LIHTC: A Government Spending Program

The Los Angeles County Board has allocated $25 million dollars to spend on new programs that promote social justice. I have developed a proposal to allocate the money to create affordable housing complexes in communities within the city. The communities selected for housing developments are Boyle Heights, Watts, Chinatown, Pico-Union and Elysian Park. The proposal includes spending all $25 million in five developments of affordable housing. Each housing development will have twenty five 2-bedroom apartments. A total of one hundred low income families will benefit in total. My proposal includes asking each family to pay a monthly rent of 1/4 of their monthly earnings. The monthly rent collected from tenants can be used to maintain the developments,

For the past fifty years the shift from meeting the housing needs of the poor through government projects-based housing to a more individual approach, has been slowly implemented. Housing vouchers now enable underprivileged populations to move from high-poverty, segregated neighborhoods to more un-segregated, low-poverty neighborhoods. Low-poverty neighborhoods have less crime, better opportunities for employment, and more diverse schooling options. Some housing advocates however, contend that housing assistance is unnecessary and is an income subsidy that should be combined with other social safety nets (Clark, W. 2008).

Second, providing tax breaks to Habitat for Humanity homeowners helps the community. Their inability to pay their property tax bill often leads to foreclosure or resell to Habitat for Humanity for initial

The U.S. government provides housing assistance to low-income families and individuals through different programs, two of them are: Section 8 tenant-based subsidies (also called Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program); and Section 8 project-based assistance, under which property owners receive government subsidies to decrease rents (Carlson). The

Those who partake in assistance programs do not have the means to pay taxes back to the government. We are pouring billions of dollars into programs to help citizens who cannot help themselves, in the hopes that they will battle their way out of their poor situation and become viable citizens and help pay taxes. On paper this is a great idea however like many ideas it has setbacks. Many of the citizens that we hope climb out of their situation don’t. This is a problem because we now have more people receiving money than we have people paying into the programs. If we reduce our funding to these programs we can help slow the rate at which we are falling into debt.

Public housing is another program that helps to provide a roof over a family’s heads for reduced costs. Rent in some places can be quite high and a family of four may find it hard even to afford a small 3 bedroom house without breaking their pockets.

The Public Policy Institute states that Section 8 project-based rental assistance contracts involving HUD and for-profit owners contracting private multifamily housing, which is made available by HUD to low-income households who qualify for housing assistance. The subsidy is such that pays the difference "between 30 percent of the household's income and the contract rent; the subsidy is paid by HUD to the landlord." (AARP Public Policy Institute, 2002) In addition, HUD has Dispersal programs for renters of Section 8 housing due to the desire of the public to avoid to concentration of poverty-level residents in urban areas. This is because there is a general consensus that Section 8 subsidized housing tends to drive down the market prices of property in the same area. There are various challenges that are faced by the Section 8 subsidized housing program as it assists low-income households obtain appropriate housing through the provision of rental assistance.

There are a number of Medicaid sections and demonstration programs that allow reimbursement for housing-related services to promote community integration. Authorities and programs that allow reimbursement include: 1915(c) HCBS Waivers, 1915(i) HCBS State Plan Optional Benefit, 1915(1b) Community First Choice State Plan optional Benefit, 1915(b) Waivers, 1905(a) State Plan Services, Section 1115 Research and Demonstration Programs and Money Follows the Person demonstration.1Some of these authorities offer greater coverage opportunity than others.1 Medicaid offices have the opportunity to play an important role in convening state program offices and other partners to identify other non-Medicaid funding sources to support

This all seems great, a savior program that allows people who cannot afford to pay rent normally. Section 8 is utilized by the elderly, disabled, and families with and without children but is it really a golden program? Stated above, section 8 provides for vouchers for all types of apartments and even condos in certain states; however, are these opportunities open to all races? 41.6 percent of African Americans are on housing assistance programs, as in this county’s displaced history on minorities, the voucher program produces elements that affect minorities. Although African Americans make up the overall higher percentage when it comes to housing assistance programs, according to National Low-Income Housing Coalition, surprisingly Caucasians make up 49 percent of the project-based section 8. Yet, National Low-Income Housing Coalition mentions that African Americans as of 2010 shows that black and Hispanic public housing residents are four times more likely than their Caucasian counterparts public housing residents to live in high-poverty neighborhoods. Black and Hispanic voucher recipients are about three times as likely as their white counterparts to live in high-poverty neighborhoods. Analyzing this data; furthermore, as of 2010, 28 percent of white voucher recipients live in the lowest poverty neighborhoods! Reviewing this data Caucasians obtains overall nationwide more voucher approvals that African Americans living in the highest of poverty neighborhoods and that comes

It is unfair to those who pay their taxes see no good come from it. Although, it is their civic duty, they should be able to be proud and say “I’m glad my tax dollars went to that program.”

Often, when someone can’t afford housing prices, they will apply for low-income housing prices that will

Besides developers, the government also plays an important role in gentrification. For instance, HOPE VI program given by government also contribute to the gentrification. This HOPE VI has included a variety of grant programs including: Revitalization, Demolition, Main Street, and Planning grant programs. Those grant programs in HOPE VI is indirectly contributed to gentrification. Some critics said that government use the program as a legal means to evict poor residents in favor of more affluent residents in a process of gentrification. In fact, there are many reasons for government to support gentrification. First, government supports gentrification because it can lead to increase the government's revenue. For instance, since whites constantly

Housing our Neighbors is an organization that includes housing advocates and homeless people who work together to fight for accessible housing for low income and homeless people. Their organization believes Baltimore can invest in a community land trust. A community land trust is when a non-profit organization owns and manages land where affordable housing is built. The organization will also ensure rent and mortgages remain affordable, and decided if certain houses should be renovated or demolished. Something interesting about the community land trust is it has been successful in other parts of the country. With this information it would be very hard not to wonder if this could work in

Taxes are the dollars that we pay to government to supply the services that are not or can not be provided through the free enterprise system. Taxes have been around since the beginning of organized societies. They come in various forms. Most common are income taxes both federal and local government. These taxes are assessed on the amount of income a person earns. Other taxes come in the form of user taxes; these taxes are imposed on the people that are using the goods being taxed, such as gas tax, alcohol tax, sales tax, and luxury taxes. Property taxes make up the major revenues for local and city governments. Furthering the burden of taxation are taxes that are attached to such bills as utility

A solution to this issue may be to take buildings that are being constructed into condos and apartments and make them into affordable housing; affordable meaning, basing the prices of rent on the net income of families. If the price is based on net income the family will not have to worry about paying taxes along with other costs.