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Topic: Should Flint public housing be relocated?
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Moving Poor People Into a Neighborhood Doesn't Cause Crime ...
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/08/hard-data-proves-housing-vouchers-dont-cause-crime/6404/ - 76k - Cached - Similar pages
Aug 5, 2013 ... Beginning in the mid-1990s, the federal government shifted the way it subsidizes
Post Sun Apr 27, 2014 2:14 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Moving Poor People Into a Neighborhood Doesn't Cause Crime
Emily Badger
Aug 05, 2013
Moving Poor People Into a Neighborhood Doesn't Cause Crime Shutterstock

Beginning in the mid-1990s, the federal government shifted the way it subsidizes housing for the low-income. Out were mega-public housing projects like St. Louis' Pruitt-Igoe and Chicago's Cabrini-Green. In were housing vouchers and tax credits designed to disperse people in need of housing help out of these infamous pockets of poverty.

Crime rates in cities across the country happened to be falling around this same time. But many communities far from places like Cabrini-Green feared that a program designed to disperse the poor would also disperse crime associated with them – and straight into more pristine neighborhoods. This idea has persisted for nearly 20 years. And it's prominent among the objections often raised to adding subsidized housing into new neighborhoods and suburbs (see also: the schools will get overcrowded! The traffic will get worse! Everyone's property value will fall!).

"Crime and violence-based fear is something that’s certainly been used very, very effectively for decades in this country," says Michael Lens, an assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA. "And many of our cities are certainly the worse for it in terms of land use and equitable neighborhood opportunity."

In theory, there are two logical outcomes to this change in housing policy. One suggests that traditional public housing concentrates crime "hot spots," enabling police to more effectively monitor them. Scatter the people and you not only scatter the criminals; you also make it harder for law enforcement to keep track of them, driving citywide crime rates up. A widely read 2008 story in The Atlantic by Hanna Rosin argued this hypothesis in the city of Memphis.

The second narrative proposes instead that traditional public housing concentrates poverty, creating the environments – places without opportunity, good schools, employment – that drive crime. Disperse the people, and you break up that concentration, theoretically reducing crime.

A growing stack of research now supports the second hypothesis that housing vouchers do not in fact lead to crime. Lens has just added another study to that literature, published in the journal Urban Studies. He looked at crime and housing data in 215 cities between 1997 and 2008 – controlling for national and regional crime trends, demographic and income variables, employment rates and more – and found "virtually no relationship" between the prevalence of Housing Choice Voucher Program households and higher crime at the city level or in the suburbs. In previous research, Lens and colleagues had investigated the same question at the neighborhood level.

"Although communities with a higher prevalence of voucher households appear to be higher in crime," Lens writes, "there is no evidence that this is due to voucher households increasing crime."

Lens adds, over the phone, that he was hardly surprised by that result.

"There has never really been a lot of empirical evidence for the idea that people that live in subsidized housing commit a fantastically higher amount of crime," he says. "Nor is there really much evidence that there’s this crime spillover into surrounding neighborhoods."

As the voucher program has expanded, however, with a corresponding decrease in public housing units, more communities are encountering the prospect of these households in their midst. Today, about 50 percent of voucher households are in the suburbs.


The decline in national crime, as seen alongside the rise in housing vouchers and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. From "The Impact of Housing Vouchers on Crime in US Cities and Suburbs" by M. Lens in Urban Studies.

It's probably overly optimistic to think that this evidence will disarm bitter local controversies over the need for subsidized housing. But Lens puts it like this: "The main thing is that a very small percentage of poor people commit any sort of crimes at all. So the idea that the random five or 10 low-income households that might move into your large neighborhood are going to impact your life in a negative way is fairly unlikely."

"But I understand that cities have been grappling with this for years, decades," he says. "That’s how we came to be a country of very segregated land use when it comes to economics and income."



