Chicago is a case study of the shift in US public housing policy from direct provision of affordable units to market-based fixes like vouchers, which provide government subsidies for tenants renting privately owned units. Stories like Dunbar's have critics wondering whether the new approach is working for the poor.
Mixed-income settlements are a centrepiece of Chicago's housing transformation, but only about 11 percent of former project residents have settled in them. A plurality of those forced to move have, like Dunbar, taken housing vouchers for use on the open market.
Vouchers are supposed to reduce segregation by allowing low-income tenants to move into better neighbourhoods. Their value is determined by the user's income and maximum subsidy levels set by local housing authorities. In Chicago, the CHA makes exceptions to these limits for units in "opportunity areas". Vouchers make up the US' largest affordable housing programme, but their results have been modest.
One study headed by University of Chicago professor Robert Chaskin found that the city's voucher holders were "more racially segregated than those in traditional public housing developments". In Chicago, "the overall pattern appears to be one of relocation within high-poverty and predominantly African-American neighbourhoods", consistent with the national picture. Another study reported that vouchers did not increase users' earnings or hours employed.
Vouchers are supposed to reduce segregation by allowing low-income tenants to move into better neighbourhoods. Their value is determined by the user's income and maximum subsidy levels set by local housing authorities. In Chicago, the CHA makes exceptions to these limits for units in "opportunity areas". Vouchers make up the US' largest affordable housing programme, but their results have been modest.
One study headed by University of Chicago professor Robert Chaskin found that the city's voucher holders were "more racially segregated than those in traditional public housing developments". In Chicago, "the overall pattern appears to be one of relocation within high-poverty and predominantly African-American neighbourhoods", consistent with the national picture. Another study reported that vouchers did not increase users' earnings or hours employed.
Few experts believe the US' housing policy is working for the poor. Harvard University research calls cost burdens "historic", with half of all renters paying more than they can afford. Despite this, the government spends far more on tax breaks for wealthier homeowners than it does on affordable housing programmes.
As a community organizer in the Altgeld Gardens public housing project in the mid-1980s, Obama, then 23, quickly emerged as a tireless and pragmatic advocate for the community—traits that characterize the kind of president he says he wants to be. "His work as a community organizer was really a defining moment in his life, not just his career," his wife, Michelle, told U.S. News. It helped him decide "how he would impact the world"—assisting people in defining their mutual interests and working together to improve their lives. How did that work out?
Listening. In a speech in February announcing his presidential bid, Obama said, "It was in these neighborhoods that I received the best education I ever had." His work, he added, "taught me a lot about listening to people as opposed to coming in with a predetermined agenda." That was then, this is now. I have a pen and I have a phone.
Listening. In a speech in February announcing his presidential bid, Obama said, "It was in these neighborhoods that I received the best education I ever had." His work, he added, "taught me a lot about listening to people as opposed to coming in with a predetermined agenda." That was then, this is now. I have a pen and I have a phone.
LOL, but sad
don't know whether to laugh or cry
fuck it, I'll just go to work
