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Essays on affordable housing
Essays on affordable housing
Issues with affordable housing
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The city of New York deserves not only affordable house for the middle class but more options for lower class citizens as well. There are several issues with affordable housing, one is there isn’t enough of it to go around and people are being force into homelessness. This problem has put an even bigger strain on city social services and there needs to be a solution implemented. A reason there is not enough affordable housing is the lack of real estate. This problem began when Giuliani was in office, he proposed a plan that would solve the cities property tax problem. When City Council approved the plan 1996 it “relieved the city task of collecting $250 million in tax liens -- claims for overdue property taxes -- by the Giuliani administration's
Giuliani changed the way we seized properties by selling tax liens. A lien is the tie to the property that is activated by the debt. This law enabled New York City the ability to collect tax revenue upfront by selling liens on unpaid property taxes and related charges. The selling of tax liens provided the city relief on outstanding debts property owners incurred and saved the City millions of dollars from maintaining buildings. This legislation was broken in to two phases the first was done by selling $250 million in tax liens to a private investment trust. “The second phase, was initiated by the adoption of Local Law 37 by the City Council. It establishes the grounds for executing a court-sanctioned title transfer of tax-delinquent residential property to a qualified third party if the property is found to be ‘distressed.’’(Oser, 1996) The Giuliani administration’s 1996 Tax Lien Sale legislation was a way to generate income and rid the City of being the largest landlord by being able to capture tax revenue immediately. The administration’s approach drastically reduced Mayor Ed Koch ‘in rem’ program and eventually seized the long-term and management of tax foreclosed properties by the Department of Housing Preservation and
“How can a middle-class family afford a rent of $2,000 or even $2,800 when the family consists of four children and a single working parent. when food needs to be on the table every night and bills need to be paid. I find this ridiculous, no one ever wanted to live in Bushwick and now all of a sudden these people want to live here.” -
Chicago’s Cabrini-Green public housing project is notorious in the United States for being the most impoverished and crime-ridden public housing development ever established. Originally established as inexpensive housing in the 1940’s, it soon became a vast complex of unsightly concrete low and high-rise apartment structures. Originally touted as a giant step forward in the development of public housing, it quickly changed from a racially and economically diverse housing complex to a predominantly black, extremely poor ghetto. As it was left to rot, so to speak, Cabrini-Green harbored drug dealers, gangs and prostitution. It continued its downward spiral of despair until the mid 1990’s when the Federal Government assumed control the Chicago Housing Authority, the organization responsible for this abomination. Cabrini-Green has slowly been recovering from its dismal state of affairs recently, with developers building mixed-income and subsidized housing. The Chicago Housing Authority has also been demolishing the monolithic concrete high-rise slums, replacing them with public housing aimed at not repeating the mistakes of the past. Fortunately, a new era of public housing has dawned from the mistakes that were made, and the lessons that were learned from the things that went on for half a century in Cabrini-Green.
In the Late nineteenth century the population was growing at a rapid pace. The country had people flooding the biggest cities in the country such as New York City and Chicago. These populations were gaining more and more people every single year and the country has to do something to make places for these people to live. The government would go on to create urban housing programs. These programs were created to make homes for these people to live in. At the time it provided a place for people to live but as the populations grew it became a more cramped and rundown area because of the large populations in one place. These reforms eventually led to these areas becoming dangerous, they were rundown, and it created a hole that was difficult for people to get out of.
Downs has sought to dispel myths surrounding housing policy. The first myth he debunks is the myth that all government-sponsored urban policies have failed. Downs believes that although they had resulted in greater hardships for poorer neighborhoods, the policies have given great benefits to a majority of urban American families. While he does not consider these policies to be a complete success, he refuses to call them failures due to the fact that they did indeed improve the standard of living for most of urban America. Downs also calls to our attention the effect of housing policies on the number of housing units. Starting in 1950, housing policies were aimed at ending the housing shortage until focus was shifted to low income households in the midst of the Vietnam War. To Downs, ending the shortage was important because it was affecting the American way of life. Couples were delaying marriage, extended families were living in one home, and overcrowded housing led to overcrowded local facilities, such as schools. Downs also argues that this overcrowding led to an inescapable cycle of “substandard”
As the lease of my apartment is coming to an end it had me thinking of achieving my own American Dream of home ownership but as I do my research I find the dream is far from coming true. I am sure that the issue of housing prices and rent rates are what most of us Bay Area residents talk about and debate. It is an issue that needs to be addressed by the officials of the area, city mayors, affordable housing committees, social justice activists,lawmakers, and even employers. Skyrocketing prices, low inventory, and investors’ bidding wars are not only pushing the middle and lower classes out of San Francisco and the Bay Area out but will completely eliminate them.
