Replies

Imagine what will happen when the government decides that the apartment complexes that accept section 8 vouchers are either too few or not in nice enough neighborhoods. Whats stopping them from forcing the sale of newer apartment buidings near well priced single family homes to companies that WILL play the governments game. The possibilities for abuse are almost endless.

Already happened here in Alabama. The City of Montgomery decided that the Section 8 Housing projects were located in such poor areas that it was depressing to the inhabitants. So they bought a huge parcel of land SOutheast of the city and proceded to pop up the ever loved Section 8 cookie cutter duplexes _-- right next to a brand new high end subdivision.

Houses that were originally built in that subdivision for $150,000-200,000 are now being sold for $70,000-80,000, and almost half the houses stand empty with For Sale signs in the yards.

Imagine what will happen when the government decides that the apartment complexes that accept section 8 vouchers are either too few or not in nice enough neighborhoods. Whats stopping them from forcing the sale of newer apartment buidings near well priced single family homes to companies that WILL play the governments game. The possibilities for abuse are almost endless.
*********
Already happened here in Alabama. The City of Montgomery decided that the Section 8 Housing projects were located in such poor areas that it was depressing to the inhabitants. So they bought a huge parcel of land SOutheast of the city and proceded to pop up the ever loved Section 8 cookie cutter duplexes _-- right next to a brand new high end subdivision.

Houses that were originally built in that subdivision for $150,000-200,000 are now being sold for $70,000-80,000, and almost half the houses stand empty with For Sale signs in the yards.

Yep, the same thing occurred in eastern New Orleans. What was once one of the nicer suburban areas received the outflow from the public housing projects as more and more units were rendered uninhabitable.

Some of the apartments were developed on the sly, with contractor's signs indicating that the structures were going to be condominiums (as was the big trend, 20-odd years ago). The signs were left up long enough to mislead the local residents, then removed as construction neared completion. Some area residents found out, too late, that the construction projects had "run into financial problems" and "had to be reconfigured as low-income apartments".

As in Montgomery, homeowners in the area soon found their houses were worth far less than the mortgage balance.

Houses that were originally built in that subdivision for $150,000-200,000 are now being sold for $70,000-80,000, and almost half the houses stand empty with For Sale signs in the yards.

Section 8 is the kiss of death to a neighborhood. I wonder how many section 8 homes are on the same block as the top administrators of HUD and HHS? Too bad I didn't wind the hideously large powerball jackpot a few months ago...we could find out just how many would fit around those homes!