Emily Badger is a former staff writer at The Atlantic Cities based in Washington, D.C. She now writes for The Washington Post. All posts »
Post Sun Apr 27, 2014 2:17 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

I have written before about Andrew Highsmith who authored the provocative U of M dissertation entitled "Demolition means Progress". Highsmith discussed the development of the large public housing projects in the wake of the expressway expansion (I 69 and I 475) which destroyed much of the housing that was predominantly minority owned. I the beginning of the urban renewal process, many older minorities were not given enough compensated for their homes that would allow them to purchase another home. These individuals were often shuttled into the new public housing. Later the compensation was increased and many homeowners became upwardly mobile.

These housing projects were built on the fringes of the city and are so large they often resemble mini cities. They are difficult to police and sometimes access is even problematic. Lax enforcement of the rules by Flint Housing staff has led to violence in some housing developments. This has led to the nicknames like "Little Beirut" being applied to some of this housing.

HUD has made some bad decisions surrounding senior housing. Labeling drug and alcohol addiction as illnesses, HUD has moved younger people into formerly senior housing only. I have spoken to people who were fearful living in these joint housing units who expressed their fear and described dugs sales and other crimes where they live.
Post Sun Apr 27, 2014 2:37 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

The higher the public housing units rise have been linked to increased crime. Some even postulate how the concentration of lower income people can lead to increased crime. 0Cities like Chicago are razing their crime ridden high rises and are seeing a lowering of crime in most areas. Other cities, like New York, are now reporting increases of crime in public housing.

Flint Housing Commission partnered with Smith Village and a number of public housing residents were encouraged to buy these houses. I have been told of some who declined because they couldn't visualize being able to afford the expense and upkeep of owning these houses.

That doesn't mean that more offsite public housing shouldn't exist. Perhaps smaller and easier to maintain houses for the handicapped and small families would seem more sustainable. Scattered housing is a far greater solution.
Post Sun Apr 27, 2014 2:54 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Crime Rises in Public Housing - WNYC
http://www.wnyc.org/story/233494-blog-crime-rises-public-housing/ - 57k - Cached - Similar pages
Aug 28, 2012 ... Public housing developments in Brooklyn and Queens have seen a 26 percent


Public Housing Transformation and Crime: Is There a Link?
http://blog.metrotrends.org/2012/04/public-housing-transformation-crime-link/ - 62k - Cached - Similar pages
Apr 5, 2012 ... MetroTrends Blog: How has relocating public housing residents affected crime

Public Housing Demolition Lowered Overall Crime, New Study Says
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/05/public-housing-demoltion-crime_n_1406952.html - 208k - Cached - Similar pages
Apr 5, 2012 ... Chicago's decade-long effort to move people out of its infamous public housing
Post Sun Apr 27, 2014 3:21 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

News One

Sunday, April 27


Dubuque, Iowa Officials Admit To Housing Discrimination Against Blacks

Apr 15, 2014 By D.L. Chandler
Dubuque Iowa housing discrimination, racism
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced an agreement with the city of Dubuque, Iowa (pictured), that effectively settles allegations that the city discriminated against African Americans applying for the Housing Choice Voucher Program. Last year, reports emerged from the city that officials admitted to barring Blacks from the program in a period between 2007 and 2011, after findings of a HUD investigation came to light.
RELATED: HUD Housing Study Reveals Blacks, Minorities Still Face Discrimination
As noted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI section, discrimination against individuals who are applying for programs and activities funded by the federal government on the basis of race, color, and national origin is prohibited.
Dubuque officials admitted that it implemented procedures for its Section 8 rental assistance program for low-income families that impacted African Americans in a negative fashion in 2013. Last summer, HUD reviewed the city’s data and found that Dubuque authorities put in place policies that discriminated against house choice voucher applicants based on race. The city also added a clandestine “residency preference point system” that put those who applied that lived predominantly African-American areas behind other races.
From HUD:
“HUD makes certain that people from all communities are given equal and meaningful access to taxpayer-funded programs,” said Bryan Greene, HUD Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “HUD will continue to work with state and municipal governments to ensure that no one is denied housing choice or housing assistance because of his or her race.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Dubuque eliminated its residency preference system, and will submit any future changes to its Housing Choice Voucher distribution to HUD for review and approval. In addition, the City agreed to undertake outreach activities to underserved populations, meet increased and expanded reporting requirements, comply with additional oversight from HUD, and obtain fair housing training for core city employees.
Learn more about HUD’s announcement regarding the settlement of discrimination claims against poor Black Dubuque, Iowa, residents here.
Post Sun Apr 27, 2014 7:34 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

