Obama's latest appointment may reflect efforts by this forum.

[saltpoint]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/us/politics/13appoint.html?_r=2&hp

[elleng]

1. In what respect?

.

[saltpoint]

2. Housing.

[bobbolink]

9. If you're asking in what respect to this forum, It's that people here took the initiative to push

Obama's Transition Team on low-income housing.

Your 3-word response is unclear, but if that's what you meant, that is the answer.

[bobbolink]

3. I"m going to "hope" you are right.. that it's a good thing. And I'm going to add a HOWEVER....

Low-income housing did NOT fare well during the Clinton administration, and the fact that Obama is appointing so many Clintonites doesn't give me that much-promised "hope".

Second, they again talk about the "housing crisis", which is MIDDLE-CLASS. The causes are completely different from the ignored low-income housing crisis, which has gone on for decades and dismissed as unimportant. If all this man is going to focus on is the middle-class foreclosures, then things will get WORSE for people like me.

"was a consultant to the Millennial Housing Commission, set up by Congress to recommend new ways to encourage production of affordable housing nationwide." Third, "affordable housing" is the buzzword for middle-class housing. In my area a few months ago, there was much trumpeting of planned "affordable housing"... it was in the $350,000 bracket! Again, "affordable housing" has nothing to do with "low-income housing", and will only take MORE FUNDS away from housing, and the only place it can come from is low-income housing, so it will make it WORSE for folks like me.

"The housing and credit crises that began in mid-2007 have hurt the affordable housing sector like much else. " This says it all... it's what their focus is. The people like me and the Katrina people, and others will, once again, be ignored.

"He held to a middle ground between free-market forces who opposed government controls and liberal groups that believed only government and nonprofit groups could be counted on to provide housing for the working class." Again, the term "working class" doesn't mean the minimum wage workers, and it doesn't mean people too old or too disabled to work.

I can't tell you how depressing this is to me. Knowing that there are VERY FEW who will speak up on our behalf!

In any case, regardless of who is appointed, the task remains the same... to keep pushing for low-income housing, and to keep educating those who are still ignorant of the fact that homelessness is caused BY A LACK OF LOW-INCOME HOUSING!

[saltpoint]

4. It does seem to me that one must give the new team ample time

to actually move into their offices and begin their work.

That is yet to occur. Obama won't take office until the last third or so of January, 2009.

I have heard your arguments regarding housing, bobbolink. I don't dispute them. But my point in the post was to suggest that possibly this latest appointment might reflect some of the concerns in this forum.

[bobbolink]

5. You're right..... the efforts of many here has had an effect!

And you are prime among them!

I can't believe the effort you put into this, and I will hope that it brings some much-needed relief.

In the meantime, I will also hope that many others will continue to push for low-income housing!

[saltpoint]

6. bobbolink, you are one of those community-builders that Gov. Palin

warned us against! -- and bless for it!

Don't take any crap from those damn Republicans. They've been out to undo the New Deal and the Great Society, and also the unions, and of COURSE they're the last people we can really turn to for help with low-income housing, with hunger, with homelessness, with inequitable schooling, and so forth.

You know the whole drill. And battle on for the best of causes.

[bobbolink]

7. Heh... I think we need T-shirts!

You're right.... we're the evil doers out to get Palin et al.

:evilgrin:

A whole army of evildoers.

NOT TAKING CRAP.

There oughtta be a marching song! ^_^

:pals:

[saltpoint]

8. If there's to be a marching song, I nominate you as the band leader.

And that Sarah Palin just better watch it!

[bobbolink]

10. That would be really sad. As a singer and musician, I sure can dance!

It would be awful to see a victory parade with people grimacing and clamping their ears shut!

:rofl:

I'd like to see Palin et al watching from their respective jail cells.

:evilgrin:

[saltpoint]

12. "from their respective jail cells." LOL!

[bobbolink]

13. come to think of it, just take out that R-E-S-P-E-C-T part, too.

:rofl:

[bobbolink]

11. ****LOW-INCOME HOUSING LOSS**** One of the things we are up against.

This article is about the units close to transporation... HOWEVER, most people don't realize that every year low-income subsidized units are LOST forever because their of their expiration dates. There is MORE loss of housing than there is NEW UNITS!

Just another lovely example of PRIVATIZATION!

Clock ticking on subsidized units near valuable bus and rail lines
By Karen Auge
The Denver Post
Posted: 12/12/2008 12:30:00 AM MST

Denver could lose more than half its affordable housing near bus and rail lines over the next five years as federal incentives run out, according to a survey by the National Trust for Affordable Housing.

Of Denver's 15,000 subsidized housing units, 7,287 are close to bus or rail lines, the study found.

Most programs that offer subsidies or tax incentives to developers who provide housing for low-income families, seniors and the disabled come with built-in expiration dates, said Karen Lado, director of Enterprise Denver, the local arm of the affordable housing nonprofit Enterprise Foundation.

Typically that date is 15 to 20 years from when the housing is built. After that, property owners can choose to stay with the program, begin charging market rents or sell the property.
--snip--
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_11200576?source=rss