[Vision2020] The Virtues Come First

[Andreas Schou]

> I agree that a "stable living environment" is damn nice to have.  How
> can "guarantee" that, though?  "Great minds" have been trying to do it
> for years, and I'm sure my fellow brilliant and capable thinkers (and
> the other people) on Vision2020 have ideas.  Implementing them is the
> sticky wicket.

Dan --

According to the federal government, the housing wage In Latah County
-- the wage necessary to make a two-bedroom apartment at fair market
rent affordable -- is $11.20 per hour. 41% of Latah County's jobs fall
beneath that range. So, unless you intend to give up on McDonalds
cheeseburgers and Wal-Mart's low, low prices, there needs to be room
in your worldview for a certain amount of intervention in the housing
market (1).

There is in fact an 'idea' that works, and that has worked since the
program's inception: the Section 8 voucher program, which subsidizes
rental units for the working poor and the elderly, so that they're 
able to afford a place to live, and able to move out of substandard
housing.

When faced with the problems of poverty, conservatives often throw up
their hands in mock despair and claim that nothing can be done and
that any money spent on the poor is wasted. Don't be fooled. We may
never conquer poverty, but in the areas of hunger and housing
instability, money spent is hardly wasted.

-- ACS
 
(1) Of course, this ignores the issue of low-wage employers. Should we
force low-wage employers to pick up the tab for offloading their costs
onto the state? Absolutely.