4 ms·

Does it make sense to force a low income worker to commute from antioch to menlo park every day, while providing a subsidized menlo park apartment to an elderly

by geebee 10y ago

Does it make sense to force a low income worker to commute from antioch to menlo park every day, while providing a subsidized menlo park apartment to an elderly person who doesn't participate in the work force? If we're going to set aside subsidized apartments in newly constructed buildings close to job centers for low or moderate income people, I don't think it's especially callous or outrageous to insist that they be provided to people who need to be close to job centers for employment reasons. Don't get me wrong, I don't like either outcome, really, I'd prefer to see an elderly person get to stay close to where he or she lived for many years. But I also see the effect that these brutal commutes have on low income workers who can'r afford to live near the job centers, how little they see their families or kids, how much it takes out of them. Seems like there's a lot of harm there you aren't really considering.

magicalist 10y ago
But what should happen when somebody retires? Stay working or get kicked out?
- geebee 10y ago
  My impression was that we were talking about providing new construction in job centers for people who are not currently working. I would see a difference for someone who has already been there for many years, or was displaced recently. Even in that case, though, I might be ok with telling people that they may have to transfer units if they are no longer working. We are talking about providing free or heavily subsidized housing for people who can't afford it, and there isn't a unlimited supply of this, especially near high cost job centers. There's pain in the displacement you have described, but I was responding to the comment that said that it is a warped point of view to prioritize working people when assigning spots in subsidized housing in job centers. There's a lot of pain in the commutes low income workers must endure to feed their families, too, a pretty heavy human toll involved in soul crushing commutes from the exurbs to the job centers. Would it warped to say to low income seniors: "we will continue to provide you with clean, safe housing, but now that you are no longer working, we will provide this further from the job centers, so that we can reserve the more expensive and scare units near the job centers so that low income workers don't have to commute two hours each way in traffic and rarely see their families." Honestly, it does seem a reasonable allocation of scarce public resources to me.

by geebee 10y ago

magicalist 10y ago

But what should happen when somebody retires? Stay working or get kicked out?

geebee 10y ago
My impression was that we were talking about providing new construction in job centers for people who are not currently working. I would see a difference for someone who has already been there for many years, or was displaced recently. Even in that case, though, I might be ok with telling people that they may have to transfer units if they are no longer working. We are talking about providing free or heavily subsidized housing for people who can't afford it, and there isn't a unlimited supply of this, especially near high cost job centers. There's pain in the displacement you have described, but I was responding to the comment that said that it is a warped point of view to prioritize working people when assigning spots in subsidized housing in job centers. There's a lot of pain in the commutes low income workers must endure to feed their families, too, a pretty heavy human toll involved in soul crushing commutes from the exurbs to the job centers. Would it warped to say to low income seniors: "we will continue to provide you with clean, safe housing, but now that you are no longer working, we will provide this further from the job centers, so that we can reserve the more expensive and scare units near the job centers so that low income workers don't have to commute two hours each way in traffic and rarely see their families." Honestly, it does seem a reasonable allocation of scarce public resources to me.