March/April 1998

Shelter Shorts

From Welfare to Unemployment

Challenging the theories that tougher welfare restrictions impel people to find jobs and that the recent decline in welfare rolls indicates just that, a survey of New York State residents who left welfare between July 1996 and March 1997 found that only 29 percent reported income in the following quarter.

The survey, conducted by the New York State Department of Social Services, tracked 480,000 individuals who lost Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) or Home Relief subsidies. The survey relied on quarterly wage reports from employers to determine who among former welfare recipients had found jobs. The survey didn't distinguish between those who found part-time versus full-time employment, or those who found temporary work, nor did it take into account people working off the books, moving out of state, or otherwise circumventing the state's tracking methods.

Welfare reform activists cite the figures as evidence that workfare and similar programs that impose tough restrictions and fail to consider the availability of jobs or individuals' preparedness for jobs are more likely to drive people deeper into poverty than toward self-sufficiency. This was the first effort in New York State to determine what happens to people after they leave the welfare rolls.

"Up to now, there have been claims and counterclaims about the success of welfare reform, but there has been no data with which to evaluate those claims," said Marcia Meyers, an assistant professor of social work at Columbia University who specializes in welfare policy, in a New York Times article [3/23/98]. "This really gives us the first glimpse of life after welfare, and it is alarming."

Walls Fall in CT

At a time when enclosed communities are proliferating around the country-in low-income and wealthy neighborhoods alike-the Bridgeport, Connecticut, City Council recently ordered the removal of street barriers designed to inhibit drug traffic in the town's predominately Hispanic East Side. Though some residents agreed that the barriers had helped deter crime, many objected to the unsightly concrete blocks, which they felt marked the neighborhood as a troubled area and decreased legitimate commerce and services.

"It's costing the community more than it's helping," said Lydia Martinez, a Bridgeport councilwoman and East Side resident who initially voted for the barriers but led the fight to remove them. Since the barriers were first erected in 1993, at least 14 businesses have closed and others have suffered steep losses, according to The New York Times [2/6/98]. The now graffiti-marked barriers have also slowed street cleaning and snow removal, fire fighting, and deliveries.

Oscar Newman, credited with the "defensible space" concept that proposes designing "mini-neighborhoods" and closing certain streets to deter crime, says many communities use these methods the wrong way. Newman advocates designing gates or barriers with community participation, and avoiding the use of cheap, ugly concrete slabs or barrels.

In communities such as Five Oaks in Dayton, Ohio, [see Shelterforce # 93] where Newman worked with city officials and residents to adapt his methods, street closures have been cited as successes. But some observers point to other factors in Bridgeport-such as federal, state, and local investigations eliminating two major gangs-that have contributed to a decrease in crime.

With the barriers gone, some fear a potential re-escalation of crime. But Martinez and others who favor removing the barriers say the police department, which recently added 80 officers, should instead increase street patrols and provide equal policing for all Bridgeport neighborhoods.

Outward Bound

Forty-seven percent of the U.S. population lives in suburbs, up from 37 percent in 1975. In comparison, the number of Americans living in cities stayed at 31 percent during that time period. Along with this shift has come greater segregation, with minorities and low-income families remaining in the cities, leaving whites and upper-income families-who tend to vote more and give more money to political candidates-to gain an even more disproportionately powerful voice in Congress.

Public Supports Local Housing Initiatives

Most voters believe locally-based housing initiatives are effective and deserve support, a study by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) recently found. The study examined messages and images that reach the public about housing for low-income people. Conventional means that advocates use to win support for low-income housing, such as lamenting how bad the housing situation is, are non-starters, the study shows, while messages rooted in self help and examples of successful local programs and community action resonate with the public. NLIHC: 202-662-1530; www.nlihc.org

An increase in vacant apartments in New York threatens to create what the Metropolitan Council on Housing (Met Council) calls a "temporary illusion of housing abundance" that could eliminate the state's already weakened rent regulations. The regulations, modified by the state legislature last year, are contingent on the presence of a "housing emergency," defined as a vacancy rate of less than 5 percent. The city's vacancy rate has been nearing that figure. Met Council blames rising rents for the increase in vacancies and suggests that landlords may be choosing to keep apartments vacant while waiting for tenants who can afford higher rents brought about by last year's changes. The vacancy rate is also increasing because more families and individuals are sharing apartments. Met Council: 212-693-0550.

