"The state, looking to reduce the amount of money it pays for public housing, is urging communities to take advantage of a little-known provision in the federal stimulus law that allows them to shift the ownership of certain units to the federal government."
Related: Feds Taking Over City Transit Systems
Soon they will be administering the whole state.
Also see: How Big is Your BRA, Boston?
State Tax Take
Oh, so that is where your tax money is going, Bay-Stater.
"State asks localities to take US aid for housing" by Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | July 27, 2009
The state, looking to reduce the amount of money it pays for public housing, is urging communities to take advantage of a little-known provision in the federal stimulus law that allows them to shift the ownership of certain units to the federal government.
In an e-mail last week to housing authorities across the state, the state Department of Housing and Community Development encouraged communities “to aggressively pursue this opportunity,’’ which the department says will bring stability to public housing during the “current economic crisis.’’
State officials argue that tenants, taxpayers, and cities and towns will all benefit from moving some of the 50,000 state-subsidized apartments to federal rolls. Federally subsidized public housing receives far more money for operations and capital improvements than state units, which operate under a more limited budget, they said.
That is what the COST-CUTTING STATE SAYS, huh?
“A lot of this stuff was built after World War II,’’ said Tina Brooks, the state’s undersecretary of Housing and Community Development. “If the feds are willing to help us keep it whole, intact, and healthy for people, we’re happy to take them up on the offer.’’
But officials in Boston, the city with the most public housing tenants in Massachusetts, are refusing to take part, accusing the state of reneging on a longstanding commitment to finance housing for low-income residents.
“I view this as nothing short of the Commonwealth abandoning its moral and legal responsibilities for the thousands of poor, elderly, and disabled folks living in state public housing,’’ said BHA administrator William McGonagle.
Only Massachusetts and Connecticut offer substantial public housing subsidies, state officials said. Other states rely almost exclusively on federal housing assistance for their low-income residents....
I thought we were a different kind of state?
State officials credited Steve Finn, the head of the Malden Housing Authority, with discovering the obscure provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that allows the transfer of properties from the state to the federal government.
“I found a needle in a haystack,’’ said Finn, adding that funding from the federal government is often more steady than funding from the state, especially during difficult budget years.
So what do you know?
You got some FASCISM inserted into RECOVERY act!
Finn said that tenants in any of Malden’s units that shift to federal control would, like tenants who currently live in federally run housing units, also be eligible for extras such as paid utilities and membership in the city’s new YMCA....
Your STIMULUS DOLLARS at WORK!!
McGonagle, Boston’s housing chief, said he does not think any of the city’s 3,200 state-subsidized units would qualify, because they are too run-down and in need of major renovations and repairs....
Seriously, WHERE HAS ALL the TAX LOOT GONE all these years, huh?
Sandy Ortiz, the head of the tenants’ group at the Orient Heights development, said the state should make good on its commitment to rehab the project, which she said is beset with problems, including flaking paint, condensation on the walls, and bathrooms that have been ripped out and never replaced.
No RATS?
“This isn’t a good idea,’’ she said, referring to the transfer of state public housing to the federal government. “They should start cleaning up the mess they’ve already started and get this place back again. Orient Heights is a nice development if they could put it back together. Instead of going this way, why don’t they do what they are supposed to do?’’
They are" transferring wealth to well-connected interests.
With the federal government picking up the tab for potentially thousands of apartments, the state will be able to spend more on the units left behind, Brooks said. “You’re essentially using a federal program to preserve housing you desperately need,’’ she said.
And turning it over to them, but....
--more--"
WASHINGTON - Plans to pump $4.25 billion of economic stimulus money into creating tens of thousands of federally subsidized rental units in American cities....
The Obama White House has acknowledged that not everyone can or should own a home.Is that not a purely ELITIST thought?
In addition to an ideological shift, the move is a practical response to skyrocketing foreclosure rates, tight credit, and the economic crisis.... The $4.25 billion set aside for the creation of rental housing will come from $14 billion that HUD has received from the federal economic stimulus package.... The funds for new units will be available under competitive grants, and officials in Massachusetts said they will be among the states aggressively competing for the money.
In Boston, more than 20,000 households are on a waiting list for affordable rental housing, said Lydia Agro, a spokeswoman for the Boston Housing Authority. “There’s definitely a need out there,’’ she said. City, state, and federal officials said they could not yet estimate how many new rental units will be created with stimulus money....
RealtyTrac, a private company that follows homeownership trends, reported Thursday that the number of foreclosure notices issued to homeowners nationwide increased 9 percent during the first half of 2009. At the same time, the US Census Bureau reported that the vacancy rates for homeowner housing nationwide crept up for the second consecutive quarter, further signs of the ongoing mortgage crisis. The foreclosures are displacing large numbers of families, who will need new housing.
Yeah, and HOW MANY will END UP HOMELESS as BANKS GIVE AWAY BILLIONS in BONUSES and BILLONS in WAR FUNDING CONTINUES?
“People who were owners are going to be renting for a while,’’ said Margery Turner, vice president for research for The Urban Institute, a Washington think tank that studies social and economic policy. “There is a housing stock that is sitting vacant. There is a real opportunity here’’ to use those homes as rental property and solve both problems, she said.
I'm starting to wonder if that was not the POINT of this PURPOSEFULLY-DRIVEN CRISIS: to DISPOSSESS the American people!!
In addition to the stimulus money, Obama’s budget also seeks $1.8 billion for the construction of rental housing....
In the past few weeks, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, the former housing commissioner in New York City, has embarked on a series of cross-country trips to cities like Seattle and Anchorage to highlight the federal stimulus money being used to build low- and moderate-income rental housing units. Donovan was unavailable for an interview.....
Here is your cut, Boston:
"Housing to get $45.5m in stimulus funds
Massachusetts plans to spend $45.5 million in federal stimulus funds on eight stalled affordable housing developments. Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday that the infusion of cash will also help generate hundreds of jobs.
Related: Pelsoi Says Stimuloot a Success
Yeah, sure, if you count them that way.
The eight developments are in Beverly, Framingham, Greenfield, Holliston, Springfield, and the Boston neighborhoods of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.
I suppose I should feel grateful the government looted us to kick money back to us.
The projects include renovation of an existing 60-unit single room occupancy facility in Springfield and construction of a 48-unit family development on Blue Hill Avenue in Roxbury (AP)."
