
Anyone browsing the nation’s media outlets these days may notice increasing numbers of reports that combine a poisonous combination of the following words: tenants, lawsuit, rats, mould, sewage, lead piping, cold, heat, unreasonable eviction, as well as a toxic sludge of similar bon mots.
One of the features of many of these current news stories is that they refer to public housing now “privately-owned.” They receive HUD funding under Section 8 and there are at least two variants: Multi-Family and Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)1.
Why are so many of these privately-owned public housing projects popping up in the press? According to neoliberal thinking2, free enterprise solutions are meant to be superior to those managed by governments, as well as bumbling arms-length agencies such as housing authorities.
And certainly when it comes to public management of public housing tenants, there has been a long history — usually blamed on underfunding — of unpalatable results that continue today. For example, we have the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the nation’s largest housing authority, topping the list of the city’s worst landlords, yet again3. We hear that the CEO of NYCHA makes more money than the Mayor of New York and the Governor of the state combined4, that repair workers cover up work they’re supposed to repair5, that contractors win profitable NYCHA contracts by giving kick-backs6, and that decades of neglect has created a repair bill that is more than 40 billion dollars7. And NYCHA is just one of about 3,300 housing authorities in the country8.
But flaws of poor public management have at least a chance of being fixed. Funding can be increased. Better people can be hired. (Surely there’s competence available for less than middling six figures earned by NYCHA’s head?) And corruption can and must be, rooted out, public or private.
But nothing can root out profit-making and profit-taking. They are the heart and soul of free enterprise. And HUD is currently handing over public housing ownership to for-profit business entities. Those profit takers easily rationalize that their earnings can be maximized by “adjusting” the corners of resident health and safety. Or refurbishment efforts might be more economically helped via evictions rather than the nuisance of providing temporary accommodations. Who’s to stand in their way?
As it’s playing out in the media these days, standing in the way of private owner action or inaction would seem to be either nobody, the tenants themselves, or some other concerned agency. HUD, with overall responsibility for the entire privatization concept, appears to be using the “privatization” argument to wash its hands of responsibility. Hence the need for lawsuits from tenants and others who defend tenant rights.
Here’s a couple of RAD/Section 8 Funding examples plucked from a cursory survey of recent media stories in Scene: How HUD Subsidizes a Dangerous, Neglected Apartment Complex in Cleveland, News4JAX: Florida senators look to hold HUD accountable for neglected properties and Twin Cities Pioneer Press: Newport renters sue landlord for terminating their leases
Come on, governments! Surely there’s a better way to give respect to, and take care of, the nation’s poorest citizens — something better than offering them up as fodder for business profiteering that is feeding the rampant financialization of housing across all sectors of the market for human shelter.
Footnotes
- These are housing projects and distinct from the Section 8 “Housing Choice” vouchers that are distributed to help lodge low income people in free market rental accommodation.
- Try: National Housing Crises Everywhere? Fix Them By Killing Neoliberalism
- See BKReader: ‘We Are the New Flint’ – NYCHA Cited Again as City’s Worst Landlord
- See The City: Meet the City’s Half-Million-Dollar Man: New York’s Highest-Paid Employee
- See The City: NYCHA Workers Covered Up Signs of Mold to Skirt Cleanup, Probe Shows
- See NBC: 9 Contractors Charged in ‘Brazen’ NYCHA Kickback Scheme: Brooklyn DA
- See Bloomberg CityLab: The $40 Billion Housing Headache Facing New York’s Next Mayor
- See at HUD: Public Housing