Ten years after the McKinney Act became the nation's first comprehensive homelessness legislation, the number of homeless has actually grown, according to a new report from the National Coalition for the Homeless. While the number of emergency shelter beds has increased dramatically in many places, the survey found that demand for beds still exceeds supply, and the number of homeless children has also increased significantly. NCH: 202-737-6444.

Houston's renewal plan for the city's Fourth Ward threatens to displace close to 400 people, many of whom have lived in the neighborhood's shotgun and row houses for decades, The New York Times reported [3/15/98]. The city has responded to protests by offering to help find housing and pay for moving costs for residents whose homes are in the bulldozer's path, but with 30,000 people already on the public housing waiting list in Houston, many doubt that offer. Of greater concern to residents, the article says, is the sense of community that will be lost when neighbors who have lived side-by-side for decades are scattered to all corners of the city.

First Union Corp.'s controversial acquisition of CoreStates Financial Corp. has moved closer to completion. The $17.1 billion deal has drawn criticism from most of Pennsylvania's Congressional delegation, along with CRA activists, concerning the loss of jobs and what some have called First Union's inflated CRA ratings. First Union has acknowledged that the merger will result in a net loss of 4,405 jobs, but also announced a $13 billion community reinvestment plan for the affected area around Philadelphia, according to an article in the Charlotte Observer [2/25/98]. A decision is expected from the Federal Reserve by late April.

Fearing that their landlord would pay off a federally-subsidized mortgage and thus be able to raise rents to market levels, residents of Darby Town Homes, a 172-unit housing development 7 miles outside of Philadelphia, mobilized in 1995 to take ownership of their building. Through an alliance with Community Builders, a Philadelphia-based CDC, residents participated in hundreds of hours of training in property and financial management only to have Congress slash the federal funding residents had counted on to help cover purchase costs. But in March the residents negotiated a preliminary financing agreement with First Union Bank to secure funding to purchase the complex. Community Builders: 215-246-0277.

Many Florida tomato pickers are earning less than they did 20 years ago, averaging between $8,000 and $10,000 per year-well below the federal poverty level. According to a New York Times article [2/1/98], the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group helping pickers organize to negotiate with growers, is seeking a 20 cent per bucket increase, to 60 cents each. This increase would only bring wages to the same level as 20 years ago (adjusted for inflation) and would still leave workers without benefits. The coalition has employed tactics such as strikes and hunger strikes and has prompted Governor Lawton Chiles and former President Jimmy Carter to call for a dialogue between pickers and growers. Thus far, only one grower has agreed to meet face-to-face.

Texas Tenants Union organizer Dina Levy was arrested and briefly jailed when she passed out fliers notifying tenants of a HUD-subsidized apartment complex that their building was one of 450 nationwide being targeted by HUD as substandard. According to an article in the Dallas Observer [3/18/98], Levy claims that the property owner and manager verbally assaulted her in an effort to intimidate her and convince her to stop her efforts, and ultimately had her arrested for trespassing. An attorney acting on Levy's behalf said she was there at the request of tenants, who have the right to invite anyone they want onto their property. A jury trial is set for April 20. Texas Tenants Union: 214-823-2999.

Low-income Pennsylvanians have a new incentive to save money, in the form of a state-subsidized program that offers funds to double individuals' qualified savings. The $1.2 million Family Savings Account program will match up to $600 over a two-year period for about 1,900 low-income families in the state. Participants in the program have to take part in a financial counseling program and must use the funds for tuition, day care, starting a business or other "approved activities." Women's Opportunities Resource Center: 215-564-5500.