housing proposals i think we need to consider as a community (sale, rent)

[Columbuskidd92]

Originally Posted by westau

Because they are more likely to be less desirable neighbors? Not saying it is automatic or anything, but I guarantee it is a higher % than the overall population.

The part of your post I highlighted in bold is communism. We generally frown on that here in America. If everyone gets the same lifestyle without having to work for it then soon enough everyone would stop working.

If everyone gets the same lifestyle without having to work for it then soon enough everyone would stop working.

This is the problem that must be changed in the future. I'm not saying everyone works on section 8,but you do have people busting their a** to make ends meet.

[westau]

Originally Posted by Columbuskidd92

This is the problem that must be changed in the future. I'm not saying everyone works on section 8,but you do have people busting their a** to make ends meet.

How are you going to change it? It is just human nature, we work to take care of ourselves and our families but if you can get the same thing from the government people will stop working until the amount not working outweigh the ones working and paying for everything and the whole system collapses. Our biggest problem is a lifetime of handouts with no incentive of getting off it. We should spend more on job creation and training and less on welfare, free cell phones, and food stamps. Now I am not saying we should do away with those programs because there are truly people who need help but that help needs to have time limits and more requirements to be out looking for a job to cut down on the lazy people and fraud(not that everyone who takes government assistance is one of those things just to be clear).

[ATL_GUY]

Originally Posted by westau

How are you going to change it? It is just human nature, we work to take care of ourselves and our families but if you can get the same thing from the government people will stop working until the amount not working outweigh the ones working and paying for everything and the whole system collapses. Our biggest problem is a lifetime of handouts with no incentive of getting off it. We should spend more on job creation and training and less on welfare, free cell phones, and food stamps. Now I am not saying we should do away with those programs because there are truly people who need help but that help needs to have time limits and more requirements to be out looking for a job to cut down on the lazy people and fraud(not that everyone who takes government assistance is one of those things just to be clear).

With all due respect sir, but you should do some research. Many people getting assistance from the government are working people themselves and many more only recently started getting help because they're on the point of being on the streets. If there is anyone getting handouts and far bigger ones, it's the guys in suits who love Obama and Bush before him. Hundreds of billions are given to big corporations and the actual people who need it get peanuts. I agree that people should work and not just sit around but there has to be jobs. The number of people getting assistance only went up in the past few years as the economy got worse. Millions are falling into poverty every year.

It's not fair for someone to sit around and milk the system but we are being milked by wal street even more. Keep that in mind, please.

[ATL_GUY]

Originally Posted by westau

Because they are more likely to be less desirable neighbors? Not saying it is automatic or anything, but I guarantee it is a higher % than the overall population.

The part of your post I highlighted in bold is communism. We generally frown on that here in America. If everyone gets the same lifestyle without having to work for it then soon enough everyone would stop working.

Communism is to each according to his ability, for each according to his needs. I don't know where you got equal from. Equality is only in regards of education, health but not everyone will make same pay, drive same color car or eat same food. Each is awarded according to his ability.

Secondly, I have a friend who ownds several properties and refused to rent to section 8. He rented mostly to colleg kids and they ended up tearing his place up and others didn't even pay rent. It wa ssuch a hassle and he ended up losing money. He has finally allowed a section 8 family which pays part of the rent, and the program pays the rest, yet he's happy now. No drama, he gets his money every month and the family does not cause problems. There are many such cases throughout the country. having cheap looking houses with a bunch of uneducated and poor people living in them will bring crime up, it's a fact.

[ATL_GUY]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i think we're all familiar with the problem of gentrification. a poor neighbourhood becomes hip and people move in and fix up the buildings, and prices start to go up. the neighbourhood gets safer and prices continue to go up. when prices go up, property taxes go up. this is great for people wanting to move in, but what happens is that the low-income people who lived there in the first place end up getting pushed out of their homes and they go live in another low-rent neighbourhood. so the buildings and streets are clean and safe, but many of the hardworking people who lived there don't get to see the change happen.

i think there needs to be a couple of laws or programs set up to give lower income people the opportunity to live in neighbourhoods that are safe, with good schools and responsible neighbours. that way everyone will have the same opportunities as everyone else when it comes to education, jobs, and general safety.

my first idea is to have a property tax cap. it would only apply for those who have owned (and lived in) the same house (or condo) for 10 years or more. how it would work is that during the first 10 years, they pay property taxes based on whatever the home is worth like everyone does now. however, as soon as they qualify for the tax cap, their property taxes can no longer rise any higher than the highest rate they paid in the previous 10 years, adjusted for inflation.

so, for example, ruth lives in reynoldstown, and here are her annual property taxes:

