Public housing supporters anger non profit housing developers

Public housing supporters anger non profit housing developers

by Lynda Carson -- June 7, 2010

Berkeley -- The rebellion against the proposals to privatize public housing in Berkeley and elsewhere has spread like wild fire, as one or more members of the East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO) are waiting in the shadows to take ownership of Berkeley's 75 public housing units, if HUD approves of the privatization scheme.

Matthew Schwartz, the President of the non profit organization called California Housing Partnership Corporation (CHPC) supports a recent proposal by HUD to privatize our nations 1.2 million public housing units that is called PETRA, and is angered by those who are supportive of public housing.

CHPC has many clients in the so-called affordable housing industry including members of EBHO that stand to profit if public housing becomes privatized, and ownership of public housing units are transferred to the so-called non profit affordable housing developers.

Once an affordable housing developer takes control of an residential building, they milk the property dry by charging excessive fees, including administrative fees, management fees, maintenance fees, professional fees, wages, salaries and employee benefits, resulting in high rents and deferred maintenance at the properties until the developer can obtain a grant, or loans to do major repairs.

With homelessness on the rise, and thousands across the nation speaking out against the latest proposals to privatize our nations 1.2 million public housing units, the so-called non profit affordable housing industry feels threatened by those who are speaking out against the privatization of public housing.

In California, public housing provides housing for the elderly, poor, disabled, and low-income families on fixed incomes such as General Assistance, Cal Works, SSI and Social Security, including households with no income at all.

In comparison, so-called affordable housing developers that are clients of Matthew Schwartz and CHPC, have minimum income requirements at their housing developments that discriminate against the poor, unless the poor are subsidized by the Section 8 program, or some other subsidized housing program.

Additionally, many developers in the so-called affordable housing industry are directly involved in Hope VI development projects locally and nationally that result in the privatization of public housing, displacing the poor from their public housing by the tens of thousands across the nation.

A May 24, Op-Ed piece by George Lakoff called, "Below the Radar: HUD Is Trying to Privatize and Mortgage Off All of America's Public Housing," that appeared on websites across the nation, has helped to spark a rebellion against the profiteers that want to privatize America's public housing.

George Lakoff is a Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley. As a well known academic in the world of politics, Lakoff is among thousands recently that are speaking out against the proposal to privatize public housing that is called PETRA.

PETRA is a HUD policy proposal called the "Preservation, Enhancement, and Transformation of Rental Assistance Act of 2010," that would accelerate the privatization of public housing all across the nation, if enacted into law by Congress.

In a recent May 25, e-mail sent to Amie Fishman, Executive Director of the East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO), and other affordable housing developers, Matthew Schwartz of CHPC lashes out at Lakoff, and accuses Lakoff of ranting, and doing a real disservice to the so-called affordable housing industry for speaking out against the proposals to privatize public housing.

This is the same industry that stands to profit by billions if our nations public housing stock becomes privatized, and falls into their grasp. Schwartz urges Fishman and other affordable housing developers to support PETRA, claims that he is in touch with HUD officials to lobby on-behalf of PETRA's passage, and ends his e-mail message to EBHO's Fishman by writing, "P.S. I'm copying some of your colleagues across the state with this reply as I fear they are receiving the same Lakoff diatribes."

With wages and compensation over $150,000 annually, Schwartz earns around 15 times more per year than many poor people residing in public housing, and is out of touch with public housing residents who feel threatened by the prospect of being displaced once their public housing is privatized, and the buildings are placed at risk of bank foreclosure as a result.

Meanwhile, in Berkeley, public housing residents have been speaking out in opposition to a scheme to privatize their long-time public housing, and around 209 low-income residents face displacement from their housing if the privatization scheme is approved by HUD.

As recent as June 3, a number of public housing residents appeared at Berkeley's Housing Advisory Commission meeting to speak out against the privatization scheme that would displace them from their housing.

In recent months, members of Amie Fishman's group EBHO, including Ryan Chao of Satellite Housing, Dan Sawislak of Resources for Community Development, Susan Friedland of Affordable Housing Associates, and Jack Gardner of the John Stewart Company have all been in discussions with consultants of the Berkeley Housing Authority, as part of a scheme to privatize Berkeley's 75 three and four bedroom town-home public housing units.

One or more members of EBHO's so-called non profit housing developers may end up owning Berkeley's 75 public housing units, once HUD approves the privatization scheme.

In Oakland, members of EBHO have already been involved in redevelopment projects at Chestnut Linden Court, Mandela Gateway, Coliseum Gardens and Tassafaronga Village, that have displaced hundreds of low-income public housing residents from their housing as a direct result.

In support of public housing, former Berkeley Rent Board Stabilization Commissioner and Community Activist Eleanor Walden says, "I am outraged that the non profit housing sector is so deeply involved in the privatization of public housing. Once public housing is gone, it is gone! There will be no place left to reside for mothers, our daughters, and others that have no income at all. The loss of public housing will increase homelessness. It's so intensely sinister that the non profit housing sector lobbies with HUD for the privatization of public housing, and in back room deals with local Public Housing Authorities.

Click below to sign a petition in opposition to the privatization of public housing...

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-public-housing.html

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com