Public Comment

The Princeton professor, Matthew Desmond, in his detailed study of evictions, found that in a recent year (2016) at least 2,300,000 Americans - a rate of four every minute --were evicted. The reason for saying "at least" is that the estimate fails to include the many evictions that were not officially reported. Undoubtedly, many who were evicted became homeless as well as poorer as a result of a lack of affordable housing. 

Although several cities and states have been making a sincere effort to provide affordable housing for the homeless, their ability to do so is very limited. Only the federal government has the budget to provide substantially more affordable housing than even the most well intention communities. During the great depression of the 1930s the federal government enacted a massive public housing program despite the aggressive lobbying campaign by real estate interests. Currently there are about 1.3 million public housing units for low income individuals and families. 

But clearly the tide has turned against public housing since the election of Ronald Reagan as president. Reagan was committed to turning the clock backward. You might recall Reagan's most infamous comment - "Government is not a solution to our problem,. Government is the problem". Translated, he meant that government should not spend any of its resources on serving the poor or working people. To severely limit the ability of cities to address issues related to high levels of poverty, Reagan reduced federal aid to big cities, which accounted for 22 percent of their budgets, to only 6 percent. He also cut the budget for public housing and Section 8 rent subsidies in half.  

George Bush and his son, who are Republicans, both served as President. They followed the same footsteps as Ronald Reagan. And President Clinton, who is a Democrat, echoed a similar ideology. He cheerfully announced that "the era of big government is over". Among Clinton's unfortunate decisions was to sign the welfare reform law which slashed cash assistance to the poor. The number who are now receiving benefits declined from 13 million to 3 million, which has certainly increased the homeless population with children and their mothers. 

Generally speaking it has become public policy not only to resist increasing the supply of public housing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is the agency responsible for public housing, has been committed to reducing the number of units. Because of the aging and neglect of many thousands of public housing units, making minor repairs is no longer adequate. Instead, many public housing units have been allowed to deteriorate. Since they have become virtually uninhabitable, demolishing rather than repairing them is a lot cheaper.  

Between 10,000 to 15,000 units are being demolished every year. So instead of providing those on the streets with low cost housing , the consequences of demolishing these units has increased the homeless population. That was certainly not among the motives for legislating the public housing program. 

It should be no surprise that President Trump's recent housing proposal would make a difficult situation for many tenants even worse. He has proposed increasing the percentage of income that tenants pay from 30 to 35 percent. Also, the president issued an executive order to encourage various agencies to require those who benefit from federal programs to work.  

Trump appointed the very conservative Ben Carson to head HUD. Carson's specific recommendation with regard to the work requirement is that public housing tenants as well as other beneficiaries of government programs be required to work up to 32 hours per week. He also proposed tripling the rent of the poorest public housing tenants, which would put nearly one million youngsters at the risk of homelessness. And although Carson got stuck in an elevator at a Miami housing project during a HUD sponsored tour, it still did not dissuade him from recommending a cut in the housing budget. Unquestionably, Trump had appointed a highly principle politician! 

Some social programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Stamps, have successfully captured the attention of progressives and many members of the public. However, that has not been the case for public housing even by those who are very much involved in homelessness issues. For public housing has been stigmatized as highly dangerous and undesirable by the real estate industry, their allies, and the mass media. It is immensely important that progressives overcome this hurdle and reeducate the public. Despite many obstacles, public housing currently houses over 2.6 million residents. The federal government could and should provide affordable housing to many millions more