Section 8 housing

midwestgirl · (#1 (**permalink**))

I live in a predominately black area.. Its not the worst part of town nor is it the best ... The majority of people in the area are working middle-class blacks that own their homes ,a few that rent, and the rest are black and some white familes that live on what we in the states call Section 8 housing ...For those of you not familiar with the phrase I'll explain..Section 8 is a government funded program that allows low-incomefamiles that would most likely otherwise live in the projects an oppritunity to live in a real "home" with a yard and space for the kids to play,instead of being crammed into overflowing rundown tenements ... Basically , a person, usually a white person that lived in the area before blacks started moving in but still owns the house, getspaidby the government to allow poor families to live in the home. Depending on how many people there are in the family,where the house is located, and how many people it can comfortablyhouse determineshow much they can make ..So if youhave a two family house and rent out both units at a small fee to the familes that usually will not exceed $150 a month, the government in turn will pay the owner of the house in many cases up to $2,500 a month,some get even more !!!!And that money is guaranteed so even if the family is late withthe little rent they do pay ,the government still has to pay the home owner.....I live next door to a two family Section 8 house, and sometimes I have day dreams about watching it burn to the ground ...Every family that has ever lived there has been for lack of a better word, "ghetto",they don't have any home training and zero control over their kids..One family sold dope and the ladyrenting theapt. upstairs wound up getting her head blown off with a shotgun in the middle of the night cause she was selling bullshit;last summer a lady in her twenties with about six kids were staying there and her children were throwing trash from the upstairs porch over my fence into my vegtable garden;the white family downstairs lets their teenage kids throw wild parties ,and I'm pretty sure they get high together cause they allow the two oldest kids to smoke weed in their presence...I could go on with some of the shit those people keep up ...To add insult to injury, they look at me and my family like we're bourgeoisie cause we keep our grass cut ,pick up trash that blows into our yard from theirs,our son is polite,and wewon't let them lean on the gate that surrounds our houseconfused3Now when I was growing up my mama and I lived in apt.buildingsand we rented houses that other people owned,she (my mom) made decent money so we never had to live on Section 8,but we treated every house and apt. we lived in like it was ours. My mother taught methat just cause you didn't own a home didn't mean you had to act like you didn't know how to take care ofone. I was an adult and on my own before she and my step dadfinally bought their own place,but I never forgot what my mama taught me ... I would not mind my neighbors if they knew how to act but they don't ..Could you live next door to folks like this or would you move ??? Does Section 8 housing bring downworking/middle class black neighborhoods?? Should they be in the projects??? Holla!smoking-devil

101stAirborne · (#2 (**permalink**))

Spot on. I lived in Gary briefly when my father worked in the Steel Mills.

In addition to your comments and observations, this programmes leaves a dearth of affordable homes for the working class.

The programmes needs to be killed.

CashMoney · (#3 (**permalink**))

midwest, a tiny bit of snobbery is coming from your post. Not much, but a bit!!!

Vubundada_Kandaba · (#4 (**permalink**))

Vubundada will never live next to a section 8 family. Not that I am better but I learn from experience. What is the word they say; something like once bitten twice shy. It really gets on my nerves when I wake up in the morning to go to work at 8:00 am and I see the same people I saw last night standing in the corner and doing nothing. I come back from work at 5:00 pm and they have brought chairs to sit on and are still out there. I go to the convenience store at 9:00 pm and they have now brought out the grill and are barbecueing. I come back from the store and they are now sipping on some Old English. It ticks me off and by that time I am fuming and ready to explode like liquid nitrogen placed in a one liter plastic coke bottle. Not to mention the thrash they throw around.

For all I know, they could be monitoring who is going where; and at what time, so they can come break and steal my hard earn belongings. Last time several Mexican families moved to my apartment complex and before you know it, the place looked like Tijuana. I broke my lease and lost my $200 deposit but that is the price I will pay for peace of mind. The place I leave in now is very expensive almost double my previous rent but I have peace of mind. Plus I can not stand a dirty apartment or neighborhood. So peace of mind and security is my number one priority. I already have enough stress from work and by justliving in America,even driving on the road is stressful with white people and the policeeying you like you just stole the car you are driving. I don't need further stress when I come home. To me the home is the one place I could find peace.

midwestgirl · (#5 (**permalink**))

CashMoney wrote:

Quote:

midwest, a tiny bit of snobbery is coming from your post. Not much, but a bit!!!

