Kathryn Meadowcroft said she knows what it’s like to live in a homeless shelter, and now she is worried that she might have to return there next month.
Three years ago she was able to move out of the shelter after several months and into an attractive, one-bedroom unit in Seven Farms Apartments, a low-income complex, on Daniel Island.
Her move was made possible because of a little-known federal subsidy that Lowcountry housing advocates tapped to help more local residents find a decent home.
However, on Aug. 31, the program — known as the Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program — will expire because of budget cuts.
this what happens when you don ‘t curb entitlements – worthwhile discretionary programs (and the beneficiaries) pay the price. thanks to Barry and his dem pals for demagoguing entitlements and exploiting cut backs like this program as evidence of conservatives “heartlessness”. the schtick is inherently dishonest, shame, shame.
Its always hard to know from these (very typical) newspaper stories what the truth is. I do know one thing for sure, though. Robert Mitchell is either intentionally lying or he is too dumb to have the job he’s got. There are NO cuts in the current budget deal. There are only cuts in the AUTOMATIC 7.5% increases in the budget every year over the next 10 years. That is why S&P downgraded us. And Chris is right. We know nothing about these people’s families or any other circumstances they may. These kind of stories are NEVER balanced either. There was a story two years ago in the Spartanburg Herald about some man being taken advantage of by the Workers’ Compensatiom system. If you read it you might have been in tears for teh poor man. One problem–almost everything he was quoted as saying was a flat, slam fabrication. I handled the case for his employer and I know the facts–but you don’t think a reporter who works for a subsidiary of the NY TImes would have bothered to verify anything, do you? And when I called him he first hung up on me and then refused to take my calls. I wrote the editor and never even got a reply, because my version of the story didn’t fit their editorial bent.
When I was younger, on at least 3 occasions, I had a roomate to help make ends meet. Lots of folks have to do that. There was even a sitcom called 3’s comany about a mixed group of roomates. Why is that not an option for these people?
Sick&Tired;, the rules of subsidized housing forbid sublets or roomates. I have had two parishioners evicted for allowing adult children to live with them. There are a lot of such rules that restrict the freedom of those who need public assistance. Check with your local housing authority about their rental restrictions.
There are no rules restricting them from renting an apartment with a roomate and not getting government subsidized housing. In fact, I have made it for the past 26 years without getting any sort of subsidized housing, despite nearly a decade of minimum wage and entry level jobs. Now, I support a family of 5 (counting myself) on just my income. Just because the government doesn’t hand it to you doesn’t mean that it can’t be done.
These folks are being evicted. They have some time before that happens. It would be prudent for them to start networking with each other and making arrangements to share a commercial apartment and living expenses…just like so many folks already do.
I had to do it, why can’t they?
I have to agree with . Sick & Tired of Nuance if she can pay something she should be able to get a few people together and rent a house. There use to be boarding homes for lower income person or a family rents out a room and board. This is a classic problem with welfare; it robs the initiative to seek one own solution other than relying on the state.
I haven’t rented in a long, long while but I became familiar with the “rules” last year. Through church, I encountered an older woman who was living in what amounted to a shack and she was having health problems because of the bad conditions. I took her in with the understanding that she could use the time to get better and save up some money for the security deposit and such to rent a decent place.
I didn’t realize how difficult it is to find an affordable apartment. She worked full-time but only cleared about $1,500/month. Her credit score wasn’t very good. Both of these were major strikes against her. Rents have gone up because there’s increased demand from the foreclosure/mortgage problem. She finally found a place in a complex for adults over 50 that was run by a business/city housing cooperative.
From the leases I saw, you can’t take in roommates, so let’s clear up that misconception. You can have guests for no more than 2 weeks. Apartments run your credit score so if you’re poor and don’t have great credit, you won’t find a place in the open market. What ARE these people supposed to do?
I’ll tell you, until she found an opening in that complex, I was getting worried. With my health problems, it’s stressful to have someone else, with their different habits and drama, living with me. I had no idea how difficult it was for someone of modest means to find a safe, decent, affordable apartment. Now I understand why there has to be subsidized housing. You can’t leave it to the “free market” because the system has rules that lock out lower-income people.