371,475 Harris County Residents Receiving Food Stamps (Houston, The Woodlands: section 8, transplants, apartment complex)

[Mr. Football]

Last month, 371,475 Harris County residents received $48.1 million worth of food stamps.

Wow.

[Callo]

Those very same people are the ones burglarizing homes while the owners are at work, robbing people at gunpoint, ruining schools, causing traffic jams, urinating in public, and throwing shoes on power lines.

Yet the city keeps coddling them and criticizing homeowners who want some semblance of safety around here.

And they wonder why The Woodlands is such a popular place nowadays.

[Mr. Football]

The Woodlands is popular with the robbers too.

Regardless, I'm wondering what else they're getting?

What I'm seeing everywhere nowadays here in the burbs is our fine ghettizens driving very nice new BMW's, Mercedes, Range Rovers, Infiniti's, etc.

I'll add that I'm not against these programs for those who desperately need it to get back on their feet. I'm simply against abuse of these programs and the dependency they create (which can last generations). I'm thinking there is quite a bit of abuse going on. As a taxpayer, who'd rather be putting my own money towards everyday expenses, I'm somewhat concerned about what I'm seeing.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Is that your point? Given this economy, I don't think it is unusual. However, I do think the Houston area is still reeling from Katrina and some of the NO transplants.

I don't care to be politically correct on this issue, I understand many from NO do not live a life of welfare, but there are some that do, and to deny this would be dishonest. I've been witness to their crime, and also have a friend who had to forclose on a quadplex property he owned and rented out in good faith under Section 8 housing immediately after the storm.

The stories I heard of the people, their attitude, and what they were capable doing/saying were simply amazing; if you do not live around that type of environment, it would make your head spin what these people consider to be okay. He lost more than a few hundred thousand dollars to that investment, and the NO residents and their 'uninvited' house guests simply got another place courtesy of you and I. Some are probably in that number you counted.

[Callo]

Originally Posted by Mr. Football

The Woodlands is popular with the robbers too.

This is true. But at least they take care of their residents, which is more than I can say for most of Harris County.

[Callo]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

Is that your point? Given this economy, I don't think it is unusual. However, I do think the Houston area is still reeling from Katrina and some of the NO transplants.

I don't care to be politically correct on this issue, I understand many from NO do not live a life of welfare, but there are some that do, and to deny this would be dishonest. I've been witness to their crime, and also have a friend who had to forclose on a quadplex property he owned and rented out in good faith under Section 8 housing immediately after the storm.

The stories I heard of the people, their attitude, and what they were capable doing/saying were simply amazing; if you do not live around that type of environment, it would make your head spin what these people consider to be okay. He lost more than a few hundred thousand dollars to that investment, and the NO residents and their 'uninvited' house guests simply got another place courtesy of you and I. Some are probably in that number you counted.

Don't blame Mr. Football, he just doesn't like The Woodlands. I don't really either. I much prefer the architecture and trees of Westador to the drab tracked houses up north.

[Mr. Football]

Originally Posted by Callo

Don't blame Mr. Football, he just doesn't like The Woodlands. I don't really either. I much prefer the architecture and trees of Westador to the drab tracked houses up north.

I like The Woodlands. Just like to point out the realities of it from time to time. The truth is, no areas are immune. With that said, let's keep this topic on track.

What are some of the other benefits people receive? Seems they don't readily publicize these kinds of things.

When we had our son and daughter, we had to pay several thousand dollars in hospital bills even though we had good insurance that we pay out the butt for every month. I guess if you're on the dole, you can do that for free no matter how many kids you have? Then get more money for having more of them? Is that right?

I've heard of Section 8, where they pay for a good portion of your rent or mortgage, even help you with expenses. Wow!

[jfre81]

Hey now, I break into houses and steal **** to pawn so I don't have to get food stamps. Y'all hatas.

[Callo]

Originally Posted by Mr. Football

I like The Woodlands. Just like to point out the realities of it from time to time. The truth is, no areas are immune. With that said, let's keep this topic on track.

