The Freedom Movement left an enduring legacy by overcoming a brutal and seemingly all-powerful form of segregation that Vincent Harding calls a “terroristic system” of violent subjugation. Its legacy now extends far beyond America’s shores, for it has ignited the hopes of millions of people waging struggles for freedom overseas.
The Patron Saint of Charity and Justice
Martin de Porres was a defender of homeless people, a healer of the sick, a protector of unwanted animals, and the patron saint of all victims of racial prejudice. Martin broke through all the stereotypes and racial prejudices of his society and offered charity wherever it was needed.
The Street Spirit Interview with Vincent Harding
Martin was attuned to the Hebrew prophets, and that was their constant message: Don’t talk about loving God or being religious unless you stand with the outcasts and the weak. Jesus said the same thing. There’s no way to understand Martin’s urgency about standing with the poor without taking into consideration his deepest religious grounding.
A Poet’s Sendoff for ‘Saint Carlos the Melodious’
In a city full of poets, there are few whose very lives are poetry. Carlos was one whose whole life was poetry. He radiated kindness and good will. No one can remember hearing Carlos say an unkind word about another person. His phone message was a musical invitation that included waltzing bears.
First Victory for Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights in California
Rhode Island has already passed a Homeless Bill of Rights. Oregon, Vermont, Connecticut and Missouri are joining California in calling for one. A Homeless Bill of Rights is particularly significant today. The federal government has abandoned any pretense of its responsibility to “ensure safe, decent and affordable” housing for the poorest people.
Nationwide Protests Demand That Congress Uphold Immigrant Rights
Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin accused ICE of undermining her city’s devastated economy in the middle of a recession. “Their firing is a violation of their human rights. When they say that [immigration] raids are targeting criminals, it’s not true. People who are just trying to make a living are being targeted big time.”
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Federal Voucher Reform Bill Will Harm Poorest Tenants
Commentary by Lynda Carson
As so-called charities and nonprofit affordable housing developers are grabbing more and more funds from the nation’s affordable housing programs to pay their extremely high salaries, there is less money to go around for the needs of the poor, and to subsidize low-income renters.
As a direct result, on behalf of the affordable housing industry that wants to keep these high salaries in place, the federal government is about to remove the cap that limits the amount of rent that can be charged to the poorest of the poor.
Yet, there are no caps on how much money the executives in the so-called affordable housing industry can grab for their often excessively high salaries and wage compensation.
A revised draft of the proposed voucher reform bill was released by Republican staff of the House Financial Services Committee on Jan, 13, 2012. In essence, the voucher reform bill would end an existing cap on the amount of monthly rent that poor residents can be forced to pay. If the proposed new measure is passed into law, it would negatively affect low-income residents throughout the country who reside in public housing, or live in subsidized housing units, or hold Section 8 vouchers.
Rather than asking affordable housing developers to reduce their exorbitant salaries, the poor are being asked to give more of what little they have, or face eviction from subsidized housing.
As an example: Project-based Section 8 tenants typically pay 30 percent of their monthly income toward rent, with rental assistance making up the difference between what the tenants can afford and the approved rent. But even tenants with very little or no income are required to pay something. Currently, if 30 percent of a tenant’s income is less than $50, he or she can be charged a minimum rent of up to $50 a month.
Under the draft of the new law, the cap on the minimum rent would be lifted. The new minimum rent would be set at least $69.45, and would be annually indexed to inflation.
If the caps are removed there will be no limits to rent increases. “The current HUD secretary, or the next one could go beyond,” said Linda Couch of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. With the cap removed, “there is no limit.”
“Freedom of Assembly.” This artwork by Art Hazelwood is one of four panels that portray the way our nation has utterly failed to honor the “Four Freedoms” proclaimed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.
Any and all tenants that cannot pay the new rent increases being demanded of them face eviction.
Meanwhile, covetous executives in the so-called affordable housing industry are allowed to continue grabbing more funds for their excessive salaries.
All tenants living in affordable housing projects are urged to unite and protest. They are urged to demand in writing that executives and employees in the organizations that own and manage the buildings they reside in must roll back their salaries and wage compensation to less than $80,000 per year!
Tags: affordable housing, affordable housing industry, Art Hazelwood, face eviction, harm low income tenants, high salaries, House Financial Services Committee, loss of public housing, low income tenants, Lynda Carson, poor, public housing, rental assistance, Section 8 housing, voucher reform bill, wage compensation