Columbus Dispatch, May 18, 2008: Decentralize poverty
Sunday, May 18, 2008 3:38 AM
Just about everyone concerned agrees that the traditional public-housing approach — high-rise or densely concentrated apartment complexes — is a lousy way to help low-income families improve their lot, but the federal government has done little to come up with a better idea.
The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, on the other hand, deserves credit for trying to develop its own road map to the future.
With a plan to relocate residents from six old-style projects and eventually demolish the buildings, CMHA is taking the initiative to make the inevitable happen in the least painful way possible. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development should acknowledge that by giving the plan timely consideration.
CMHA proposes to empty and demolish Lincoln Park, Marion Square, Poindexter Village, Riverside-Bradley, Sawyer Towers and Sunshine Terrace and give the residents Section 8 vouchers to rent private housing. This is made necessary in part because CMHA, like most local housing agencies, has sustained double-digit-percentage budget cuts for years.
But it’s also a recognition that concentrating and isolating all the problems of poverty in a few places reinforces dysfunction and despair.
Families with housing vouchers can escape the high crime and hopelessness of their old neighborhoods and have a better chance at changing their lives.
Agencies such as CMHA remain responsible for ensuring that landlords participating in the program provide safe, appropriate housing, under fair terms.
Vouchers won’t work for everyone who needs housing assistance; elderly clients, people with disabilities and those with other special needs can benefit from the concentration of similar people and social services in one location. CMHA should take special care that these neediest clients don’t fall through the cracks as the program changes.
Local and federal agencies also must work together and with private developers to ensure that enough private units that accept vouchers are available and that CMHA has enough vouchers to meet the needs of those who lose traditional public housing. Currently, there’s a long waiting list.
Columbus, already recognized as a national leader in public-private efforts to house the homeless, also could lead the way in improving housing assistance for low-income families.