I think you make some good points here Bill. I know that numerous other places I've lived and sat on local community boards dealing with discrimination and on others dealing with housing that there were highly different norms than there are here.
First of all, no place else I've lived held landlords accountable for the activities of their residents unless if there was a clear demonstration of intent to enable criminal activity. Secondly, some other places I've lived it was illegal to discriminate in housing on the basis of one's history with the criminal justice or public assistance systems. This type of discrimination seems to be encouraged by the system we have here. There appears to be far less of the opinion that if someone has the done the time for the crime that they've paid their debt to society and should not be subjected to further punishment. There appears to be a noxious classism underlying the idea that people who rent need to have their activities monitored by their landlord as if all rental properties are really minimum security prisons to contain the power and minorities. Note that these issues are unlikely to be a problem for those who can afford more expensive apartments in the community. I'd be interested in exploring the history of these public policy decisions and see if there are disparate impacts on those populations that comprise our communities homeless. David Strand Loring Park --- Bill Cullen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It seems that many of us equate "homelessness" with > "lack of housing." This > had merit when housing was tight in 2001, but on > 8-Jan-03 the Star Tribune > reported that vacancy rates have increased to 6.6% > in the metro area. The > article said "Leasing agents say this is the worst > market they've seen in > more than a decade and they're offering a variety of > rent specials" to > attract residents. This survey included 124,000 > apartments - meaning the > surveyors located approximately 8100 apartments > vacant right now. > > This data implies a problem different than > availability. Are landlords > discriminating? Is one's income too low to afford > rent? Is one's history > (drugs, crime, etc) preventing them from passing a > rental application? Is > it something I have missed? > > I certainly don't mean to be callous or point > fingers, I just want to make > sure we understand the problem before we propose > solutions. > > Regards, Bill Cullen > Hopkins -- Landlord > > > 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 __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com 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