HUD Housing Study Reveals Blacks, Minorities Still Face Discrimination

Jun 13, 2013 By D.L. Chandler

HUD Study Housing Discrimination
This week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Urban Institute released data from a study, regarding housing and racial discrimination. The study suggests that African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians are less likely to learn about specialized housing programs than White buyers.
SEE ALSO: Republican Youth-Rejection Study Ignores Blacks
The study, “Housing Discrimination Against Racial And Ethnic Minorities 2012,” found that real estate and rental housing agents do not display an equal amount of options when compared to Whites. Although HUD officials acknowledge that the discrimination of the past has been in steady decline, the insidious practice of denying Blacks and minorities access to properties is persisting.
“Fewer minorities today may be getting the door slammed in their faces, but we continue to see evidence of housing discrimination that can limit a family’s housing, economic, and educational opportunities,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in a press statement. “It’s clear we still have work to do to end housing discrimination once and for all.”
“The forms of discrimination documented by this study are very difficult for victims to detect,” added Urban Institute’s Margery Turner. “To detect housing discrimination today, HUD and local fair housing organizations need to conduct proactive testing, especially in the sales market, where discrimination appears higher than in the rental market.”
The Urban Institute conducted the study, using a “paired testing” method to collect data. Simply put, the researchers compared the results of White and minority home buyers in 28 major metropolitan areas, including the Washington Metropolitan region, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, and Atlanta.
The Institute used trained testers who are White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic to inquire about randomly selected properties in their testing region. The testers in the paired groupings matched in age, gender, family structure, and earnings.
On paper, these testers were qualified buyers or renters and secretly recorded the treatment they received while in the field.
It was found that African-American home buyers learned about the existence of 17 percent fewer homes and were shown 18 percent fewer properties. On the renters’ side, 11 percent fewer units were “advertised as available” while they were shown 4 percent less units than Whites.
Hispanic testers faced less discrimination, with renters learning about 12 percent less of available units, although they were shown 7 percent fewer available rental properties.
Although these findings are somewhat sobering, HUD promises to eliminate this subtle form of discrimination going forward.
“The study represents a glass that’s half full. While discrimination may not be as obvious as it was in the 1960s, the study reminds us that we still aren’t living up to the principles upon which this nation was founded,” said Bryan Greene, HUD acting assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “HUD is committed to ensuring that every American has equal access to housing opportunities.”
Learn more about HUD and the Urban Institute’s study here.

ALSO ON NEWS ONE:
Post Sun Apr 27, 2014 7:37 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Old & bold: Metro Detroit senior arrested 5 times ... - Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/article/20140428/NEWS03/304280023/senior-lawsuit-Walled-Lake - 191k - Cached - Similar pages
5 hours ago ... The feisty senior has been arrested numerous times in recent years — five times


Oakland county resident William Foley has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court claiming he was the victim of retaliation because he complained about unsafe drinking water and unsafe elevators in two Oakland senior center housing facilities.

Foley has sued the City of Walled Lake and several officers,he Village of Wolverine Lake, the Walled lake Villa Apartments, and Highland Haven Senior Complex.

In 2009 Foley filed a complaint about the drinking water in Highland Haven Senior Complex. The facility had previously been cited over a decade for safe drinking water violations by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The complaint led to a "boil water" advisory and when the administration discovered Foley made the complaint, he was evicted.

In Walled lake the elevators were unsafe and stranded residents. Foley made a complaint to the US Department of HUD. He warning residents not to use the elevator led to a second eviction.

The attorney for Foley stated Foley had the right to protest and complain. When retaliated against, the attorney said this was a violation of Foley's first amendment rights.
Post Mon Apr 28, 2014 3:56 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Many remember Penny Roberts, a community volunteer and writer for the CPSA Courier. She used to live in a Flint Housing senior high rise. She told me she moved out of fear for her safety. She lost her subsidy when she moved and had to spend a greater portion of her income on rent.

