------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 20, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
RHODE ISLAND: HOUSING AID FREEZE: A COLD-HEARTED MEASURE By Mike Shaw Providence, R.I. At Travelers Aid of Rhode Island--an agency for the homeless- -the number of families sleeping on the basement floor there has tripled from 40 last year to 120 already so far this year. A homeless shelter in Warwick that recently opened was instantly filled to capacity. The monthly cost for a two-bedroom apartment in this state has increased nearly 16 percent over the past three years, according to an analysis released Dec. 9 by the Providence Journal. Waiting lists for subsidized housing are years long. And people with Section 8 housing vouchers struggle to find landlords who will take the subsidized rent payments. The gap between rich and poor is growing faster in Rhode Island than in any other state and is now the sixth-widest in the country, according to a study by the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute. This adds to the problem: Wealthy people have more money to spend and drive housing prices sky- high. Add a worsening recession and rising unemployment and what was already a serious housing crisis becomes severe. In the midst of this situation, Gov. Lincoln Almond decided recently to freeze $5 million in state funds that had been allocated for affordable housing. The excuse given is that the state is facing a $70-million budget shortfall. The $5 million for affordable housing was wrested from the state last spring through a vigorous mobilization of housing and homeless advocates. The climax of the campaign was a large housing rally at the State House, after which the monies were approved by the legislature for this year's state budget. The money would have supported 108 apartments, new and rehabilitated, for more than 250 people. The governor's decision to freeze the money also jeopardizes an extra $32 million for the program that would be leveraged by the state funds. Construction work on the project had already begun. With the freeze, that essential work is idled. FOUR PASTORS ARRESTED Almond's cold-hearted measure provoked immediate confrontational action. Outraged by his countermanding of the people's hard-won gains for housing, four pastors tried to hold an all-night vigil in the State House on Dec. 4. State police arrested them three hours after the sit-in began. The four were charged with obstructing a police officer, a misdemeanor. The arrests marked the first time in recent memory that Rhode Island clergy members have been arrested for an act of civil disobedience. Members of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Homelessness and Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) supported the progressive action by the clergy. In a post-arrest interview with the Providence Journal, one of the pastors--the Rev. Duane Clinker of Hillsgrove United Methodist Church in Warwick--stated, "We are concerned about the propensity to balance the budget on the backs of the poor without having a discussion or airing with the public." The governor had told the ministers prior to the action that he was freezing the money to preserve funds for children's health care. Clinker retorted, "Children's health care begins with a roof over their heads." On the day following the arrests, the Providence Journal reported that over 50 concerned religious leaders and housing/homeless activists met to discuss ways to further the struggle. "We cannot let this go," said the Rev. Marlowe Washington, pastor of the Allen AME Church in Providence and president of the Ministers' Alliance of Rhode Island. "I'm not accepting this." He criticized the governor for letting the state pay board- approved raises for high-level state employees and for creating a new top tier of sheriff positions. "To allow these raises when the state is facing a deficit is not proper. ... We are not having a 'Wild, Wild West' episode here in R.I. that we need to create a high sheriff position, especially when you just took $5 million from affordable housing." Rev. Clinker picked up a state budget book and read a line item for a University of Rhode Island athletic facility. "That's $23 million ... a $5-million increase for an ice rink, friends. Ice rink? Or people on the streets?" Suggestions for next steps in the struggle included staging weekly State House sit-ins; having the homeless and their supporters demonstrate outside the governor's home in Lincoln, and supporting the arrested clergy at their arraignment in Providence District Court on Dec. 14. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. 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