4 ms·

Just FWIW, Section 8 (in combination with depressed rents) is why for a good portion of the past decade I was constantly awoken by sirens: police, fire and ambu

by zeveb 11y ago

Just FWIW, Section 8 (in combination with depressed rents) is why for a good portion of the past decade I was constantly awoken by sirens: police, fire and ambulance services coming to take care of the folks renting a condo near me. Y'know, I really do feel for poor folks, but I'd be just as glad if thieves, prostitutes and dysfunctional alcoholics would live somewhere else (financiers, escorts and functional alcoholics may be just as immoral, but at least they are discrete). It's nightmarish to have one's home turned into a disaster area.

tptacek 11y ago
I live on a block with several Section 8 renters, and they all seem like perfectly nice people with families. We all want the thieves to live somewhere else, but the previous strategy we had for isolating them also involved segregating millions of low-income people and trapping them in neighborhoods without opportunity, child care, safe schools, or, in some cases, even grocery stores. This way is better for everyone.
- yarou 11y ago
  For the most part, the US is still income-segregated. Detroit is the classic example, where the city houses poor, often dark-skinned inhabitants while their lighter-skinned counterparts live in the surrounding suburbs. The greatest irony now is that traditionally undesirable areas like Oakland are being reclaimed, further marginalizing those low-income people who are unable to adjust to the increased cost of living. It's true we all want thieves to live elsewhere, but at some point elsewhere runs out, and you're left with a class of people that are permanently enserfed as the underclass. I'm not sure which way is better.
  - tptacek 11y ago
    If you take SFBA out of the picture, the story behind gentrification and its impact on minorities gets very blurry. There are studies showing that gentrified neighborhoods have lower minority turnover than non-gentrified neighborhoods: people leave poor non-gentrified areas more often than they do gentrified ones. This sort of makes sense when you realize that people who don't make much money aren't a different species, and like many of the same benefits and services as rich people: parks, grocery stores, schools accountable to active and engaged (busybody) parents, &c.

by zeveb 11y ago

tptacek 11y ago

I live on a block with several Section 8 renters, and they all seem like perfectly nice people with families. We all want the thieves to live somewhere else, but the previous strategy we had for isolating them also involved segregating millions of low-income people and trapping them in neighborhoods without opportunity, child care, safe schools, or, in some cases, even grocery stores. This way is better for everyone.

yarou 11y ago
For the most part, the US is still income-segregated. Detroit is the classic example, where the city houses poor, often dark-skinned inhabitants while their lighter-skinned counterparts live in the surrounding suburbs. The greatest irony now is that traditionally undesirable areas like Oakland are being reclaimed, further marginalizing those low-income people who are unable to adjust to the increased cost of living. It's true we all want thieves to live elsewhere, but at some point elsewhere runs out, and you're left with a class of people that are permanently enserfed as the underclass. I'm not sure which way is better.
- tptacek 11y ago
  If you take SFBA out of the picture, the story behind gentrification and its impact on minorities gets very blurry. There are studies showing that gentrified neighborhoods have lower minority turnover than non-gentrified neighborhoods: people leave poor non-gentrified areas more often than they do gentrified ones. This sort of makes sense when you realize that people who don't make much money aren't a different species, and like many of the same benefits and services as rich people: parks, grocery stores, schools accountable to active and engaged (busybody) parents, &c.