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Rep. Ilhan Omar proposes "Housing for All"

 
 
 
Axulus said:
seyorni said:
It's really not that expensive or complicated to construct basic housing. A short, 20x8x8 foot shipping container can easily be fitted with a small bathroom, kitchenette and bedroom. They're cheap, and built like tanks, should anyone want to construct a hi-rise.
For the sybarites, there are the standard 40' containers.
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In most cities, that will violate regulations. Insufficient insulation. Needs proper plumbing, wiring. Also needs 8-12 ft wide side walks next to the road segment it occupies, plus sufficient parking space. Must also withstand natural disasters like earthquakes or tornadoes. Also needs a nice appearance to pass the neighborhood review process. Not to mention passing the environmental impact study. We are talking about $100's of thousands, perhaps millions, in improvements here.
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But its ok with those cities to live in a tent
 
Derec said:
As to "housing for all", how will it work? Can I demand housing I can afford anywhere or will it be based on where you are located when the legislation goes into effect? I.e. can I demand to live in Manhattan or will just those already living in Manhattan be able to do so, even if they now inhabit a cardboard box in the borough?
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That is the most difficult unanswered question in this whole thread.

And when you think it all the way through, the only fair solution is to relocate the homeless to other lower cost areas such as Mississippi. But that would mean masses of people being transported by box cars. Im not sure society would be ready for that. It would remind too many of Poland during ww2.
 
BTW, haven't these pubic housing projects already been tried before? First they build these nice looking suit case looking buildings and then the actual tenents run the place down. From there comes the usual crime and drugs all over the place and the subsequent police state. Then calls for the city to tear down these otherwise "nice looking on the outside" roach infested tenements. All in the interests of liberalism and public works so that people can be homeless again!
 
Trausti said:
Toni said:
So I am wondering which prominent GOP donors own the companies making these units.
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You raise a good point. Homelessness has become an industry. There is little incentive for politicians (who get to virtue signal) or businesses or other groups (who get public money) to reduce homelessness. That is glaringly evident here in Seattle. The more taxpayers dollars we spend, the more homelessness we get.
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There's that. In places such as Seattle, where housing costs have become astronomical, the success of business in Seattle is actually responsible for a certain number of lower income people being priced out of the housing market, including low cost housing. Anyone who thinks it is simple to pack up and just move somewhere where it's more affordable has never actually been poor and certainly has never been poor with a family. It is not easy to start with absolutely nothing, including no job, far from whatever small amount of stability you have managed to carve out or hold onto.

The other thing that happens is that if an area gets a reputation as doing well by (x group--could be business, could be families, could be people with children with special needs, could be poor people) it attracts more of x group.
 
RVonse said:
Derec said:
As to "housing for all", how will it work? Can I demand housing I can afford anywhere or will it be based on where you are located when the legislation goes into effect? I.e. can I demand to live in Manhattan or will just those already living in Manhattan be able to do so, even if they now inhabit a cardboard box in the borough?
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That is the most difficult unanswered question in this whole thread.

And when you think it all the way through, the only fair solution is to relocate the homeless to other lower cost areas such as Mississippi. But that would mean masses of people being transported by box cars. Im not sure society would be ready for that. It would remind too many of Poland during ww2.
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How is it fair to anybody to relocate homeless to Mississippi, who has its own share of very poor people? In fact, people of high cost areas should welcome homeless and low cost housing--it could actually drive down the cost of housing if lower income housing is built in/near neighborhoods.
 
Toni said:
RVonse said:
Derec said:
As to "housing for all", how will it work? Can I demand housing I can afford anywhere or will it be based on where you are located when the legislation goes into effect? I.e. can I demand to live in Manhattan or will just those already living in Manhattan be able to do so, even if they now inhabit a cardboard box in the borough?
Click to expand...
That is the most difficult unanswered question in this whole thread.

And when you think it all the way through, the only fair solution is to relocate the homeless to other lower cost areas such as Mississippi. But that would mean masses of people being transported by box cars. Im not sure society would be ready for that. It would remind too many of Poland during ww2.
Click to expand...

How is it fair to anybody to relocate homeless to Mississippi, who has its own share of very poor people? In fact, people of high cost areas should welcome homeless and low cost housing--it could actually drive down the cost of housing if lower income housing is built in/near neighborhoods.
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How do you achieve low cost housing in a high cost area? It simply can not be done. Even if you put a shipping container on a plot of land, the land itself is extremely expensive. You can build up (high rise) but just doing that also raises costs. For example, if you build up, there still has to be water and sewage hooked up to a high density which is expensive.

