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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Thursday, January 10, 2013

A Man's Home Is His Subsidy


The Obama administration now proposes to spend millions more on handouts, despite ample evidence of their perverse effects.    Shaun Donovan, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says, "The single most important thing HUD does is provide rental assistance to America's most vulnerable families -- and the Obama administration is proposing bold steps to meet their needs." They always propose "bold steps."   Government's rules kill the incentive to succeed. …..Section 8 handouts are meant to be generous enough that tenants may afford a home defined by HUD as decent, safe and sanitary. In its wisdom, the bureaucracy has ruled that "decent, safe and sanitary" may require subsidies as high as $2,200 per month. But because of that, Section 8 tenants often get to live in nicer places than those who pay their own way. …..In this case, HUD wants to spend millions more to renew Section 8 housing vouchers that help poor people pay rent. ….. It was a reasonable idea. But, as always, there were unintended consequences. "On paper, Section 8 seems like it should be successful," says Donald Gobin, a Section 8 landlord in New Hampshire. "But unless tenants have some unusual fire in their belly, the program hinders upward mobility."   To Read More......

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