The Obama Administration's move to the right is about to give conservatives a victory they could not have anticipated, even under Bush. HUD, under Obama, submitted legislation called PETRA to Congress that would result in the privatization of all public housing in America.
The new owners would charge ten percent above market rates to impoverished tenants, money that would be mostly paid by the US government (you and me, the taxpayers). To maintain the property, the new owners would take out a mortgage for building repair and maintenance (like a home equity loan), with no cap on interest rates.
With rents set above market rates, the mortgage risk would be attractive to banks. Either they make a huge profit on the mortgages paid for by the government. Or if the government lowers what it will pay for rents, the property goes into foreclosure. The banks get it and can sell it off to developers.
Sooner or later, the housing budget will be cut back and such foreclosures will happen. The structure of the proposal and the realities of Washington make it a virtual certainty.
The banks and developers make a fortune, with the taxpayers paying for it. The public loses its public housing property. The impoverished tenants lose their apartments, or have their rents go way up if they are forced into the private market. Homelessness increases. Government gets smaller. The banks and developers win. It is a Bank Bonanza! The poor and the public lose.
And a precedent is set. The government can privatize any public property: Schools, libraries, national parks, federal buildings -- just as has begun to happen in California, where the right-wing governor has started to auction off state property and has even suggested selling off the Supreme Court building.
The rich will get richer, the poor and public get poorer. And the very idea of the public good withers.
This is central to the conservative dream, in which there is no public good -- only private goods. And it is a nightmare for democracy.
The irony is that it is happening under the Obama administration. Barack Obama, running for office, gave perhaps the best and clearest characterization of what democracy is about. Democracy, he has said, is based on empathy -- on citizens caring about and for each other. That is why we have principles like freedom and fairness for everyone. It is why social responsibility is necessary. The monstrous alternative is having a society where no one cares about or for anyone else.
HUD, under the Obama administration, is about to take a giant step toward that monstrous society.
Here is a quote from the PETRA bill. It's intent is to:
provide the opportunity for public housing agencies and private owners to convert from current forms of rental assistance under a variety of programs to long-term, property-based contracts that will enhance market-based discipline and enable owners to sustain operations and leverage private financing to address immediate and long-term capital needs and implement energy-efficiency improvements.
Along the way, tenants' rights will be trampled, since tenants could not longer seek redress from the government through their public officials -- because the government would no longer own the buildings.
Stop PETRA. This is urgent. There is a hearing next Tuesday, May 25, before the House Financial Services Committee and the Subcommittee on Housing, organized by Rep. Maxine Waters. Phone: 202-225-2201. Fax: 202-225-7854.
Click here to write to the committee.
Write to your Congressperson now.
If you want to sign a petition, click here.
Here is a letter from the National Association of HUD Tenants.
Here is an informational website, with letters, background information, and alternative proposals.
And do what you can to get the word out. This requires a national discussion.
George Lakoff is the author of The Political Mind and Don't Think of an Elephant! He is Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Christine Schanes: Homelessness Myth #12: Corporations Don't Care (VIDEO)
Since corporations have been found by the Court to be "persons" with rights under the US Constitution, do corporations recognize any "personal" responsibility to help solve the social issues of the day?
They are all corporatists!
Advancement Project
Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights
Housing Justice Movement
National Alliance of HUD Tenants
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Nation People’s Action
Peabody Watch
Poverty Initiative
Right to the City (RTTC) – HUD Working Group
Western Regional Advocacy Project
Beyond Shelter – Los Angeles, CA
Coalition LA – Los Angeles, CA
Coalition on Homelessness – San Francisco, CA
Data Center – Oakland, CA
Lamp Community – Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness – Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN) – Los Angeles, CA
People Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER) – Los Angeles, CA
People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) – San Francisco, CA
Union de Vecinos – Los Angeles, CA
Cabrini Green Local Advisory Council – Chicago, IL
Chicago Anti Eviction Campaign – Chicago, IL
Coalition to Protect Public Housing – Chicago, IL
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs – Chicago, IL
Lakeside Action Coalition – Chicago, IL
Lawndale Alliance – Chicago, IL
People for Community Recovery – Chicago, IL
Mayday New Orleans – New Orleans
Survivors Village – New Orleans, LA
Alliance to Develop Power (ADP) – Statewide, MA
Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild – Minneapolis, MN
See the rest of the list at www.lacehh.wordpress.com
Conversely, it is difficult to see how privatizing housing for people who don't have an adequate income is going to work.
