Monday Musings...
Fall is in the air in Indiana...makes me long for those days taking excursions to the mountains of Pennsylvania.
Still, one makes due with what one has at one's disposal.
Temperatures at night are falling well into the low fifties, and a small fire in the backyard pit after sunset gets you thinking of times long past. Gee, all that's needed is a cup of warm apple cider laced with a touch of bourbon and some cinnamon.
Yep, doesn't take much for this former "city-boy" to realize how nice things CAN be.
Trouble is, hardly anyone ELSE around my neighborhood can figure something that simple out.
Which brings me to today's "rant within my musing".
So if you're not CHEERING the guy who busted up that bank robbery by tackling and subduing the robber until police arrived, or SCREAMING at your TV when hearing about the convicted killer that escaped from the COUNTY FAIR while on a "field trip" (which is a whole separate blog post - he WAS later caught 180 miles away), then sit back...relax, and take time to ponder over the following...
I've been following the ACORN scandal, and that has made me wonder "What about HUD and Section 8 housing?"
I have NEVER lived in ANY city, in ANY dwelling that had ALREADY been into the Section 8 gig, but I have lived in "low-income" housing. We ALL pretty much have sometime in our lives, unless we were part of the very fortunate.
Let's face it, after the second world war, when all the troops came back home, a LOT of the housing tracts that were created WERE for people (read soldiers) that had LOW incomes. not EVERY trooper coming home was an officer, and many were just plain dog-face grunts, with perhaps some smattering of an occupation they held before they went to fight the axis powers.
So, upon their return, they found housing, thanks to the G.I. bill, but they were FAR from being anywhere close to rich.
They were still grunts, albeit in the civilian sector.
And the housing they lived in was for "low income" people.
Funny thing, a SECTION 8 in the military USED to be defined as a MEDICAL DISCHARGE, due to "psychological" issues (you were a few fries short of a happy meal, as we would say today).
Now, the "original" intent of SECTION 8 HOUSING, was not for the insane (although, after visiting many such places, one COULD argue that point), but for "low-income families", and with it came a FEDERALLY-FUNDED assistance program that would pay anywhere from 70%-90% of the rent required for such housing. This applies to RENTALS only, as BUYING a house under Section 8 is even more convoluted a process.
WE USED to have "the projects", known for being bastions of crime, which, for all purposes, were SUPPOSED to be for those with (again), a LOW income. Well, THAT idea didn't pan out as intended, and the fact that damn near ALL those VERTICAL icons of poverty/crime have all but disappeared from our cityscapes bears out the truth to the situation.
Now, we have HORIZONTAL "projects", made up of once nice neighborhoods. Sadly, HUD (housing and Urban DEVELOPMENT) managed to get their "foot in the door" of these neighborhoods, and never looked back.
And that's how "white flight"came to be.
But let's NOT get ahead of ourselves...
The acronym HUD is, in and of itself, is a LIE...period, because no REAL "development" has EVER come from their presence in ANY neighborhood, at least, not in the LONG TERM.
If you Google "section 8 and crime", you will find article after article, story after story of how HUD has been a BANE, and not a boon to any and all places they have touched.
Here are some links to stories:
http://www.fff.org/freedom/0996d.asp
(the above article is a FANTASTIC read, btw)
http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/the_failure_of_section_8_the_conservative_in_me.php

http://www.city-journal.org/article01.php?aid=1410

http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/127/section8.html
(And this is ONLY the "tip of the iceberg" repeated all across America.)
Sadly, the taxpayer is (and always has been) fronting THIS sham, just like they fronted the ACORN shell-game.
Now, I'm ALL for helping those truly in need, and I believe that's where the philanthropic members of our society have shined for decades. But when one part of the populace is basically FORCED to help others (many of whom have falsely claimed poverty), I have to ask some serious questions about Section 8 and HUD.
I challenge ANYONE to show me (or anyone else) WHERE HUD has made a GOOD, LASTING difference to ANY major city, shaped the minds and integrity of those in poverty, allowing them to escape from such restraints in their lives, and go on to become successful citizens.
I stated earlier than I never moved into ANY Section 8 area, but I did live in an area that BECAME a Section 8 facility, almost overnight. This happened in Columbus, OH.
And right AFTER that place became Section 8, crime went THROUGH the roof! I saw it first-hand. We began to see people doing drugs in the foyers of the building, police visits were becoming all too commonplace, and drug deals in the parking lots were a nightly occurrence.
A neighbor and myself even had our vehicles broken into for spare change!
A self-installed security spotlight (from our apartment window) stopped that pronto!
THIS is what happens when we redefine what constitutes the meaning of "low-income" housing THESE days.
Might as well call it "NO-income" housing, for that matter!
Lazy-asses with NO ambition or want of employment, living off the "fat of the land", aka YOUR WALLETS & POCKETBOOKS!
And this sort of scenario has been perpetrated against the working-class throughout this nation's cities since the mid-1950s.
I would have to guess that out of every 500 people HUD pays OUR money to, perhaps....MAYBE a HANDFUL of people actually DO benefit from the program, but that's sad compensation (to all the taxpayers) for ALL the money dumped into this financial abyss since HUD's inception.
HUD and Section 8 are NOT, nor have EVER been a "hand-up" venture, regardless of what they want you to believe...they are a HAND-OUT operation, and YOU are paying for it, as well as your children.
Phil Marx bought a HUD house in a very blighted section of our city, and after dumping some decent money into it, and making HIS property a relative showpiece of the neighborhood, has not seen the REST of the area change for the better. Apparently, (regarding people following Phil's example to everyone else) you can still lead a horse (neighbors) to water, but you cannot make it (them) drink...
That would describe Phil's neighbors, who cant seem to follow someone's lead to ASSIST in the reclamation of their neighborhood from the criminal element.
Same goes for MY neighborhood...just not as much...yet.
We're surrounded by RENTALS (via HUD/Section 8), and we already KNOW the type of people that will be renting these places out...been seeing them for almost TEN YEARS.
Now, if you don't MIND seeing people who DO NOT work, like to deal drugs, are sex offenders, and are noisier than living in a construction area 24/7, you might honestly LIKE Section 8 housing.
Normal people do not like this.
Should the entire HUD/Section 8 housing areas of our government be looked into...?
Without a doubt!
But, on the other hand, if you'd much rather PREFER to have such a development come close to where YOU live, be prepared to do one of two things:
1) Fight like hell to STAY and get rid of the nuisances.
2) Run like hell AWAY from the area.
Those are the only options, unfortunately.
But also be prepared to have a once nice property BECOME a Section 8 property without you EVER knowing it...that's the way these people work.
After they get established in an area, they're harder to remove that ticks on a dog.
HUD's only case for any type of "development" (as is part of their acronym) would be that NEW development WILL spring up, FAR AWAY from the HUD area, just so people don't have to live among the residents of such housing.
That's not to say there is, or will ever be "parity" here.
That's just the facts, people.
Everyone should have equal access to housing...that's a given, but by the same token, everyone involved should be willing to roll up their sleeves, and put in a little "sweat-equity" along the way.
When people get something for nothing....they ALWAYS will want (and in some cases DEMAND) more.
Time to wean such people off of OUR paychecks.
And the time...is NOW.
Think about this the next time you see a moving van in your travels.
It might just be a Section 8'er coming to bring DOWN the value of YOUR property.
You never know.
Stay safe out there, America.