Tax Structure: Habitat For Humanity Essay example

In all, Habitat for Humanity is doing a wonderful service for the unfortunate people that just need a home to get back onto their feet. If I were to give to the unfortunate, I would not expect anything in return. That is why I would choose Habitat for Humanity for

The problems that arise from housing are numerous. Housing takes up more than half of all real property tax. Not only that, it’s also the largest issue in a family’s budget. The federal government spent $38 billion in preferential subsidies and $2 trillion on housing in total in the year 2006. Rigid zoning codes prohibit certain types of housing from being built. This prevents some citizens from being provided with homes that fit their budget and ads to the chronic problem of homelessness our communities face. Too many houses can crowd neighborhoods and make transit difficult. They can also obstruct view and, when foreclosed upon, lead to plummeting property values.

One of the most prevalent forms of discrimination is through housing. While modern discrimination is typically difficult to figure out the exact intentions of the person accused of discrimination, such as a boss not choosing a minority to fill a management role, discrimination in housing has continued to be more obvious. The reason why housing is so important is because where a person lives dictates the school the resident’s children go to, the infrastructure such as hospitals, parks and libraries, and also availability of employment. Many of the housing inequalities have been caused by the Federal government such as the national appraisal system and subsidizing suburban areas, and not enforcing abolishing restricted covenants.

These practices help maintain the status quo, helping low-income families remain poor. Moreover, it requires these low-income families to depend on government assistance, such as low-income housing and welfare. The reliance on assistance programs groups the poorest people in the same housing projects and communities, overwhelming schools with low-income students. Not only do these real estate practices concentrate the poorest in an area together, they also drive the often whiter, more affluent families out. The majority of poor feel they have no opportunity to transcend class restrictions, and the property taxes that fund our schools do not alleviate their stress. Further, homogeneous collections of poor means that school populations are rarely as diverse as we believe.

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).

As much as Proposition 13 has received criticism, it still has its advantages. The proposition has increased stability in the community and allowed predictability for property owners. Progressive income tax has an impact on higher incomes, whereas property tax affects those in the lower income bracket. Therefore, high property taxes affect those that have highly valued property, but earn low incomes. Reducing property taxes for such people is a great advantage to them. Furthermore, the proposition has enabled Californian taxpayers to save billions of dollars over the years (Smith, 1998).

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.

In the latest iteration of its approaches to getting housing aid to people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, FEMA has shifted its strategy from doling out incremental portions of housing assistance to cutting checks for up to the statutorily allowable amount of $26,200 per household for approximately 60,000 households whose homes FEMA has determined can be declared destroyed without need for inspection. Households whose homes are in certain ZIP codes in five parishes in Louisiana and three counties in Mississippi that satellite imaging show complete devastation are slated to start receiving checks for the remainder of their allowable ¡§individual household assistance¡¨ after deducting the $2,000 and/or $2,358 allotments some have already received. Homeowners will receive the full $26,200 and renters something less. Why there is a difference in aid between homeowners and renters was not explained.

There should be an increment or flex pay plan for the residents who are suddenly constrained with higher property taxes. This way they can gradually increase their payments, instead of their payments ballooning at one time. There should be low-interest loans or funding for established small and minority-owned businesses wanting to upgrade their business. The community should be made aware of any funds that will allow them to improve their homes and keep in line with the revitalization.

23). One major difficulty with property tax is the valuation process itself. Sorenson and Goldsmith list homestead exemptions, tax abatements, legal entanglements, taxpayer associations and underassessments as reasons that taxes are not based on the full property value (p.23). In terms of school funding, schools in wealthier communities are at an advantage over schools in economically depressed areas, where property values are much lower.

Taxes are expensive to pay for those of us who do pay them, but what about those who don’t pay them? They are getting free housing from the taxes YOU pay. This is the “Golden Motel” or mercy housing. The mercy housing was first proposed in February, 2017. The mercy housing is opposed by the majority of Temple City’s population. “One side was defending LGBTQ and the other side was defending veterans,” says Nicholas Huang, an 8th grader at Oak Avenue Intermediate school. This makes the reason to repurpose the motel controversial. After further research, I also discovered that the request was authorized to help get the homeless and unsupported off the streets and into shelter/homes. “The Mercy

The utilization of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit or LIHTC has had an overall positive effect on housing for low-income families in the United States. Four key outcomes of the LIHTC are: First, there is less likelihood of segregation within the tax-credit housing than in the government provided section 8 and government-subsidized voucher programs (Schwartz, p. 115). Second, the purpose of the program, which was to subsidize mixed income housing to low and working class families, is provisionally being met (Khadduri, Buron, & Lam, p. 10). Third, through decentralization of the implementation of the LIHTC program the federal government allowed the state governments more latitude in the dissemination of the tax credits to appropriate developers (Furman Center, p. 2). Finally, there is a correlation between the areas where LIHTC housing properties are developed in the impact on the sounding region. This correlation is both positive and negative in nature, but heavily is judged on the region that the LIHTC is built in and as to whether it is in an urban center, suburb, or in the metro areas (Deng, pp. 46-48). These four outcomes will guide the body of this paper about the overarching theme of LIHTC as a policy tool as opposed to section 8 housing or government provided housing.

Moreover, some of the qualifications for HUD voucher are based off the individual annual gross income and their citizenship status. While approximately 40 percent of the housing stock in the nation is worth less than $100,000, nearly 68 percent of the homes in the Delta are worth less than $100,000. Correspondingly, Improvement of Housing and Infrastructure Conditions in the Lower Mississippi Delta, a recent released report by the Housing Council, focused on documenting some of the different approaches to improving housing and infrastructure conditions in the Delta, how to overcome obstacles, and provide practices other

Response: Habitat for Humanity’s mission is to bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Habitat for Humanity believe that everyone deserves a

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.