R.T. Rybak wrote:
> There will be more coming on this but it would be helpful if
> people who do not live in public housing would read these
> stories and try to become familiar...we need help from many
> sides so we can help get these buildings the help they need.
I think that it is clear, that in the long run, we should
work towards the elimination public housing. In the short
term it appears that the agencies involved will be able to
absorb the cuts. For instance, it is unclear to me what
would be impact in Minneapolis given that in St. Paul the
result would be to:
"...lose between five and 20 jobs from the
245-member staff. In addition, it may have to
close the waiting list for housing, suspend
non-emergency overtime and eliminate training
and travel and some offices."
Why are they paying for non-emergency overtime and traveling
anyway?
I believe that we should reorient our approach to public
housing from large public projects to serving specific
needs and shifting to private ownership. That is to say,
we need a provide a pathway from public housing to private
ownership in situations where it is reasonable. It is not
practical or cost effective to provide public housing for
the lifetime of an individual. There are a number of ways
that we can achieve this goal.
1. Provide short-term housing for the homeless. Such housing
should be minimal.
2. Require that private developers allocate a portion of their
projects be reserved as affordable housing.
3. Provide loan programs and training for low income individuals
to become homeowners.
The city already does all of these to some degree, we just
need to focus more on the goal of eliminating public housing
altogether.
Michael Atherton
Prospect Park
TEMPORARY REMINDER:
1. Send all posts in plain-text format.
2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible.
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
