Posted on 12/29/2008 10:13:35 AM PST by Between the Lines
The Charlotte Housing Authority is considering giving thousands of public housing residents a choice: Get a job or get out.
Agency leaders are proposing a plan that would force tenants to find work to keep their government housing benefits.
The idea has prompted criticism from some advocates for the poor who say it would be wrong to impose the rule during the country's worst economic crisis in decades.
But backers say it's only right to make able-bodied adults work and try to gain self sufficiency.
“There's never a perfect time to start a change,” said Jennifer Gallman, a spokeswoman for the Housing Authority. “This is a positive change.”
Under federal guidelines, recipients generally put 30percent of their household income toward rent. The federal government subsidizes the remainder.
The proposal would require the head of each household to work at least 30 hours a week by April 1, 2011, to keep the subsidy. Elderly and disabled residents would be exempt.
The Housing Authority's Board of Commissioners will decide next month whether to implement the rule.
It would impact many of the 15,000 people in Charlotte who live in public housing apartments or rent homes from private landlords using government-issued Section 8 vouchers.
A recent survey conducted for the Housing Authority found that the head of the household was employed in 31percent of public housing units. The head of the household was working in 43percent of homes rented with Section 8 vouchers.
The employment rule is one of several restrictions the Housing Authority has implemented or weighed in recent years. Residents who move into some newer, recently built developments must now meet work requirements designed to move them out of public housing in five years.
But the latest idea surfaces just as the unemployment rate in North Carolina has reached 7.9percent, the highest figure in 25 years.
Alfred Riley, who lives in the Boulevard Homes public housing complex in west Charlotte, said he has tried hard “for a long time” but can't find work.
The proposed rule “comes at the worst time ever,” Riley said. “People can't even find work at a fast-food restaurant.”
Advocates for the poor fear the rule could add to Charlotte's growing homeless population.
Many public housing tenants cannot afford daycare for their children and don't have needed transportation or job skills, said Ted Fillette, lead attorney with Charlotte's Legal Aid office.
Some 30,000 people in North Carolina are on waiting lists for affordable daycare, Fillette said. Affordable daycare typically costs about $175 a week, he said.
The Housing Authority has not promised to help pay to remove such barriers, Fillette said.
Revoking subsidies is “tantamount to evicting families who have the least capacity to survive in the non-subsidized market,” he wrote in a letter to other local advocates for the poor.
Gallman, the Housing Authority spokeswoman, noted that tenants would have two years to find work.
Those who do not meet the requirement would receive up to two counseling sessions and a 90-day grace period. When the period ends, the agency would reduce an unemployed tenant's housing subsidy by 50percent. After that, officials would take away an unemployed tenant's entire subsidy.
Gallman said the Housing Authority has studied how the rule worked in cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore and Chicago and found that it did not lead to increased homelessness, Gallman said.
Charlotte officials, she said, may create programs or partner with other agencies to help tenants with daycare, transportation, job training or other obstacles.
“They won't just throw people out,” Gallman said.
So did my Mom. She worked and raised us all, alone. She held down jobs, many to be exact. Yea, we were poor but happy.
If they can't pass a drug test they should be kicked to the curb, tonight. If they can work but won't, they should be kicked to the curb, tonight.
...and hope for freezing rain!
To depict what Chickensoup's folks did for others as slavery is twisted to say the least. They took in folks that couldn't make it on their own, gave them responsibilities and a sense of belonging, a sense of family. Paid them accordingly with room, board and what monies they could spare. That is compassion by any definition.
You folks that think it's ok to take my earnings from me and give it to those that believe they are owed a free ride wouldn't know conservatism if it hit them in the A**!
The bible also clearly calls Christians to care for the poor and likens a rich man’s chance of getting into heaven as likely as getting though the head of a needle. Christ served others and called upon us to do the same. I think public housing should be used to house people who don’t make that much money-working or not. Affordable housing is a tough issue for the poor.
Thank you. I think do-able work and a sense of belonging means the world to people. Without it a boardroom is a prison and free state owned stuff kills.
Do you know why? How about lending monies to folks that had no chance or even intent of paying it back, kinda like this housing mess in Charlotte (as well as the rest of this nation), eh?
Forced 'charity' undid this economy and I defy you to show otherwise.
That would be never. He/she is the same person who wants a bailout for the auto industry. He/she claims to be in management at one of them but certainly seems to have a lot of time on his/her hands to post on this forum.
A world where the grifters and the indolent wouldn't be rewarded indiscriminantly?
You realize, of course, that such largesse necessarily requires that the genuinely needy get less than they might otherwise. That is of no concern to you?
Forgive me, but I'm beginning to suspect that you may not be a conservative. Even a little conservative.
You seem prone to making unsupported assertions and approve of policies that take money away from people who earned it and give indiscriminantly to people who won't.
Even my sis, the social worker, observes that around two-thirds of her clients have taken willful actions which have put them in the situation they're in -- bad boyfriends, drugs, illegitimate children, bad work habits, etc. Even she believes that rewarding them with welfare programs is only creating more of the same -- and reducing the assistance to those who really need it.
Bless her, she's a bleeding heart liberal. But she knows her clients...and apparently has a better grasp of reality than you seem to have.
What BS!
I think slavery was when people were chained and beaten not given free reign of the household and could leave any time they pleased.
I know some of these people are scum who doesn’t so what about their kids...just write them off too?
what about their kids...just write them off too?
Change the laws and take the kids away. Raise them to be productive citizens in foster homes and orphanages. When I was young there was training school. Taught you a trade and good work habits.
I don't know who you think you are fooling but most people around here can smell BS a mile away and you are full of it. Name one charity that is getting less donations this year than last, name just one (besides the ones that were swindled by the crook Madoff).
You are just making it up as you go. Most charities would say they aren't getting enough donations any time you asked them. I imagine most people working would say they aren't making a big enough salary either.
If there aren't any jobs to be found why are so many illegals running across the border to live here? They seem to be able to find work without any trouble.
Thank you for the compliment. Absolutely. I wanted a loan so we didn’t lose our last large manufacturer in this country and perhaps drive this country into a real old fashioned depression. I am pro-manufacturing. There would many less poor in this country if good manufacturing jobs had not been given away by bad, stupid free trade policies advocated by our equally stupid government and many conservatives. The service economy has tanked...how does it feel kcvl to realize that yours and others free trade beliefs are responsible for the coming socialistic policies-like national healthcare, more food stamps etc?
I don't think there should be any such thing as federally funded public housing. PERIOD!
That, my FRiend is a conservative stance.
We have talked before and never agree on anything...do you stalk me because you just can’t get enough of my good sense or what? Did you parents take away TV or something? I am not trying to fool you...you are perfectly capable of fooling yourself. Why not merely offer an opinion-make an argument for or against?
This is your opinion. Again, I believe it is necessary to have some sort of safety net for the poor.
I guess you missed the stuff in the paper about charities closing their doors? I help out at the S.A. Donations are way down. I couldn’t afford to give what I usually do.
Foster care? Do you hate children? I could tell you stories about foster care that would make your head spin so if you are poor and you can’t find a job you should lose your kids I guess. You will never convince me that is a conservative view.
There are many forms of slavery.
Don't you think if they can breed they should at least get out of bed on a daily bases and be responsible for something?
I’ll believe it when it happens. This is Lib City. I am surprised even a proposal like this saw the light of day.
Stalking you would mean that I have more time than you to post on this forum which I don’t. How’s that auto industry going today, Mr. Management? It seems you have a lot of extra time on your hands. Don’t you have an industry to save?
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