3 ms·

A family friend of mine -- a crackhead felon (theft) just got a beautiful 1-bedroom section 8 apartment in Weehawken, NJ with a gorgeous view overlooking Manhat

by p3rls 3y ago

A family friend of mine -- a crackhead felon (theft) just got a beautiful 1-bedroom section 8 apartment in Weehawken, NJ with a gorgeous view overlooking Manhattan for only $268 a month. She got her disability for depression and anxiety and she sells some pills she gets on the side for extra cash. She got the apartment quick too, only waited a few months after getting out of the county jail -- one of the perks of her family knowing the mayor in that town, I suppose. She sits around all day playing games and facebooking (on her free government tablet) No wonder disability rates are skyrocketing.

autoexec 3y ago
This "friend" of yours isn't remotely representative of most people on disability. Being well connected with wealthy powerful people tends to give you all kinds of advantages other people don't get.
- p3rls 3y ago
  The only special treatment she got was being bumped to the front of the list for her section 8 housing because of her impending "homelessness" was faked for the mayor. Very typical stuff though. I work in lot of lower income (NYCHA) buildings in NYC and see this sorta stuff all the time.
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    Felons usually can't get section 8 housing though? Or they have to wait 5 years or something? So how did she do that? Also, getting disability for depression is extremely difficult. Like to the extent that people who genuinely suffer can't actually get it. So this story sounds like something extremely rare/lucky, or else she had special treatment all over the place. (And being bumped to the front of the section 8 list is huge, since that wait can be many years long. That's not a minor thing.)
KleinDisk 3y ago
that lacks generalizability when we pivot to public policy implementation. Your use case lacks external validity.
- p3rls 3y ago
  Corruption and abuse of benefits lacks generalizability? Why would anyone work for the minimum wage in the current environment when they can make more money with section 8 and disability? (minimum wage = $15USD x40 x4 = $2400 a month before taxes) A disability payment will be around $1000, and one third of that will be taken for your free rent. As a side benefit you do not need to work at all. The idea here is this that this sorta thing actively hurts the very people that deserve to be helped -- the honest working poor. Instead the benefits go to the people who can work the system, who have practiced it over their entire lives, with some even taking informal but advanced classes at the county jail about these things.
Tao3300 3y ago
Good. Sounds like access isn't overly restrictive.
gamblor956 3y ago
This seems more a case of a politically connected individual using their political connections than a representative case of disability fraud. There are a lot of elements to this story that don't make sense. For starters, how did a felon qualify for section 8 housing so soon after release? Moreover, drug users are generally also barrer from section 8.

by p3rls 3y ago

autoexec 3y ago

This "friend" of yours isn't remotely representative of most people on disability. Being well connected with wealthy powerful people tends to give you all kinds of advantages other people don't get.

p3rls 3y ago
The only special treatment she got was being bumped to the front of the list for her section 8 housing because of her impending "homelessness" was faked for the mayor. Very typical stuff though. I work in lot of lower income (NYCHA) buildings in NYC and see this sorta stuff all the time.
- crazygringo 3y ago
  Felons usually can't get section 8 housing though? Or they have to wait 5 years or something? So how did she do that? Also, getting disability for depression is extremely difficult. Like to the extent that people who genuinely suffer can't actually get it. So this story sounds like something extremely rare/lucky, or else she had special treatment all over the place. (And being bumped to the front of the section 8 list is huge, since that wait can be many years long. That's not a minor thing.)

KleinDisk 3y ago

that lacks generalizability when we pivot to public policy implementation. Your use case lacks external validity.

p3rls 3y ago
Corruption and abuse of benefits lacks generalizability? Why would anyone work for the minimum wage in the current environment when they can make more money with section 8 and disability? (minimum wage = $15USD x40 x4 = $2400 a month before taxes) A disability payment will be around $1000, and one third of that will be taken for your free rent. As a side benefit you do not need to work at all. The idea here is this that this sorta thing actively hurts the very people that deserve to be helped -- the honest working poor. Instead the benefits go to the people who can work the system, who have practiced it over their entire lives, with some even taking informal but advanced classes at the county jail about these things.

Tao3300 3y ago

Good. Sounds like access isn't overly restrictive.

gamblor956 3y ago

This seems more a case of a politically connected individual using their political connections than a representative case of disability fraud. There are a lot of elements to this story that don't make sense. For starters, how did a felon qualify for section 8 housing so soon after release? Moreover, drug users are generally also barrer from section 8.