Perhaps the greater irony is that a Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics still hasn't figured out that Obama was being disingenuous with this remark. You didn’t think he was referring to empathy for regular, everyday folks – did you?
Professor, if you couldn’t connect the dots before now, the so-called “financial regulatory reform” nonsense should convince you and everyone else with an ounce of common sense that Obama was referring only to his banking cabal buddies when he talked about taking care of “each other”.
but I wouldn't be surprised.
I'm going to google it and find out some more because overall the story is weak on info.
let's just privatize everything and bring on the rapture.
I am not sure what tree Lakoff is barking up here. PETRA may not be perfect, but it is a significant progressive win. We are about to LOSE quite a bit of section 8 housing stock -- TRA should expand it, in case of sale or foreclosure, low income units MUST remain available, it explicitly allows and delegates money to tenants' rights groups that can organize outside of any public housing authority, it strengthens HUD's ability to enforce regulations and punish slumlord developers. It allows for housing mobility while still maintaining that project units must remain affordable -- expanding housing vouchers is a good thing - expanding housing vouchers and making sure section 8 housing developments can't reduce their low income housing allotment is even better. It explicitly specifies that replacement affordable housing cannot be built in areas of concentrated poverty - a very good thing.
Seriously, there are lots of things to criticize this Administration for -- healthcare policy, the war(s), lack of movement on GLBT issues, the bailout, excessive pandering to the Right, etc -- so far at least, HUD is not (yet) one of those things.
please post something for support.
although I like what you said, I would like some other sources.
I'm going to goggle it, but please post YOUR source.
See the sign on letter to HUD at www.lacehh.wordpress.com
Partial list:
Advancement Project
Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights
Housing Justice Movement
National Alliance of HUD Tenants
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Nation People’s Action
Peabody Watch
Poverty Initiative
Right to the City (RTTC) – HUD Working Group
Western Regional Advocacy Project
Beyond Shelter – Los Angeles, CA
Coalition LA – Los Angeles, CA
Coalition on Homelessness – San Francisco, CA
Data Center – Oakland, CA
Lamp Community – Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness – Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN) – Los Angeles, CA
People Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER) – Los Angeles, CA
People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) – San Francisco, CA
Union de Vecinos – Los Angeles, CA
Cabrini Green Local Advisory Council – Chicago, IL
Chicago Anti Eviction Campaign – Chicago, IL
Coalition to Protect Public Housing – Chicago, IL
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs – Chicago, IL
Lakeside Action Coalition – Chicago, IL
Lawndale Alliance – Chicago, IL
People for Community Recovery – Chicago, IL
Mayday New Orleans – New Orleans
Survivors Village – New Orleans, LA
Alliance to Develop Power (ADP) – Statewide, MA
Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild – Minneapolis, MN
See the rest of the list at www.lacehh.wordpress.com
Does Maxine support it? Chances it gets out of committee?
BP: $150.00 (I'll believe the corps pay for the clean up when I see it).
WellPoint/UnitedHealthCare/Aetna: $400.00 (formerly known as Medicare/Medicaid deductions & they could all very well be ONE company in the future)
GoldmanSachs/JP Morgan: $250.00 (formerly SS deductions)
401k: _______whatever your company and you chooses. (They'll keep this.
Unemployment Insurance: $0 (because this won't exist)