Judge clears the way for Austin to enforce housing vouchers ordinance

[sojourner77]

Austin lacks the government support structure that enables homelessness on a large scale, unlike those other cities. What Austin has - is a lot of working poor in places like Manor, Govalle, Rundberg, St. Johns, and Dove Springs.

Austin is bigger than SF, for example - but we have nothing like Market St here. The homeless used to live under the 6th street bridge, but they have been cleared out. The ARCH downtown is the only homeless shelter that I know of.

[BusinessHorn]

Originally Posted by CBB_bear

I have mixed feelings about this. I am not a landlord, so I have no skin in the game, so my opinion doesn't really matter. I feel for landlords who have legitimate concerns about their property. One of my relatives owns a bunch of rental properties and had really awful experiences with tenants section 8 vouchers, and doesn't accept section 8 applicants anymore. I know it can also cause issues in attracting other market rate tenants if they cause issues. I also get that HUD is a dysfunctional bureaucracy.

However, one part of many section 8 programs was to generate mixed income areas rather than concentrate generational poverty in public housing projects, because it has been shown that that results in better outcomes for families, as well as less concentrated crime/gang activity. Obviously, what's good for society overall and what's good for individual landlords is vastly different--for any landlord is is much less of a risk to take a market-rate paying tenant than it is to take someone with a section 8 housing voucher. So how exactly does one dilute the effects of poverty if there is no incentive for an individual landlord to take section 8 tenants without mandates from the government? Serious question.

Imagine you run a daycare, and you're very particular about the kinds of kids you take in. You interview the families and make sure their idea of parenting jibes with your idea of teaching. You create an incredible school community. The parents love it, the kids are excelling at an incredible rate, and there's a real sense of community. Then, the local gov't passes a low that says you can't turn down kids who are prone to angry outbursts, don't listen, are disruptive, or have parents that are disinterested and have instilled zero discipline in their kids...........all b/c you know...........it's good for those kids and parents to have the positive influence from the non-dysfunctional kids, parents, and teachers. Of course, the kids are hellions, the parents just shrug their shoulders, and the community spirit spirals downward. Now, the best parents of the best kids want to go elsewhere, b/c why would they want to stay with your daycare, where there's dysfunction, when they can go further out or to areas where there aren't any bad seeds in the local daycares. So, they leave.

That's Section 8 in a nutshell. I lived in an awesome neighborhood here in Austin that I would have been happy to stay in forever. But, a local apartment complex started accepting Section 8. Within 6 months there was graffiti all over signs & local buildings, car break-ins went from nil to so high, the police has to put dummy cars in the area to catch smash & grab and auto thieves. You could no longer go to the local park (1 block away), b/c there were hoodlums causing problems, b/c they don't work and have nothing else to do.

Section 8 is a cancer. The gov't should have no right to force neighborhoods to take in people that do nothing but bring down the neighborhood, introduce crime, and drive down property values. Are all Sec 8 people bad? No. But, would you go walking through a neighborhood that is 80% Section 8 at night? 0.00% chance. So then, why should the rest of America not only bear the burden of supporting them, but dealing with their drama?

FWIW, I used to be homeless, so I know what Sec 8 looks like up close & personal.

[ITO]

You want some examples of what Section 8 does to a neighborhood?

Take a good look at North Austin, Georgian Acres, Rutland, Rundberg, Parkfeld, Merns Medows.

The funny thing is with all the available Section 8 Housing in North Austin, there are still lots of homeless people, so I wonder why anyone would think Section 8 fixes homelessness.

[RunninJT]

If there is any point in saying this here since you keep bringing up the area, Rundberg has gotten better over the last decade, not worse. We are a long way off from the gentrification of East 7th and so forth but at least we are heading in the right direction. It will be interesting to see what they do with all the Section 8 people if they continue to build new houses around here.

[ITO]

Better over the past decade? Is that what you call that?

You do know what Powel and Wonsley are famous for right?

[RunninJT]

Originally Posted by ITO

Better over the past decade? Is that what you call that?

You do know what Powel and Wonsley are famous for right?

Can you still buy crack there? I havent checked. I am assuming you are keeping up to date with it then?