Turning Public Housing Over to Private Developers Has Unfortunate Consequences

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http://www.alternet.org/hard-times-usa/turning-public-housing-over-private-developers-has-unfortunate-consequences




Since moving into her new East Baltimore neighborhood last month, Free Palmese has been practically alone on her block. A sea of vacant housing surrounds her rented row house; only six houses are occupied. Boarded-up windows and doors line the quiet streets, giving the neighborhood the feel of a long-abandoned ghost town.

“Nobody wants to live here,” Palmese says, leaning against her car. She didn’t have much of a choice. “I’m only here because I can afford it,” says Palmese, gesturing toward the abandoned block. Before moving into her row house Palmese was homeless, living in her car after being priced out of her former apartment. Finding this latest rental was simply good luck. “I only got this because the landlord is a friend of a friend.”

The irony of having been homeless in a city with over 16,000 vacant homes isn’t lost on Palmese. “How am I homeless when there are all these boarded-up houses?” she asks incredulously. There shouldn’t be anybody in the street.”

Like many American cities, Baltimore faces a serious housing crisis. Vacant lots and homes pervade the landscape, yet a large number of residents are struggling to find affordable places to live. Close to 50 percent of metropolitan Baltimore households are “rent-burdened” — defined by the federal government as paying more than 30 percent of income on housing. The once thriving industrial economy that powered this city, like so many across the country, has all but vanished, leaving in its wake a shrinking population and a dearth of well-paying jobs to afford the ever-increasing rent. Of 80 low- and moderate-income Baltimore jobs analyzed by the Center for Housing Policy, less than 35 percent make enough to meet the threshold of rent affordability for a two-bedroom apartment.

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1. Privatizing public anything has unfortunate consequences.

The 1% get more money and everyone else be damned.