Nation’s Poor Hit by Housing Crunch

[superconnected]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Growing numbers of the nation's poorest households are using more than half their earnings for rent while waiting years for federal housing assistance that may never come.

The phenomenon is largely playing out in urban and suburban locales, but has exploded recently in rural areas as coveted rental assistance becomes harder to get due to high demand and scant funding from Congress.

The lack of affordable homes for poor families is the nation's No. 1 housing problem and undermines the stability and security of families and communities nationwide.

A new report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development describes the startling growth of the problem since 2003. It found that 6 million impoverished households used most of their monthly earnings for housing or lived in substandard conditions in 2005. That’s an increase of 16 percent, or 817,000 families, since 2003.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/17894.html

[hashibabba]

1. There are constant cuts in the housing programs. In three

different counties I've lived in since 98, the waiting list has been at least three years. Nearly two years ago, they closed ours to new applicants.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, HUD needs to get back in the business of

subsidized rental housing production and stop pretending that homeownership and Section 8 vouchers are sufficient.

[Doctor_J]

3. They don't vote, so it's unlikely they'll get any help

or any coverage from the GOP media whores.

[jwirr]

5. Many of the poor vote. The ones who do not are those waiting for

a home.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

6. Please provide more information on the poor not voting. I know they face greater obstacles, but my

experience, with those who are described as "indigent", has been that they'll do whatever is needed to cast their votes.

However, my evidence is anecdotal. You seem to have access to data which indicates otherwise.

MKJ

[ProgressiveEconomist]

8. Unfortunately, Census data DO show a strong relationship between voting and income

From http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p20-556.pdf , page 4

U.S.Census Bureau. Reported Rates of Voting: 2004. All
citizens, by Annual Family Income

Total family members ..... 97,352 66.0
Less than $20,000 . ......  7,552 48.3
$20,000 to $29,999 .......  7,690 58.4
$30,000 to $39,999 .......  9,334 62.1
$40,000 to $49,999 .......  8,276 68.5
$50,000 to $74,999 ....... 20,559 72.2
$75,000 to $99,999 ....... 13,434 77.9
$100,000 and over ........ 18,737 81.3
Income not reported ...... 11,771 51.5

If you read an authoritative book such as historian Alexander
Keyssar's "The Right to Vote" (2000), you'll
understand this relationship is no accident.  Voting at the
founding of America was restricted to property-owning white
males,  and many barriers put up by this powerful group over
centuries continue to restrict voting by the urban, the poor,
and the nonwhite.

[lovuian]

4. Get ready for a Major Recession or a Depression

the sad part is the Republican voters are going to be the most hurt from Bush & Company

its very ironical isn't it

History repeats itself

Coolidge days and Hoover days are reliving

[Screwfly]

7. Watch

home owners start packing boarders into their houses like sardines, and you'll see real crutch in the housing and apartment rental business.