Homelessness is primarily a poverty issue. The persistence of poverty in the United States reflects more than just an aggregation of individual failings. Structural factors, such as the way we understand and define poverty, the inherent features of our economic system that produce income inequality, social inequities and our policy responses to these problems shape current trends. Economic changes have had the strongest association with trends in overall rates, regardless of how poverty is measured. Poverty rate is high amongst minority groups, children and female-headed households (Iceland, 2003). According to professor Iceland’s research, rates of extreme poverty are higher among children and African-Americans and lower for whites, Asians and the elderly. Among families with children, married couples were less likely to be poor (6.9 %) than single parent male (17.5%) and single parent female (35.3%).
“We have come dangerously close to accepting the homeless situation as a problem that we just can't solve.” - Linda Lingle. According to Linda Lingle homelessness is becoming an issue that has been a problem that is at this point unobtainable. The main causes of homelessness among Americans is the result of unemployment, low wages and unaffordable housing; the reality is that people are forced to survive in harsh environments and many are subject to alcohol and substance abuse.
Affordable housing refers to housing units that are affordable by that section of society whose income is or below the median household income. For example, affordable housing should address the housing needs of lower or middle income households. And for sustainable communities, it is one that is economically, environmentally, and socially healthy and resilient.. According to the Western Australia Council of Social Services (WACOSS): "Social sustainability occurs when the formal and informal processes; systems; structures; and relationships actively support the capacity of current and future generations to create healthy and livable communities.” As we can tell, all affordable housing, sustainable community, and social sustainability are
The affordability of housing is one of the most critical factors that determine the well being for Californians. Housing affects people’s lives in terms of education, recreation and choices for jobs. On the state level, the cost of housing has important impact on California economy, affecting the extent to which employers are able to hire and retain workers and influencing their preferences on whether to work and remain in California.
Throughout my research I found there is a real cry out for action on providing more affordable house not just locally but throughout the country. There needs to be more funding available to build more gear to income or subsidized housing and all levels of government need to take action.
In order to accurately solve the problem of the foreclosure crisis the nation is currently in, one must look at the cause of the issue. To determine the cause, the history of foreclosures has to be looked at. The questions, “How long have foreclosures been around? In the past what was the cause of foreclosures? How was the problem fixed before? What are the similarities between now and then?” all need to be answered.
The American dream was owning a house with a white picket fence. Now this dream is impossible. Individuals and families find it more difficult to find a decent home to rent in a suitable living area. According to Huffington Post, the hourly wage needed to afford a two bedroom apartment in California is at least $26 an hour. This is more than triple the minimum wage. Eviction, relocation, and inflation are the common keywords that associate with affordable housing. I 'm hoping to persuade you to support affordable housing for all. Today, I will be discussing, one, inflation of the housing market that needs to decrease, two, eviction from homes, three having to move to communities far from their work site.
It is the role of the U.S government to ensure the wellbeing of its citizens; this includes aiding its citizens in acquiring and maintaining regular and adequate housing. Therefore, the government should take on the main responsibility of dealing with the homelessness crisis in New York, even though the society and social service providers also play a role in reducing the homeless levels in New York City. However, instead of solving the homelessness issue in New York, they have caused a rise in the homelessness level.
Gentrification is the keystone for the progression of the basic standards of living in urban environments. A prerequisite for the advancement of urban areas is an improvement of housing, dining, and general social services. One of the most revered and illustrious examples of gentrification in an urban setting is New York City. New York City’s gentrification projects are seen as a model for gentrification for not only America, but also the rest of the world. Gentrification in an urban setting is much more complex and has deeper ramifications than seen at face value. With changes in housing, modifications to the quality of life in the surrounding area must be considered as well. Constant lifestyle changes in a community can push out life-time
This paper will be predominantly focusing on public housing within Ontario. Not only will it look at the basics of Ontario but examine more directly on Regent Park within Toronto. It will discuss what public housing is and the explanation for why it exists, the government housing programs that are present with regards to public housing and the results of the government programs. The Purpose of this essay is to argue that the problem of public housing will never