Issue: Affordable Housing

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ISSUE:

Affordable Housing
Overview | From the Inside | What's Out There

Overview:

Here again is an issue of a support program that is not accessible for years and years, if it's ever accessible at all. People often talk about welfare recipients as if they are entitled to housing and child care assistance that others are not. In actuality, these programs have never been entitlements, and eligibility is based on income, not recipient status. Therefore, not all families on welfare receive this assistance, and all low-income families, currently working or not, are eligible to apply for the programs.

Unfortunately, the demand for this kind of help exponentially exceeds the funding and availability of this assistance. Twenty to thirty-thousand people recently lined up in Oakland just to attempt to get on the waiting list for section 8 housing, which subsidizes a portion of a poor family's rent. The waiting list had previously been closed for seven years. In a county with less demand, a family can expect to wait at least three years once on the wait list before receiving section 8 assistance. In a county as heavily impacted as Oakland, surely the wait is even longer.

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Waiting Lists
Livable Wages
* Child care
Moral Responsibility
Job Skills
Job Competition
Paid v. Non-paid
Job Structure
* Economic Structure
Debt/Credit Problems
Discrimination
Domestic Violence
Poverty
Substance Abuse
* Sexuality
Human Neediness
Societal Guilt

In the meantime, while they wait, welfare recipients will be homeless, or live in substandard or inadequate housing, sometimes paying up to 90% of their income on housing that is not even sufficient for their family size. They may be victimized by discrimination and are often at the mercy of slum lords, the only landlords likely agree to rent to a single, low-income parent. A low-end one bedroom apartment in San Francisco rents for around $640 and most landlords will only rent to those with incomes of two to three times that amount. Cash aid for a family of three is $580. You do the math.

From the Inside:

Some of the situations I have faced during my time on welfare would cause even the most together person to break. I've been forced to move time and again because of unbearable conditions, and would never have managed to stay off the street if others hadn't chipped in to help pay my moving costs and the rent when I was unable. One example: I paid 70% of my income to live in one room with my two children, only to have the landlord rent the adjacent room to drug-dealers who threatened me and my children constantly, broke into my room while I was out, and made the kitchen and bathroom unavailable to me. I was able to leave only by moving in with a friend. One week after I did, there was a shoot-out at the old place. To make matters worse, I had to sue the landlord to recoup my deposit and never received any compensation for the time I lived there in fear without facilities. And, I have many similar stories I could tell.

Only after I moved into a county that had waiting list openings, and was on the list for three years, did I receive assistance to obtain adequate housing. Even then, I faced discrimination from landlords and almost lost the certificate because no one would rent to me. Now, I have a home and my family and I feel truly grounded for the first time. Even still, I live with the constant fear that this program will be cut and we will once again be bleeding people swimming in a shark-pool.

When one cannot obtain adequate and affordable housing, all energies must be expended to keep from losing ground -- finding housing, negotiating to keep housing, scrambling for money, protecting self and child -- all at a time when those energies are expected to be expended on moving forward. It is unrealistic to imagine people who are in a weakened state can turn nothing into something without some semblance of stability to work from. Safe, adequate, and affordable housing is one of the most fundamental building foundations that we as a society can offer to people in need. As it stands now, not many are likely to get it, and even those who do, are not likely to get it before their lifetime allotment of financial assistance runs out.

What's Out There:

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