KHOU: City housing repair program raises questions
Earlier this week, KHOU ran a story by Dan Lauck on one of those public-private partnerships designed to help low-income people that hasn't exactly worked out:
Six years ago the feds, the city and two non-profit agencies jumped in to save the homes of senior citizens many of whom now feel ripped off.
“And the house is unlevel. You can see that. It’s just a mess. I don’t understand it,” said Williams.
Neither does Pauline Banks, who watched from across the street. She’s in the same mess.
“This happened before I got here,” said Milton Wilson.
Wilson was brought in as the Director of City Housing, to fix the program.
He says the quality of the work was bad enough that the feds shut off the money and told the city to go back and re-inspect the work.
People who question such programs in the first place are generally labeled meanies (since the programs are designed to help the poor, the reasoning seems to be that they must not be questioned). And then, we sometimes learn years later that people with the right connections to the city seem to have benefited more than some poor people -- which doesn't really help the poor people or the taxpayers all that much.
It's worth keeping such stories in mind when we hear of the latest, greatest public-private initiatives to help the poor.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/24/06 12:41 PM | Print |
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