Evictions from public housing near
Starting Friday, the Atlanta Housing Authority will begin evicting tenants who are not working, in school or in a work force training program.…
The authority, which began notifying residents about the new rule last fall, said it is trying to end concentrated poverty by encouraging public housing tenants to become more self-sufficient.
Last October, residents between the ages of 18 to 61 and not disabled who lived in the 13 traditional public housing units and in Section 8 houses were informed they would face eviction if they were not working, going to school or in a work force training program.…
The new policy is “Draconian,” said Sheila Crowley, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a Washington-based group dedicated to ending the affordable housing crisis.
Draconian: Exceedingly harsh; very severe.
Help me out here. These people are given a free or nearly-free place to live. They get daycare vouchers and Medicaid and food stamps and $deity knows what else. They live in the only part of Georgia that can truly be said to have public transportation, which has artificially low fares due to tax subsidies.
How is it “exceedingly harsh” to be required to go to school or work?
One of the tenants interviewed is 23 and 5 months pregnant with her third child. There was no mention of any partner in her life. She lives with her mother, who is only 40. Neither woman works, and the daughter says that by the time she could get enrolled in school she’d have to drop out to have her baby.
They were notified of the policy in October. I’ll be charitable and figure it was the end of October. She wasn’t pregnant then but chose to get pregnant since then.
Yes, she CHOSE to get pregnant. She’s got access to a variety of agencies that would provide her with birth control, including emergency contraception if she were a victim of rape.
Why do I suspect there are no identifiable fathers in those children’s lives?
Here’s an idea: you live in public housing, you get birth control implants or reversible sterilization surgery.
