What are they thinking in Smithtown? (Babylon, North Babylon: housing, rental, income)

[rubygreta]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

Salami again. I am talking about a persons right to spend their federally funded rent subsidy in any town that they choose. If the recipient wants to spend it in Smithtown and the landlord in Smithtown wants to accept it, why should the town government interfere? Denying it is the same as saying "Your money is no good here", similar to restaurants in the old south.

Because then the town government has to establish a Section 8 program, paid for by the taxpayers. And then if the Section 8 tenants have children, it means more crowded schools. That's why!

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

Salami again. I am talking about a persons right to spend their federally funded rent subsidy in any town that they choose. If the recipient wants to spend it in Smithtown and the landlord in Smithtown wants to accept it, why should the town government interfere? Denying it is the same as saying "Your money is no good here", similar to restaurants in the old south.

I am trying to learn more about HUD, and it appears to me that while it is a Govt agency, it is controlled on the local level. I didn't see a Town of Smithtown dept, but did find one for neighboring Town of Islip. I found this on the Islip site:

[SIZE=4]General Information and waiting list selection procedure?[/SIZE]

The waiting lists are open for new applicants periodically when the number of families listed does not provide a sufficient pool of applicants to meet the estimated funding availability. The Housing Authority (HA) will advertise in the local media when the lists will be open for acceptance of new applications. When the lists are open, the period is usually for a minimum of 30 days. All applications received during this period are placed in container and randomly drawn. This allows fairness to all applicants during the open period.
Applications are ordered by preference points first, which include, veteran, elderly/near-elderly/disabled and living or working within the Township of Islip (the HA jurisdiction). Applicants that have an equal number of valid preference claims are then ordered by the date and time of their application.
Please note, that once your application has been placed on the waiting list for the program applied for, new applications received at a future date will be ordered by preferences first then date.
The HA provides assistance to families under the Public Housing Program, units the HA owns and manages, 350 elderly/disabled efficiency units and 10 family units. There are approx 25 vacancies per year. The Section 8 program provides eligible families with a voucher to rent a market unit under the terms and conditions provided by the Voucher program. The HA can assist a maximum of 1034 families, depending on the available funding. The HA typically maintains a 97% program utilization rate, vacancies are due to varying cyclical factors, but generally the HA may assist 15-50 turnover families per year, again depending on funding and other factors related to the program, i.e. people moving, other agencies billing the HA for families moving to a different jurisdiction, etc.
The HA does not determine the eligibility, i.e. the verification of the applicants answers on the application, until the application is within close proximity to the HA having available funding for the family.
Applicants often ask, "what number am I on the list?" The HA does not provide a specific number because of the preference point system established in the Administrative policies established in accordance with HUD regulations. The preferences are available to a family at any time, both at initial application or if their circumstances may change, so points do change. As an example, a family applies in 2005 and the Head of Household works in Central Islip, but the family lives in Brookhaven. This family would qualify for the local preference of "working in the jurisdiction." Before the HA has determined the family eligible the head of household changes employment and now works in Brookhaven. This family change would result in the application moving downward on the list. The opposite is also true and an upward movement on the waiting list could be realized if the head of household accepts employment within the HA jurisdiction after submitting their original application.
The HA policies and procedures will be available on the HA web site on or before 4/30/2007 or you may request to review a copy in the HA main office. A copy of the HA Agency Plan filed with HUD provides a summary and is available HERE
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If Smithtown does this, it's a bad thing. But it is OK for Islip?

[DonnaReed]

Originally Posted by mishigas73

So, Donna, you believe that people, SOLELY on the basis of race, have a right to live on Long Island, even if they can't pay?

Now see I went back and checked my post.
I know that I didn't remotely imply that ...I was just checking to see how YOU may have misinterpreted it

and I'm guessng that you didnt, you just attempted an impossible twist.

*s*

and Yes mishigas, white women

do a little research

[DonnaReed]

Originally Posted by Glad2BHere

Yet the minute I mention this exact senario, I am asked by a poster if I am looking for white reparations. Are you suggesting in the above quote that minorities are DUE reparations? And that these senarios are meant to be reparations for the past? And I guess Smithtown owes them these reparations? I THINK NOT.

Some of us don't qualify for foodstamps. Some of us don't qualify for scholarships. And some don't qualify to live in the section 8 housing in Smithtown. Also the simple fact is that just b/c you may qualify financially for some of these things, you may not qualify for other reasons. There are qualifications for everything and in this case in Smithtown you have to be a resident/employee in the town to qualify. That is life.

When do the reparations end without it then becoming reverse racism and reverse discrimination? When does the sense of entitlement end and the sense of ownership for your life and what you have begin?

Blacks, of course, are due reparations.

You kidding?

[DonnaReed]

Originally Posted by rubygreta

Nobody has the "right" to live in Smithtown.

If you knock on the door of a typical Smithtown resident, you will find that their grandparents or great grandparents came to this country with five dollars in their pocket and lived in horrible 5-story walkups in the Lower East Side. They busted their butts so their children or grandchildren could live in Smithtown.

If you can't afford to live in Smithtown, maybe your children will be able to if you stress hard work and education, rather than what the culture of entitlement can get you.

