Posted on 06/30/2011 5:32:34 AM PDT by Liz
FAIRFAX, Va. -- Resort-style swimming pools with fountains and heated spas, billiards rooms, granite counter tops, ceramic tile, indoor basketball courts, stainless steel appliances -- many Fairfax County taxpayers cannot afford such luxuries. But they are paying for these amenities for use by low-income residents who live in subsidized housing in affluent neighborhoods. "They're a part of our rental program where we subsidize the rents for the individuals in the units, and we end up having to pick up the condo fees," supervisor Pat Herrity told 630 WMAL News.
Herrity does not advocate putting low-income residents in "ghetto-style" housing but he takes issue with taxpayers who cannot afford such luxuries being forced to pick up the tab for people who qualify for subsidized housing. "These are resort-style amenities that the majority of the taxpayers that are subsidizing it don't have on their own," said Herrity, adding that "luxury has no place in subsidized housing." "If the occupants of these homes improve their lives financially, they will be forced to move out.
And the housing they could afford without the taxpayer subsidy is well below the quality of these homes," he said. Herrity said Fairfax County should sell subsidized housing units located in affluent neighborhoods and stop paying the condo fees. "Why would we have taxpayers who are trying to work their way into these neighborhoods pay for somebody else to be put into these neighborhoods," said Herrity.
PHOTOS LINK AT WEB SITE: Examples of Homes and Amenities Provided at Taxpayers' Expense in the County's Rental Program
Subsidized housing in Fairfax Va.
And therein lies the problem. Even some folks who oppose this don't want to make the poor uncomfortable.
Why not? If we listened to Ben Franklin, and made the poor as uncomfortable in their lives as possible, they may work harder to improve their situation. If not, oh well -- why should I pay for it, when I work hard enough -- and often struggle -- to pay my own way?
I don't mind helping the truly helpless, but I'm tired of helping the worthless.
great info, i will never understand why republicans
don’t use this.
HUD-under-Cuomo (they had a big picture of him hanging in the lobby) was the place I interviewed where all the cubizens were watching soap operas at lunchtime as I walked through to the interview room. By the time I got there, I already didn’t want the job.
I don’t care about the gym or (much) the pool, but I’d really like those oversized caramel-stained maple cabinets. And so many of them!
The irony with all those cabinets is that they'll not be used. Poor people are much more likely to eat fast food and microwaved meals than to cook from scratch. They're less likely to have an abundance of dishes, cookware and kitchen appliances.
I recently came back from a trip to Asheville to visit family. In the paper they were talking about a community meeting for West Asheville. They quoted the director of the Pisgah View housing project as saying, “Crime is down and we have gotten some things we wanted, but we are still lacking a pool and a tennis court.” I am NOT making this up!
Also, my brother who does cable installation has to go to that particular project & says it is awful. One time some teeneagers shot his truck & him w/ rubber bullets. He says that in the middle of the afternoon it is crawling w/ people just hanging out and enjoying life. Not working, not gardening to supplement their food, not volunteering; just getting high & looking at people menacingly who come in to do honest work.
My mother would also like a pool. Wait, I forgot, she works for a living. Nix that...........
Well, that's true. I hope the libtards in Greenwich are happy with their nouveau pauvre...
The same thing is going on around Pittsburgh. Under a court order called the Saunders Decree (out of some lawsuit claiming that putting Section 8 tenants into neighborhoods where there was already a lot of Section 8 housing was somehow racist) the County has actually been forced to buy homes in very nice suburbs and then lease them out to Section 8 tenants.
I wish that the next time a morbidly obese welfare recipient stands up and says my children are hungry, whatever politician it is says, “ How about taking some of the 4000 calories a day you consume, and giving it to your children. Then they would not be hungry.”
Well, Michelle Obama says that many inner city areas are food deserts. They don’t have nice chain grocery stores with food variety. She says that too many in the food deserts shop at convenience stores and liquor stores, where the only food available is junk food.
And she has talked a bit about how some people don’t want their kids to go outside and play in some of these areas, but never really spelled out what the danger is in these neighborhoods.
And therein lies the problem. Even some folks who oppose this don't want to make the poor uncomfortable.
Exactly. I advocate putting them (or more appropriately, having them put themselves) in whatever housing their "low-income" can afford. If that'a a cardboard box, too effing bad. I don't care anymore. Food stamps, WIC, section 8, subsidized housing, subsidized cell phones, extended unemployment benefits, farm subsidies, ethanol subsidies, foreign aid, end it all. No one gets any government money unless they are providing a product or service to the government.
Thanks Liz.
Because there are no chain supermarkets in Detroit and only can get cheap starchy foods. Hope I quoted Rev. Jackson right.
BTW, I have a flyer for a store at 8 and Hoover, family pack of T-Bone and Porterhouse steaks $2.98/lb. Might check it out later. Nor sure on the quality.
It is happening in Westchester, NY in one of the wealthiest sections right now.
Time to end all subsidized housing, another Dem scam.
“If the occupants of these homes improve their lives financially, they will be forced to move out.”
Which is precisely why they WON’T improve their lives financially.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.