I remember another senior in Howard estates that became ill with lung and breathing problems. She was hospitalized with pneumonia. Her family discovered mold throughout the basement. It took numerous complaints to get moved to a safer unit.


This was also the complex that resulted in numerous arrests of the Howard Boys gang members.
Post Mon Apr 28, 2014 4:12 pm 
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twotap
F L I N T O I D

Beginning in the mid 60s LBJ came up with a plan to give virtually free housing to them "poor folks" who never had one thus the 235 idea came about. Building these cracker boxes in well established neighborhoods and moving in government supported "low income" folks, (I would say families but a dad was rarely included) destroyed and lowered property values quickly. Take a look at Rollingwood in Flint E.Pierson rd in particular one side small Colonial and ranch homes the other abandoned and ruined former 235 houses. Continue toward Dort on E Boulevard drive and there again crime and gang infested public housing complexes. The government at work. Rolling Eyes

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Post Mon Apr 28, 2014 7:45 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

John Carpenter built some 235 homes. When he noticed that new homeowners were not maintaining their llawns, he asked. These were first time home owners who used all of their disposable money to buy the homes and had no money for lawnmowers etc. Since these homes were built without garages the family would have had no place to store maintenance equipment.

Carpenter began building small sheds and giving the homeowners lawn mowers. HUD realzed that these new homeowners had no experience with the realities of home ownership. New HUD homeowners must take classes. Even Habitat for Humanity builds sheds for their new hmeowners.
Post Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:30 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Andrew Highsmith's book "Demolition means Progress" will be out by next January. It is based on his U of m disserttion. The man did some awesome research and he is still looking for information on why the current public housing developments chose sites on the edges of Flint.

With the current trend towards a walkable city, thee housing developments were not neer the job markets, higher education or shoping centers. They appear to be nothing more than concentrated warehouses for low income.

Flint Housing has a history of corruption. I remember a Tom Pabst lawsuit where his client detailed how Flint Housing scammed HUD and lied about fixing up units. HUD has demanded the removal of some of the Board of Directors because of incompetence and conflicts-of-interest. In their desire to promote Black Directors, the Board hired indivuals without checking their backgrounds and ended up embarassed when the news stories came out.
Post Wed Apr 30, 2014 7:36 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

When John Carpenter was in charge of Flint Housing he tried to end many of the corrupt practices. He created an inventory system that eliminated unnecessary purchases and helped deter theft. Staff was made more accountable regarding their time schedules. This was necessary as City Hall was getting calls about Flint Housing staff using Flint Housing materials to help fund their side line businesses in the construction trades..

A young an was attempting to restore some apartment buildings on Hamilton near I-475 on Flint's East Side. He reported that thieves had removed cabinets, toliets and other fixtures, most still in boxes, during a single weekend. A Flint Public service Officer was stopped by Polic with some of the stolen items in the truck she was driving. A search of her home, which she shared with her Flint Housing boyfriend, not only had more stolen items including a storage room of items stolen from Flint Housing.,
Post Wed Apr 30, 2014 7:48 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

John Carpenter was slowly moving Flint Housing out of the "Troubled" category and HUD was pleased when he found out the new Board of Directors had posted his job.
John left and the troubles at Flint Housing have continued. They are still troubled and there are far too many vacancies and substandard units.

Flint Housing was cited for misusing their energy efficiency money andust pay money back to HUD. They got caught up in the Department of Energy mess created by Advanced Solutions and Greg Eason.
Post Wed Apr 30, 2014 7:54 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

In my opinion there was no legitimate reason for creating these huge "mini-city" type low income housing projects far away from any resources that would benefit them. There should have been more scattered sites and smaller complexes in the community. I see this as another blatantly racist way of dealing with the people displaced from their homes during the freeway construction.

Some minority areas in the pre-freeway days were thriving. They were racially mixed and contained tradespeople, business owners as well as working class. Urban renewal allowed some to be upwardly mobile while inequity in the early stages srt any up for lasting poverty.
Post Wed Apr 30, 2014 8:03 am 
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