What are some of the other benefits people receive? Seems they don't readily publicize these kinds of things.

When we had our son and daughter, we had to pay several thousand dollars in hospital bills even though we had good insurance that we pay out the butt for every month. I guess if you're on the dole, you can do that for free no matter how many kids you have? Then get more money for having more of them? Is that right?

I've heard of Section 8, where they pay for a good portion of your rent or mortgage, even help you with expenses. Wow!

From Wikipedia:

Currently, the main Section 8 program involves the voucher program. A voucher may be either "project-based" (where its use is limited to a specific apartment complex; public housing agencies (PHAs) may reserve up to 20% of its vouchers as such.[7]) or "tenant-based" (where the tenant is free to choose a unit in the private sector, is not limited to specific complexes, and may reside anywhere in the United States or Puerto Rico where a PHA operates a Section 8 program, though in practice such portability is very difficult).
Under the voucher program, individuals or families with a voucher find and lease a unit (either in a specified complex or in the private sector) and pay a portion of the rent (based on income, but generally no more than 30% of the family's income).
There is an asset test in addition to earned income. Over a certain amount, HUD will add income even if the Section 8 tenant doesn't receive any interest income from, for example, a bank account.[8][9] HUD calls this "imputed income from assets" and in the case of a bank account, HUD establishes a standard "Passbook Savings Rate" to calculate the imputed income from the asset.[10][11] This makes the tenant's contribution higher since his gross income is made higher.
The PHA pays the landlord the remainder of the rent over the tenant's portion, subject to a cap referred to as "Fair Market Rent" (FMR) which is determined by HUD. FMR is determined by several factors, including:

• the geographic area (city or county) where the unit is located (generally, a unit in a metropolitan area will have a higher FMR),
• the unit size (in terms of the number of bedrooms; generally, the more bedrooms the higher the FMR, while a studio apartment would be at the low end), and
• whether the owner or tenant will pay utilities (generally, FMR is higher for units where the owner pays utilities).

The landlord cannot charge a Section 8 tenant more than FMR and cannot accept payments outside the contract which would cause the total rent to exceed FMR.
In addition, landlords, though required to meet fair housing laws, are not required to participate in the Section 8 program. As a result, some landlords will not accept a Section 8 tenant. This can be attributed to such factors as:

• not wanting the government involved in their business, such as having a full inspection of their premises for HUD's Housing Quality Standards (HQS) and the possible remediations required[12],
• fear that a Section 8 tenant will not properly maintain the premises,
• a desire to charge a rent for the unit above FMR,
• unwillingness to initiate judicial action for eviction of a tenant (HUD requires that Section 8 tenants can only be evicted by judicial action, even where state law allows other procedures).

However, other landlords willingly accept Section 8 tenants, due to:

• a large available pool of potential renters (the waiting list for new Section 8 tenants is usually very long, see below),
• generally prompt regular payments from the PHA for its share of the rent, and/or
• a perceived higher quality of tenants, since a tenant can be permanently removed from the Section 8 program if s/he damages the rental unit and/or fails to pay his/her share of the rent.

Whether voucher or project-based, all subsidized units must meet HQS, thus ensuring that the family has a healthy and safe place to live. This improvement in the housing stock is an important by-product of this program, both for the individual families and for the larger goal of community development.
In many localities, the PHA waiting lists for Section 8 vouchers may be thousands of families long, waits of three to five years to access vouchers is common, and many lists are closed to new applicants.
Families who participate in the program must abide by a series of rules and regulations, often referred to as "family obligations," in order to maintain their voucher, including accurately reporting to the PHA all changes in household income and/or family composition so the amount of their subsidy (and the applicable rental unit size limitation) can be updated accordingly. In recent years, the HUD Office of the Inspector General has spent more time and money on fraud detection and prevention.
Currently, there are no time limits for family participation in the program, though occasionally reform bills are introduced in Congress that suggest time limiting the program.

[Rachael84]

This is funny, because machiavelli tells me how NY is the welfare state.