People who can not afford to pay for such high levels of sewage infrastructure should live in the cheaper rural locations. Thats only fair. Its not a crime to be poor. But it is a crime (IMO) to be poor and squatting in a high cost location but not paying the property taxes and other costs that it takes to maintain that lifestyle. Those poor should be moved to other cheaper places to make room for other people who really can afford to live in the high cost area.
 
Ok, so let's say you have the formerly homeless now living in a new housing development built just for them. They still have mental or physical health problems and/or no job skills or motivation and so will have little or no income. So how are they going to pay for rent (if any) and maintenance on their new place? Food? Clothing? Medical expenses? Car repairs, insurance,....the list goes on. Maybe we could create a new federal program called "Living Expenses for All?"
 
thebeave said:
Ok, so let's say you have the formerly homeless now living in a new housing development built just for them. They still have mental or physical health problems and/or no job skills or motivation and so will have little or no income. So how are they going to pay for rent (if any) and maintenance on their new place? Food? Clothing? Medical expenses? Car repairs, insurance,....the list goes on. Maybe we could create a new federal program called "Living Expenses for All?"
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Yeah! More taxes! More government! More virtue signaling!
 
thebeave said:
Ok, so let's say you have the formerly homeless now living in a new housing development built just for them. They still have mental or physical health problems and/or no job skills or motivation and so will have little or no income. So how are they going to pay for rent (if any) and maintenance on their new place? Food? Clothing? Medical expenses? Car repairs, insurance,....the list goes on. Maybe we could create a new federal program called "Living Expenses for All?"
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Or maybe we could have onsite or in neighborhood clinics (physical and mental health), jobs training, childcare, community education and other educational opportunities as well as easy access to transportation and neighborhood groceries that sell healthy food, including fresh fruits and vegetables and ethnically appropriate foodstuffs as well as easy/quick access to retail establishments that offer other home necessities.

Almost everybody wants to be self supporting, economically speaking. Yes, there are those who are and always will be happy to let others do the heavy lifting for them. See: Donald Trump. Yes, there are those who will never be able to provide sufficiently for themselves because of illness and disabilities, including very serious mental health issues. Society is not better off by letting those who are happy to be moochers or are too ill or disabled or old or whatever to support themselves be homeless or live in horrible, overcrowded conditions. Nobody is better off when health issues are not addressed. Nobody is better off when people cannot afford to put a decent meal on the table or live in decent homes. Do you know what the working poor do with their money? They SPEND it.
 
thebeave said:
Ok, so let's say you have the formerly homeless now living in a new housing development built just for them. They still have mental or physical health problems and/or no job skills or motivation and so will have little or no income. So how are they going to pay for rent (if any) and maintenance on their new place? Food? Clothing? Medical expenses? Car repairs, insurance,....the list goes on. Maybe we could create a new federal program called "Living Expenses for All?"
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They should do it here. There are lots and lots of low-paying jobs available - paying maybe enough to keep a person out of the snow. Maybe even 1½ people. If husband and wife both worked full-time they might even be able to afford a child.
 
RVonse said:
Toni said:
How is it fair to anybody to relocate homeless to Mississippi, who has its own share of very poor people? In fact, people of high cost areas should welcome homeless and low cost housing--it could actually drive down the cost of housing if lower income housing is built in/near neighborhoods.
Click to expand...

How do you achieve low cost housing in a high cost area? It simply can not be done. Even if you put a shipping container on a plot of land, the land itself is extremely expensive. You can build up (high rise) but just doing that also raises costs. For example, if you build up, there still has to be water and sewage hooked up to a high density which is expensive.

People who can not afford to pay for such high levels of sewage infrastructure should live in the cheaper rural locations. Thats only fair. Its not a crime to be poor. But it is a crime (IMO) to be poor and squatting in a high cost location but not paying the property taxes and other costs that it takes to maintain that lifestyle. Those poor should be moved to other cheaper places to make room for other people who really can afford to live in the high cost area.
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Sure you can achieve it. You build housing and you don't charge market rate.

The fact is that housing prices in urban areas which have in recent years seen an enormous influx of tech industry has seen the cost of housing shoot up astronomically. People who are suddenly making stupid amounts of money can and do afford to pay stupid amounts of money for homes that a few years ago sold for a third or a quarter of what they do no, without significant improvements. How, exactly, is it just for the nouveau tech riche to drive up housing prices (and therefore property tax rates) to the extent that retired people and young families can no longer afford their homes? To price mom and pop stores out in favor of Starbucks on every goddamn corner? Fuck that.