I'm not a snob CashMoney,far from it.. I don't come from money and Igrew up in a pay check to pay check working class family.I am the youngest of five and was raised by a single parent until my mother decided to remarry when I was 13 .. I am all for low income familes moving up;in fact in the mid 80's when my mama was laid off from her job at U.S Steel we were one of those families! I can still recall standing in those long lines at the Welfare Dept.to collect food stamps,and I've eaten more than my share of Spam,Ramin Noodles,and government chesse ... BUTT,just cause you're poor does not mean you have to act like a buffoon... If the people next door to meacted like they had sense I would not have any problem with them,but they act like some damn fools !! Trust me, you would not want to live next door to them either.. And I'm sure that there are lots of rich people that act just as ignorantbut they don't live next door to me....

CashMoney · (#6 (**permalink**))

I hear you @ midwest

What I'm saying is that bad breed is bad breed. Whether they on section 8 housing, or they own the house.

dirtyred · (#7 (**permalink**))

I have no problem with people on section 8, well most people, because it does help out some very needy people. I did not grow up in a household of wealth, but my mom owns her own home, nothing fancy, but grass and a big yard to play in. However, I do have a problem with some of the people that receive it and abuse it. I have an in-law who's girlfriend is living in a section 8 home. Matter of fact, she just moved in not too long ago.True she does have 5 kids that she just got back out of foster care. Don't even ask me why they were taken away.Even still I commend her for getting them back. It's a very big two story in a very nice neighborhood.And from whatIv'eseen, they are bringing it down already. Now I'm not hating but, it kinda makes me a little, well let's just say, ticked to say the least. You see, she is living their with her boyfriend, who holds down a very good job. And this boyfriend is always calling our housenow bragging about what a nice house they have and this and that,this cat ain't paying notone bill. Section 8 even pays her phone bill. Neither one of them work. But both are veryhealthy. . But Iknow it's not right that they get food stamps, cable, phone,and a big ol' house, without having to work and pay for nothing. To top all that off, they just got back from some fancy vacation. Still while the rest of us have to get up at the crack of dawn to go to work every day, and they sit up all night, chillin just doing whatever whenever. No that's not fair. It's not showing her kids a very good work ethic. All it is saying is,what you have to do is , go have a bunch of babies and wait for the govt. to flip the bill. That's partly why we have so many triflin' folks out here now. And the sad part is, this woman will never have anything of her own. She thinks that she is getting over but, she is not, the white man has her just where they want her...Dependent. She can do better.

ChubbiChix · (#8 (**permalink**))

No I don't think the program should be scrapped. I never knew the details of section 8 but now that midwest has outlined it, it doesnt sound like a bad idea rather then all section 8 people waiting on 2-5 year waiting lists for the projects. Not only white people have section 8 tenants,a few blacks I know own 2family homes or small apartment buildings and rent out to section 8 people. Actually someone close to me said section 8 tenants are not that bad because adleast you get all your money on time unlike regular tenants.

ChubbiChix · (#9 (**permalink**))

You must have had a bad experience with section 8 people, I don't look down on them or feel they should go to the projects with pissy elevators and people smoking weed right in the lobby. I wouldn't wish that on anybody especially children.

Peacemaker · (#10 (**permalink**))

It's like putting a family of peasants into a castle.

Smithers, release the hounds.

zaghawa · (#11 (**permalink**))

Yeah, I agree with you.

The biggest danger for decent, well behaved people are those who are not.

People have got to get their sh*it together.

midwestgirl · (#12 (**permalink**))

Another thing about Section 8 that Ididn't mention is thatthe home owners have no control over which family they get in the house.. Aftera family appiles for Section 8 and gets accepted, the govt. just tells thehome owner that a new family is coming ...They don't do any pre-screening ,so they don't know what kind of people are moving in....And alot of familes in the projects that would really appreciate the oppritunity to get out never get a chance to.. A lot of people that have never had anything don't know how to take care of stuff when they get it and don't want anybody else to have anything nice...Believe me, most Section 8 homes are in middle class black neighborhoods where folks worked hard to pay for their homes; White people wish you would try to puta Section 8 home where they live,they would have a fit.Even if the family was white! Most of the home owners don't care what kind offamily moves in cause most don't live in the area anymore, and their gonna get their money from the govt. regardless;plus the small rent they get from the family in their house!

LadyDay · (#13 (**permalink**))

i do not see the relevance of this at all

snobbery has no shade.