There is no shortage of anything in this country. What we have is ab=n overabundance of greed and cash hoarding by the very top economic class. We have allowed an uber wealthy class to evolve who now control over half of all wealth, That's what needs to change.
This kind of enlightened thinking will never fly with the 99% of “voters” who have a seriously warped view of the world, but it’s really nice that you put this out there
Coincidentally, I visited eight public housing buildings in Brooklyn today, mostly looking at roofs, parapets, facades, for upcoming repairs. But the basements I went into were moldy & one had a smelly dead rat the poor super could not find so it stunk the place up. Awful!
You mean, like HUD tearing down highly substandard public housing in Cairo, IL, displacing 400 people with no plan of where they’d go? Then five years later condemning the only elderly housing and displacing another 60 residents from the only place they’ve ever lived? Like that?
Gov Hobbs signed a "Casitas" bill today to help AZ and I saw a video on YouTube from Katie Porter that she introduced a bipartisan bill with Comer (gasp) for Presidential Ethics, still trying to pick my jaw up off floor.
I hate to be a wet blanket but according to HUD, there's only 1.2 million public housing units in the entire country. My state ALONE has a housing shortage that's three times that. This is definitely worth doing, but it's not gonna solve shit. It won't even improve anything, it'll just slow down how fast it gets worse.
After WW2 the federal government both built and subsidized affordable housing for returning soldiers. Millions of units. I grew up in one (Drexelbrook in subn Philly). I live in one of these houses right now. Half a block south is a whole complex of affordable, well maintained apartments, built in the 50s which remind me so much of my childhood home (now housing mostly immigrant families, but built for those soldiers). While the distribution of these units and the subsidizing of mortgages and building loans was massively racist, still, the will and the money was found to build.
We literally did this before, when there was a huge housing crisis. We can do it again (without the racism this time kthxbai)
The public-housing complex my sister lives in was rehabbed in the last couple of months - new cabinets, floors, appliances, upgraded HVAC, the works. She even got put up in a decent motel, not one of the crack palaces her town has in abundance). She's very lucky. (She may also be getting a cat tomorrow!)
One suggestion that I came across today says we should tweak the laws to what they were when we had the post-WWII housing boom:
"Things were different in the quarter-century after World War II, when progress in manufacturing allowed homes to be built from start to finish within a factory and delivered to the buyer’s site. Often called “mobile homes,” they offered middle- and lower-income families an affordable housing alternative. By the early 1970s, roughly 1 in 3 U.S. single-family homes produced were manufactured, and in 14 states at least half the homes were manufactured."
These pre-fab homes were very often fixed to a permanent foundation; a change in the laws in 1974 required them to be placed on a "fixed permanent chassis" for transport - which made it really difficult, if not impossible, to securely place the home on a real foundation. As a result, they fell out of favor....
As it is now, most homes are built on site - which means ALL the materials have to be brought in and assembled in place. Pre-fabbing much of the house can save time and costs, thanks to the economies of scale that come with doing much of the work at a dedicated facility.
They may be little boxes made of ticky-tacky, but when you need a lot of affordable housing very quickly....
They built a lot of prefab homes in postwar UK as well. Significantly improved the lives of many working-class citizens who never had indoor toilets etc. before then. Folks loved them!
My partner lives in public housing. He's got black mold with a side of asbestos kitchen tiles(I wish I was joking). Apparently, the tiles are safe until the start chipping or something? Super reassuring, eh?
There is no shortage of anything in this country. What we have is ab=n overabundance of greed and cash hoarding by the very top economic class. We have allowed an uber wealthy class to evolve who now control over half of all wealth, That's what needs to change.
This kind of enlightened thinking will never fly with the 99% of “voters” who have a seriously warped view of the world, but it’s really nice that you put this out there
I do not believe 99% of voters have a seriously warped view of the world. Now if you said 99% of *republican* voters, I'd agree.
Ta, Robyn.
Please tell me, as soon as possible, that that fox is alive and well, and hopefully less depressed!
Coincidentally, I visited eight public housing buildings in Brooklyn today, mostly looking at roofs, parapets, facades, for upcoming repairs. But the basements I went into were moldy & one had a smelly dead rat the poor super could not find so it stunk the place up. Awful!
Hear! Hear! 👏👏
Thank you, Robyn!
You mean, like HUD tearing down highly substandard public housing in Cairo, IL, displacing 400 people with no plan of where they’d go? Then five years later condemning the only elderly housing and displacing another 60 residents from the only place they’ve ever lived? Like that?
Gov Hobbs signed a "Casitas" bill today to help AZ and I saw a video on YouTube from Katie Porter that she introduced a bipartisan bill with Comer (gasp) for Presidential Ethics, still trying to pick my jaw up off floor.
Good to see both Connecticut Senators in on this one.
𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝟖𝟗.𝟔 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝟏𝟎.𝟒 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭. US Census.
1 in 10 homes are left vacant in the USA. Deliberately.
I hate to be a wet blanket but according to HUD, there's only 1.2 million public housing units in the entire country. My state ALONE has a housing shortage that's three times that. This is definitely worth doing, but it's not gonna solve shit. It won't even improve anything, it'll just slow down how fast it gets worse.
After WW2 the federal government both built and subsidized affordable housing for returning soldiers. Millions of units. I grew up in one (Drexelbrook in subn Philly). I live in one of these houses right now. Half a block south is a whole complex of affordable, well maintained apartments, built in the 50s which remind me so much of my childhood home (now housing mostly immigrant families, but built for those soldiers). While the distribution of these units and the subsidizing of mortgages and building loans was massively racist, still, the will and the money was found to build.
We literally did this before, when there was a huge housing crisis. We can do it again (without the racism this time kthxbai)
But the racism is how it was allowed to get done then.
But maybe we're better than that now ...
The public-housing complex my sister lives in was rehabbed in the last couple of months - new cabinets, floors, appliances, upgraded HVAC, the works. She even got put up in a decent motel, not one of the crack palaces her town has in abundance). She's very lucky. (She may also be getting a cat tomorrow!)
Nydia Velázquez was my Congressperson when I lived in the city, though I believe her district got moved around a bit since.
One suggestion that I came across today says we should tweak the laws to what they were when we had the post-WWII housing boom:
"Things were different in the quarter-century after World War II, when progress in manufacturing allowed homes to be built from start to finish within a factory and delivered to the buyer’s site. Often called “mobile homes,” they offered middle- and lower-income families an affordable housing alternative. By the early 1970s, roughly 1 in 3 U.S. single-family homes produced were manufactured, and in 14 states at least half the homes were manufactured."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/21/affordable-mobile-homes-law/
These pre-fab homes were very often fixed to a permanent foundation; a change in the laws in 1974 required them to be placed on a "fixed permanent chassis" for transport - which made it really difficult, if not impossible, to securely place the home on a real foundation. As a result, they fell out of favor....
As it is now, most homes are built on site - which means ALL the materials have to be brought in and assembled in place. Pre-fabbing much of the house can save time and costs, thanks to the economies of scale that come with doing much of the work at a dedicated facility.
They may be little boxes made of ticky-tacky, but when you need a lot of affordable housing very quickly....
They built a lot of prefab homes in postwar UK as well. Significantly improved the lives of many working-class citizens who never had indoor toilets etc. before then. Folks loved them!
My partner lives in public housing. He's got black mold with a side of asbestos kitchen tiles(I wish I was joking). Apparently, the tiles are safe until the start chipping or something? Super reassuring, eh?