Actually, aren't community gardens, and the like, often organized around the principle of providing an alternative source of fresh food to low income individuals?
David Strand Loring Park --- Bill Cullen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Kevin Lattimore a Junior at North H.S. wrote (and > Shawn Lewis posted): > > According to Deb Landy of Common Bond, Minnesota's > largest provider of > affordable housing, there are about 39,000 > affordable housing units for the > 80,000 Minnesota families who need them. > > Bill Cullen responds: > > Lets agree that if we ignore costs, housing is > readily available. > Therefore, if the only issue is affordability, we > don�t need to build MORE > housing, we need to make existing housing cost less > or supplement low-income > families. > > Think of it this way. When low-income families > cannot afford food, our > government supplies them with food stamps. Our > government does not start > subsidizing the purchase of farms, ranches, food > processing plants and food > distribution centers solely to create a duplicate > supply chain of > �affordable food.� > > In housing however, our leaders propose just such a > solution. They want to > subsidize builders to create housing that operate in > a different financial > realm than market rate housing. The end result is a > few developers and > non-profits control the affordable housing market. > Not only does this limit > the options of families with low incomes, it is > expensive to taxpayers. In > 2001, the Minneapolis Community Development Agency > reported that the average > subsidy for one affordable housing unit was > $158,828! > > Housing �vouchers provide affordable units at a much > lower price than new > production programs by relying on older, already > existing housing units (the > kind of housing that nearly all households live > in).� Claimed Ron Feldmen, > Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of > Minneapolis in his August 2002 > paper on affordable housing. Mr. Feldman later > stated that with an annual > subsidy of only $2000 per household we could move > most low-income families > from unaffordable to affordable housing using market > rate housing. > > Remember this: If we provide "rent stamps" instead > of subsidizing a few > non-profits, then ALL HOUSING IS AFFORDABLE. The > beauty, as clearly > outlined by Mr. Feldman, is that it costs less too. > > Bill Cullen. > Hopkins & Uptown. > > TEMPORARY REMINDER: > 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, > don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, > of course.) > > ________________________________ > > 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!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
