by Lynda Carson
The affordable housing crisis in the Bay Area is raging out of control as greedy landlords, realtors, and developers force people out of their housing in the name of gentrification.
The average rent in Oakland is currently at $2,497 per month, according to Rent Café, ranging from $1,726 for a studio apartment, to $4,214 for a three-bedroom apartment. The homeless population in the Bay Area is suffering greatly due to the lack of public housing, or affordable housing.
According to the latest 2018 figures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, households with a family of four earning as much as $117,400 annually, reportedly may qualify as a low-income households, and be eligible for some affordable housing programs in the Bay Area.
Based on HUD’s own records, 79 percent of HUD-assisted households have an average annual income below $20,000, with 40 percent of those households having an annual income of only $10,000 to $19,999. Only 20 percent of HUD-assisted households have an annual income of $20,000 or more.
For those who are disabled with a fixed income of less than $12,000 a year and using public transit to get around while residing in a subsidized affordable housing project, it may seem strange to have a neighbor residing in the same building that drives a luxurious Lexus or Mercedes Benz. But that is presently the reality of residing in some of these much-needed affordable housing projects in the Bay Area, because of the destruction and privatization of our public housing.
Meanwhile, the GOP seeks additional massive budget cuts to HUD’s affordable housing programs.
According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, the House Budget Committee passed a FY 2019 budget resolution that maintains the massive 2017 tax cuts to the rich and wealthy corporations, even as it repeals the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Their budget would also result in nearly $6 trillion in catastrophic budget cuts over a decade to our nation’s federal domestic programs, not including the military.
Additionally, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, a Trump and GOP reorganization proposal to consolidate federal departments including HUD, would cap the Housing Trust Fund (funding for low-income housing projects) at $440 million annually, instead of the expected $3.5 billion annually.
Also, Trump and GOP legislators want to create a so-called Council on Public Assistance, which is to be housed in the newly proposed “Department of Health and Public Welfare.” The Council on Public Assistance would have the authority to create new draconian policies.
The Council on Public Assistance is proposed to include representatives from all federal agencies that administer public benefits, including HUD, Medicaid Services, the Center for Medicare and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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Tired of Living Blues
by Michael Creedon
Time out, time in;
There’s no breaks in this life I live in.
It keeps me moving but I haven’t got a thing.
What am I living for if not for something?
Living hard on the street.
Morning comes down like a wet sheet.
What’s the point of keeping on?
Everything I had is gone.
Time in, time out;
Makes me want to scream and shout.
Jeez, if I could just break out —
Give them something to talk about.
I’m tired of living on the street.