RT, you may be technically correct when you say, "because there has not been new public housing built in this country in a couple decades." but you are wrong in the reality. When almost all the funding to build a housing complex, and the majority of funding for rent, comes from tax dollars, then how can these units be looked at as "Non Public Housing"? Without the "public" this housing would not, and could not exist!
Let us look at an example project which I have personally supported so there does not appear to be bias against public housing. An example is "Portland Village" in my neighborhood. Please show me what is the source of "non-public dollars"? What private dollars are involved? The rents are reasonable for the residents, but are still quite high in total. The difference comes from heavy public subsidies of those rents. If 2/3 of the rent comes from public tax payers please do not tell me these are not quasi-public housing. It is not that there is no public housing being built. It is a matter of "public housing" being built with public dollars by private "Non"-Profit housing providers. This quasi-public housing thus avoids much of the constraints, regulations, and criticism of true public housing. There are approximately 800 beds of "Supportive Housing" within a one 1/4 mile circle of each other in my neighborhood of Ventura Village. If those projects were under the "Public Housing" rule, they would for sure come under the Holman Decree and be forced to relocate. As it is the City has been able to engage in this pattern of discrimination without being challenged. Until now! The "Affordable Housing" shortage is most dramatic in the "Affordable Homeownership" area. Affordable homeownership has been demonstrated to be the BEST and most "sustainable" means of stabilizing poor people's lives. Yet it is an area that seems to be totally overlooked by your present administration. In fact anything other than quasi-institutional large multi-unit buildings owned by "Non" profits seem to be the only thing receiving consideration. This is a perception on my (and other's) part. So if it is a miss-perception please correct it with the number of "affordable homeownership" units your administration has initiated. Please do not include those units coming from neighborhood NRP. If you have possibly overlooked this source of sustainable affordable housing then please realize what Habitat for Humanity and Jimmy Carter figured out a long time ago. It is "Affordable Homeownership" that changes lives and stabilizes communities. The vast majority of affordable housing comes from the private sector, not from the "Public" sector. So in this time of budget and fiscal restraint, please look to the private sector for small, affordable, rental housing. Private residents using private financing can provide far, far more affordable, and higher quality, housing than large "institutions". I know this was explained to you before, but you probably forgot with all the distractions and pressures that your office and those around you place on your time and mind. Jim Graham, Ventura Village 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