If you relocate (and how, do you do this anyway? by force? ) people to rural areas, you make it more difficult for them to access needed services such as health care, mental health care, child care, education and jobs training and mass transit. And without the property tax base to afford to provide these services.

Don't get me wrong: I spent a bunch of years happily living in urban areas and now I live in a small city which has many benefits but public transportation and easy access to good health care and good mental health care if you don't have good insurance AND a car AND time to travel to the right providers are not among the amenities. Neither are good jobs or, frankly, a good public school system. Upwards of 25% of all students are on free/reduced lunch and more qualify but their parents don't like the idea of charity and won't file the paperwork.
 
Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Twitter: "About to join @repblumenauer, @RepChuyGarcia, @Ilhan, @RepAOC, @RepPressley, @RepRashida & tremendous advocates to unveil a bold, progressive platform for addressing America’s housing and homelessness crisis. Tune in NOW: https://t.co/DfmPEWKYux" / Twitter
  • Rep. Pramila Jayapal started off.
  • Rep. Chuy Garcia proposed support for transit-oriented development, so people in cities don't have the added expense of cars.
  • Rep. Earl Blumenauer pointed out discriminatory policies and a report for, and proposed redirecting such housing subsidies as the mortgage deduction.
  • Rep. Ilhan Omar described the unpleasant surprise of discovering homelessness in the US. Also how expensive housing often is -- even small apartments. Housing is a human right, and we should return to the New Deal in building public housing.
  • Rep. Ayanna Pressley has a mother who was a tenants' rights activist. Food, medical, and housing is a difficult choice for many people.
  • Rep. AOC said that if one isn't very well-fed or well-housed or well-medical-cared, one won't be free. Her Place to Prosper Act outlaws income-source discrimination, like getting income from Social Security or tips. She notes NYC homelessness along with a large number of empty luxury apartments. She credits housing activists who got similar laws passed in New York State, like eviction only for cause. Eviction rates declined dramatically. Similar Federal-level legislation would produce similar results "from sea to shining sea".
  • Sara Padian(?), VP of Nat'l Low-Income Housing Coalition. Shortage of easily-affordable housing. Big waiting lists.
  • Ashley Bennett, an activist from Los Angeles, wearing a T-shirt that said "People's Action". She described being homeless in parts of her childhood, like her parents living out of cars.
  • Rep. Rashida Tlaib described how the cost of one aircraft carrier would end US homelessness. She recalls such public misinvestment as a hockey stadium in downtown Detroit as schools were closing. Then "opportunity zones", which she called "bullshit". Laughs.
  • Vanessa Goldin described a homeless-people camp.
  • Tian(?) Calwell(?), an activist from Kansas City MO, in Campaign for National Home Therapy, a project of People's Action. She described some expensive but horrible housing that she had to live in.
  • Juan(?) DeLeon(?) (male) spoke on people being pushed out by housing expenses.
  • Rose Menendez of Community Voices Heard(?) described using her public housing apartment's oven to heat it. Also black mold. Wants everyone guaranteed a home.
It was 7 Congresspeople and 6 activists who spoke.

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez Introduce the Green New Deal for Public Housing - YouTube - 2019 Nov 14 - the two Congresspeople appeared along with several housing activists. Her GND-PH bill was developed with lots of consultation with activists.

I notice that the guests were all activists and no business leaders, no heads of real-estate companies or construction companies or home-repair companies. Right-wingers and professional Republicans will weep.
 
H.R.5244 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Homes for All Act of 2019 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress - 2019 Nov 21

It now has 6 cosponsors:
Rep. Pressley, Ayanna [D-MA-7] 01/08/2020
Rep. Blumenauer, Earl [D-OR-3] 01/08/2020
Rep. Jayapal, Pramila [D-WA-7] 01/08/2020
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria [D-NY-14] 01/08/2020
Rep. Garcia, Jesus G. "Chuy" [D-IL-4] 01/08/2020
Rep. Tlaib, Rashida [D-MI-13] 01/08/2020

Homes for All | IO
Rep. Ilhan Omar Introduces Homes for All Act, a New 21st Century Public Housing Vision | Representative Ilhan Omar
Rep. Ilhan Omar's $1 Trillion Public Housing Push - CityLab
Rep. Omar's BOLD Plan Adds To Green New Deal - YouTube
 
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