support is the basic tenants of the Section 8 program. Section 8 housing subsidies are not there for the infirm. Can we agree on that?

I am not sure where you want to take this, but here are some interesting statistics from BLS...

You are incorrect in using 300MM as a population base for analysis. The number of non-institutional civilians in the US is 70MM and should be excluded from our discussion on Section 8 housing that clearly is focused on the Government providing housing inside of a social program - in other words, the program does not target the infirm.

We have other programs targeted at helping those who truly are incapable of providing on their own.

As to your comment Dirty little realities? Isn't that a bit over the top?

KaptKangaroo said...

Here is the source link since we don't want to speak in generalities.

ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat3.txt

Anonymous said...

@9:30. You wondered out loud, quoting loosely here, "If we don't provide for the needs and wants of those in society who are unwilling to participate meaningfully, what shall we do with them?" There are a number of answers to your thoughtful inquiry, one of them being 'institutionalize them in a warehouse fashion with guards and wardens and security to protect them from themselves and us from them'.

Feed them once a day, at noon, unless they are willing to work for their care, in which case, feed them twice a day. And have a system of 'get out of jail' cards based on their demonstrated willingness and ability to contribute to society. Sound harsh? Perhaps. But not quite as harsh as feeding their entitlement mentality and allowing them to then encroach upon us and take our stuff and beat on us and take the lives of others randomly. The latter is nothing more than a zoo without cages. Feed the tigers and lions and if he comes around and dumps on your property or takes the life of your neighbor, it's just a tiger being a tiger.

Anonymous said...

I live in Northeast Jackson. Why do blacks continue to move here? Doesn't "Whitey" suck and all?

Karen said...

Have you already covered the idea of the recipients of govt. Aid actually earning that aid by working on the filthy streets and crumbling infrastructure? Those able, of course.

That should also apply to politicians and their welfare perks.



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