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Having grown up in poverty and seen people's reactions when my Mother would use food stamps at the grocery store, or drop me off in front of my elementary school in her beat up car; I felt ashamed for much of my young life as if somehow I was a broken person or damaged goods. I resented my Mother for working at menial jobs as a fast food employee or as a gas station cashier. I never understood why she could not be a well dressed business woman or doctor.
Then I grew up, I struggled to pay my tuition and rent. I worked while my college buddies lived off their good fortune and partied the nights away. I understood that more often then not, dreams do not come true.
Today, I am fortunate and realize that preparation and luck played equally instrumental roles in my success. I feel ashamed at times about my good fortune. Most of the wealthy people I know are consumed with greed and delight in dodging taxes and feeling superior to others. I forgive them because they have always been wealthy and do not know how hard it is on the other side of the rainbow. I believe that how we treat the least among us is a direct reflection on our character. New York is nothing if not a city with character.
I really don't get the whole public housing thing. There are people who really need it and people who really abuse it.
If you are working full time and don't make enough money to live in NYC then move somewhere else or get a different job.
If you are not working, stop having babies.
I know a guy who works in the NYC Carpenters Union and lives in the PJ's in Queens. He says he is never moving out cause the rent is so cheap, so instead he chooses to work only part time and go fishing the rest of the time.
I also know quite a few NYC cops who have to commute over 2 hours every day to get to work because they don't make enough $$ to live in the NYC area with their families.
I feel like the whol system needs beter monitoring so people like the carpenter are found out and people who really need it can move in.
They should do checks on a regularly basics. If you're making X amount of money and had the job for say 6+ months or longer the government should kick you out. Give a few months notice and find you're own place. The government is there for help and when you don't need anymore it's bye bye.
There are many people who live in rent control/stabilized apartment making a good amount of money and paying well under market value. Most of them could afford a house, but figure why spent the money if I'm living basically for free.
No one seems to realize that if New York City does to it's projects what Chicago did, it's population would also likely to have dropped by the magnitude of -750,000 or so. For people to seriously support this type of housing initiative is short-sighted and self-centric. Why in the hell should we heard all the poor people in NYC into these sardine can repositories. It's preposterous. There might be expensive real estate right next door to them, but the two might as well be a million miles away from each other. There is rarely if any socioeconomic mingling going on. These projects breed crime, and whether it's more or less crime, it's still unnecessary crimes. Not to mention the $$$ to be gained from selling the projects in Alphabet City, Red Hook, Coney Island etc.
Moving a bunch of people won't be easy, but they are living on government subsidized housing. Beggars can't be choosers, especially if the place their getting moved to is probably going to be alot nicer, safer, leafier. But no, they want to preserve the "hood".
Anyone got any ideas on what they could fetch for the alphabet city and LES projects...?
I am ok with selling housing projects to private entities, but the city/state would still mandate rents..the real benefit would be that the city no longer has to maintain these properties, and the bloated bureacracy/waste that comes along with it.
If Bloomberg was unable to do this, I cannot see how any Democratic lackee will.
Although I personally wouldn't want to live in Manhattan (just by preference) I do believe the projects and affordable housing should be moved to ...I actually live in Queens. Well, you may ask why....the thing is..as mean as it sounds...why should someone who lives off of welfare, speaking figuratively, get to live in the same neighborhood as someone who busted their ass thru college and climbed up the corporate latter to make six figures and wants to live in Manhattan? (THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE as we know both ways can be different). Basically, if I am a millionaire...why should someone who pops out 5 kids be given a "fair" ticket to live in my neighborhood for 1/10 of what I pay?
The only case that I think it's acceptable for someone to be given a little extra fair treatment is when they are severely disabled. This is understandable. But the few projects I have been to are full of perfectly capable people who have decided to do nothing with their lives or who continue to squeeze out babies that they can't afford in the first place. Why do we reward this with "fair housing"?
I'm 22 and I bust my ass working and putting myself thru college and I have YET to receive any "affordable housing" or welfare tickets. I have to go out there and comb thru the real estate like everyone else to find something that fits my budget. If housing isn't affordable for you somewhere, then you shouldn't be living there! You just can't afford it. Stop asking for free handouts. Thanks the end
I am ok with selling housing projects to private entities, but the city/state would still mandate rents..the real benefit would be that the city no longer has to maintain these properties, and the bloated bureacracy/waste that comes along with it.
If Bloomberg was unable to do this, I cannot see how any Democratic lackee will.
There's no reason to believe that a private entity would be any better at maintenance, and the city would still have to spend a ton of money to monitor the private entity.
The real solution is to knock down the projects and establish a much more expansive Section 8-type program. Require all landlords with more than a certain number of units (4? 10?) to accept a certain number of these tenants, maybe one low-income tenant per eight market tenants. The state would issue vouchers for a certain amount of rent, maybe $500/month for a single person and an additional $250 for each additional person (just guesses as to what would be appropriate) that the state would pay, and then the tenant would be responsible for the rest and could be evicted as usual for failure to pay.
It would avoid a lot of the problems of concentrated poverty that housing projects create. Obviously needs much more consideration on many important points, but it sounds like a good baseline for a proposal to replace housing projects to me.
The real solution is to knock down the projects and establish a much more expansive Section 8-type program. Require all landlords with more than a certain number of units (4? 10?) to accept a certain number of these tenants, maybe one low-income tenant per eight market tenants. The state would issue vouchers for a certain amount of rent, maybe $500/month for a single person and an additional $250 for each additional person (just guesses as to what would be appropriate) that the state would pay, and then the tenant would be responsible for the rest and could be evicted as usual for failure to pay.
Sounds like a good start but then you might have a bunch of tenants protesting and saying "not in my building" and then they'll start moving out. Not sure how it'll work out though.
I also saw a youtube vid a few months back where this guy down south is living in a mixed income complex and a bunch of section 8 type people moved in and there hasn't been any problems for the past few years so it sounds like it might just work.
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