Chicago: Poor families use 'supervouchers' to rent in city's priciest buildings (illegal, health care)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The high-rise at 500 N. Lake Shore Drive is the second-most expensive in the city, with rents for a one-bedroom apartment approaching $3,000 a month, well beyond the reach of most Chicago residents.
But that's not too much for the Chicago Housing Authority, which has used federal tax dollars to pick up most of the tab for four lucky residents in the year-old building, with its sweeping views of Lake Michigan, a concierge and a dog-grooming center.
The tenants moved in over the past two years as part of a push by the CHA to expand its housing voucher program so that more low-income residents can leave the city's roughest neighborhoods and start a new life in places with low poverty and crime and close to good schools and jobs.
Yet some landlords say it's a mistake to use scarce tax dollars to pay ultra-high rents for a fortunate few when more than 15,000 people sit on the CHA's voucher waiting list.
“This is nuts,” says landlord Tony Rossi, president of Chicago-based RMK Management Corp., who describes himself as a liberal Democrat. “In a situation where you're dealing with a low-income person, do they really need a 25th-floor apartment with a lake view? It just doesn't make sense to me.”
I'm sure the taxpayer who gets up at 5:30am to drive from the suburbs into the city and works long hours to support his family is happy to contribute his tax dollars to pay the rent for low income people to live in downtown luxury buildings with lake views, right?
Low income luxury living is due to changes in US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) policies in 2010. "HUD caps how much the Chicago Housing Authority can pay a landlord. A few years ago, the Chicago Housing Authority could not pay more than 110 percent of a fair market rent calculated by HUD. The current fair market rent in Cook County for a one-bedroom apartment is $826 a month. But HUD allowed the Chicago Housing Authority to change its rules in 2010, pushing the cap up to 300 percent in designated “opportunity areas,” such as downtown and Lakeview, where poverty is low and subsidized housing is scarce."
Meanwhile, "according to the Chicago Housing Authority, 15,230 people were on its waiting list for housing vouchers at the end of 2013."
Central government planning and efficient allocation of taxpayer dollars at its finest.
Last edited by texan2yankee; 07-28-2014 at 07:03 AM..
I'm sure the taxpayer who gets up at 5:30am to drive from the suburbs into the city and works long hours to support his family is happy to contribute his tax dollars to pay the rent for low income people to live in downtown luxury buildings with lake views, right?
Chicago poor people have to ask themselves does having a job really worth it? People might think getting 180 a month on a food card, a Obamaphone, and free health care Medicaid, they are better off not working. All they need is some ones basement to live in or a couch to sleep on. People that are on the dole should not be living in high end apartments and homes, if the ghetto is all they can afford that is where they belong.
Yet some landlords say it's a mistake to use scarce tax dollars to pay ultra-high rents for a fortunate few when more than 15,000 people sit on the CHA's voucher waiting list.
Exactly. Cut the frills and house more people. $3,000/month public assistance apartments? That's insane.
Doesn't the landlord have to agree to accept vouchers? Landlords that agree to accept vouchers know that the rent is guaranteed every month. If a working tenant moves out he can notify the agency that there is an apartment available and someone getting a voucher will get the apartment.
Actually it would be the Evan's family from Good Times.
Which is actually ironic because the Lake Shore drive building is just several blocks from where Cabrini Green housing projects used to stand. The site where the fictional TV Evan's family from Good Times lived.
So instead of moving on up for the Jeffersons, it actually would have been Good Times for the Evans Family.
The opening credits to the show actually pan from right(where the direction of lake shore drive is) to the left and zoom in on the location of Cabrini Green before going to a location shot.
I actually did a paper on Norman Lear's Good Times TV show and juxtaposed it with life at the real Cabrini Green for a sociology project in college in the 80's.
That's the Famous Marshall-Fields Merchadise Mart and Franklin Street Bridge in the center of the opeing shot. Once the largest building in the world when it opened in 1930.
Last edited by Bulldogdad; 07-28-2014 at 07:31 AM..
Doesn't the landlord have to agree to accept vouchers? Landlords that agree to accept vouchers know that the rent is guaranteed every month. If a working tenant moves out he can notify the agency that there is an apartment available and someone getting a voucher will get the apartment.
I don't know if this is the case in Chicago, but many progressive cities make it illegal to discriminate against source of income. If someone says their income to pay the rent is from a voucher you must accept them or face a discrimination suit.
George Jefferson earned his "moving on up" to the east side. If I recall, Jefferson owned several dry cleaning businesses and was a successful business man. The Jefferson's TV show is not an analogy to this situation at all.
I'm just blown away by the $3,000/month public assistance apartments for 4 people when over 15,000 are still waiting for housing.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