Come on now. That's no justification for what's going on there.

This country was built on the sweat of my great grandparents

and there were no dollars involved...

rather brutalization, rape, dehumanization


Some of yall are BSing

Folks who can't afford to live in Smithtown, can't afford to live in Smithtown

What I get from reading the initial post is that in predominantly white Smithtown, there is a practice/policy in place to attempt to keep it that way.

That, amongst other points, is against the law of the land.

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by DonnaReed

Blacks, of course, are due reparations.

You kidding?

So let's give them housing in Smithtown b/c once upon a time, people (simply the same race as them) were slaves? You kidding?

There is no reason that anyone CURRENTLY living is due ANYTHING for something that happened to others decades ago, simply b/c they are of the same background. And all women are due reparations as well? Blacks & women want to be treated equal but yet deserve reparations? That is contradictory. To expect reparations is simply trying to take advantage b/c NONE OF US on this Earth can be be held accountable what others did decades ago. And should NOT be held accountable either.

How come I am a woman and I don't feel anyone OWES me any kind of reparation? I think there lies the difference. SOME want to take advantage of a situation and cry that they are due reparations. And others do not. This is the crux of the situation. And those that feel they deserve reparations are the exact ones who seem to lack a work ethic, constantly cry inequality. So when does the cycle end? When do people start living in the present and being accountable for themselves?

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by DonnaReed

Folks who can't afford to live in Smithtown, can't afford to live in Smithtown. What I get from reading the initial post is that in predominantly white Smithtown, there is a practice/policy in place to attempt to keep it that way.

That, amongst other points, is against the law of the land.

I knew that someone would get my point.

This situation has nothing to do with reparations. Islip may have a residency policy but is it similarly homogeneous and did it cook the books to make sure someone unlike the current residents never gets to the top? That's what Smithtown did.

I think we're going to have to let the feds figure this one out as to legality. But the actions of the town are very smelly.

[VTP]

This is unbelievable. The reparation argument makes me sick to my stomach. Given that thinking, I'm supposed to surrender my safe, homogenous, attractive neighborhood to someone who doesn't deserve to be there simply because their ancestors were mistreated centuries ago? What about the fate of those whose ancestors were tortured at the hands of Stalin? Or Hitler? Do you have any idea how many people were killed and brutalized by the Stalinist regime? Obviously not.The figure, I believe, meets the 20 million mark. I don't know of any people whose ancestors experienced these atrocities who are whining and bellyaching that others should make reparation to them by granting them undue entry to desirable neighborhoods. Or worse, how about the terrible effect of affirmative action on something like meeting qualifications for medical schools? I would be enraged if I or someone I love was subjected to substandard medical care simply because the treating physician was somebody who got into medical school ahead of a more qualified white applicant because they whined about slavery and used their race or national heritage to their advantage, in an inappropriate manner. But back to the Smithtown issue, don't you realize that town leaders have a responsibility to their constituents to act in the best interest of those constituents, and to further their interests wherever possible? Having been closely associated with Smithtown for much of my life, I can assure you that the VAST majority of that town's inhabitants want no part of any measure that will subject the town to the introduction of residents who may bring with them concerns such as increased criminal activity; troubled, underperforming children in the school system; neglected properties; and other unwelcome developments. Town officials are so often criticized for not representing the true interests of those who voted for them, but here, they did.

[Manigault]

The whole issue of reparations has more parameters than have been discussed here. If you want to start a thread in the politics area I would set out some factors which are important but overlooked. But let's get off that red herring here.

What no one here has addressed is, what if the people of Smitthown want to be associated with all kinds of folks? This quote was in today's Newsday:

"Smithtown's unlawful preference for white residents and its further actions to prevent minorities from receiving Section 8 vouchers, deprive minorities of the chance to fairly compete for this federal housing subsidy and impede all Smithtown residents' ability to reap the benefits of living in an integrated community," Nicole Birch from the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights said in a statement.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by Manigault

I knew that someone would get my point.

This situation has nothing to do with reparations. Islip may have a residency policy but is it similarly homogeneous and did it cook the books to make sure someone unlike the current residents never gets to the top? That's what Smithtown did.

I think we're going to have to let the feds figure this one out as to legality. But the actions of the town are very smelly.

So what you're saying is that the government can tell you where you can live, provided that you aren't uber-wealthy?

Why isn't the government placing Section 8 recipients in Cove Neck? Lloyd Harbor? How about on the water in Southampton, East Hampton, Amagansett?

Why not set up some Section 8 housing in Old Field next to one of the Town of Huntington's biggest Section 8 landlords? Funny, he lives on a gated estate overlooking the LI Sound. Why not ask people in Huntington what a great landlord this man is? What a great *cough* neighbor he is?

Why isn't Trump being told to pony up some apartments in his tower?

It's all or nothing.

Don't go after Smithtown and overlook Islip.
Don't go after Smithtown and not bust up all the extremely wealthy areas in the process.

(HEY! I WANT TO LIVE IN CHAPPAQUA. RIGHT NEXT TO BILL & HILLARY. If I ever become Section 8, that's where I want to live. Nevermind the fact that I am Hispanic and don't earn the type of money they do. I want to live there. I can't afford it, but I deserve it.)