2001 — $950
2002 — $900
2003 — $900
2004 — $950
2005 — $1000
2006 — $1025
2007 — $1100
2008 — $1150
2009 — $950
2010 — $975

now, starting in year 2011, she would meet the requirement for the tax cap. that means that she is charged taxes based on whatever her property is worth in the future, but she cannot be charged more than $1150 on her taxes, adjusted for inflation. so say that reynoldstown becomes a really expensive neighbourhood. that means that her property would probably be valued higher than it had been during the ten year period from 2001-2010, but she can't be charged more than $1150 in 2008 dollars because she's lived in the house for 10 years and she's "grandfathered" in. i believe this would help out a lot of lower income individuals and allow them to stay in the neighbourhood that is their home, without significantly reducing revenue.

the second idea i have would be for all new apartment complexes— 20% of the apartments would have to be affordably priced, meaning that a working individual with a section 8 voucher would be able to afford to live there. the apartments would have to be randomly distributed throughout the building (so you can't put all the section 8 people on the third floor), with a 20% minimum for the complex. in addition, we'd have to pass a law that made it illegal to reject section 8 vouchers.

my whole point with all of this is that we have to stop quarantining people because they are poor. it didn't work in projects and created some of the worst crime atlanta has ever seen. it's not working now with neighbourhoods like english avenue and pittsburgh, because the fact is you've got about half of the people there working hard doing three jobs trying to feed their family, and they simply don't have the voice or the power to run drug dealers, gangs and pimps out of their neighbourhood, and the criminals know this, so they locate in these areas where the people can't resist them. i'm not talking about putting some drug dealer in the penthouse suite on the public dime, i'm talking about giving hard working people the fighting chance to better their lives and give their children a chance to have something better, a decent education, not having to witness people shoot up heroin or get shot on a daily basis. every child deserves that and i think we need to make it happen.

I agree with your ideas but the problem is the people who have a phobia against poorer people. The mentality has to change. Someone who is poor is not a demon. I know people who get government assistance, and they still work. They get assistance because what they earn from work is not enough to sustain themselves. If it were enough, they wouldn't be needing help. I believe most of those who hate poor people are just narrow minded, ignorant and racist. They assume it's blacks and foreigners who are on welfare. They don't seem to complain about giving welfare to billionaires and this shows it all. A poor person getting food assistance is demonized while AIG, Goldman sachs, etc are okay to milk the system.

[LynnHarris]

Originally Posted by ATL_GUY

I agree with your ideas but the problem is the people who have a phobia against poorer people. The mentality has to change. Someone who is poor is not a demon. I know people who get government assistance, and they still work. They get assistance because what they earn from work is not enough to sustain themselves. If it were enough, they wouldn't be needing help. I believe most of those who hate poor people are just narrow minded, ignorant and racist. They assume it's blacks and foreigners who are on welfare. They don't seem to complain about giving welfare to billionaires and this shows it all. A poor person getting food assistance is demonized while AIG, Goldman sachs, etc are okay to milk the system.

I co-sign this post...

[joey86]

Originally Posted by ATL_GUY

Communism is to each according to his ability, for each according to his needs. I don't know where you got equal from. Equality is only in regards of education, health but not everyone will make same pay, drive same color car or eat same food. Each is awarded according to his ability.

Secondly, I have a friend who ownds several properties and refused to rent to section 8. He rented mostly to colleg kids and they ended up tearing his place up and others didn't even pay rent. It wa ssuch a hassle and he ended up losing money. He has finally allowed a section 8 family which pays part of the rent, and the program pays the rest, yet he's happy now. No drama, he gets his money every month and the family does not cause problems. There are many such cases throughout the country. having cheap looking houses with a bunch of uneducated and poor people living in them will bring crime up, it's a fact.

The phrase equal lifestyle was used in a previous post. That's where they got it from. If every new apartment building in Atlanta accepted section 8 the "equality" would go farther than just education and health. I believe that everyone should have access to housing. I believe we should house the mentally ill and poor families. All of them. But to suggest like the op did that all new apartment buildings in Atlanta accept section 8 is ridiculous the way I see it. The average person can't even afford to stay in the new buildings being built in Midtown. Why should they have section 8?

[bryantm3]

you have a point. how about this— it should be illegal to deny section 8 if the person can make up the difference themselves? meaning if there's a $1000/month apartment and they have a section 8 voucher worth $600, the owner can't deny their voucher if they can pay the $400 every month?

[toll_booth]

"Communism"? It's the year 2013 and we STILL have Red-baiting? LOL, I guess old habits never die.

[joey86]

No. If they can do that they don't need my money. Or make them pay four and we only give them two.