Category: Response Papers (May 1st) (Page 1 of 2)

Despite the Fair Housing Act being passed, housing discrimination is still frequent today in the United States. The act was passed to promote equality of all groups when renting or buying a home, yet minority groups are still being discriminated against in subtle ways. Redlining, the refusal of financial help such as loans based on race or ethnicity, is often used in the sense that people of color tend to receive higher down payments for homes regardless of their economic standing. This makes it even harder for minority groups to purchase or rent homes since they tend to be paid less and have a harder time finding jobs. Research provided by the CQ Researcher also demonstrated that white clients who were looking to buy or rent a home were shown “safe” neighborhoods, while minority groups were often shown to less safe areas with high crimes. If this is true for most cases, then certain neighborhoods would be predominantly one race or ethnicity, indicating a possible underlying form of segregation existing in the housing system. Thus, fueling the inequality that exists in America. While it’s hard to combat a system filled with different mentalities, a plausible solution as to how to decrease discrimination is through education. If people are educated, especially at a young age, about the social injustices that exist in our country, there can be an understanding about what they can do to change a system built to keep some people winning and majority losing.

Moreover, chapter 12 touched on increasing the minimum wage and similar to every issue that comes up, it comes with opposition and support. While a rise in the minimum wage might lead to slight inflation and an increased cost in expenditures on business owners, the overall benefits would outweigh this. In exchange, more people will have more money in their pockets for spending both on their necessities as well as luxuries, making life easier for more families. 

Urban poverty and housing discrimination are two issues that go hand in hand, and both collectively reveal that discrimination based on race, origin, and other characteristics that still presents a very real problem in our country. While poverty itself certainly isn’t race specific –it can happen to anyone—alarmingly high rates are seen in blacks, Hispanics, other minority groups, and even disabled individuals. This trend also appears for housing discrimination in which minorities and other disadvantaged groups share most of the burden. This discrimination even extends to bank loans and mortgage rates, which are made much more unfair for minority groups, making it even harder for them to purchase a home. Even honest bankers honest bankers who do not discriminate take into consideration factors like income and debt when lending money, which is problematic due to lower average income levels in minority groups. Thus, inadvertently or not, the system has made it increasingly hard for certain races and groups of individuals to gain access to equal housing, and by relegating them to poorer areas of the city, issues of poverty in these individuals continue to recur.

Chapter 11 makes it clear that it’s not just having a home that matters – the location and quality of a home matters just as much. To learn that one-third of African Americans living in cities are in fact living in hyper-segregated neighborhoods was extremely concerning because the neighborhood you live in dictates the opportunities you get, which poses grave socioeconomic obstacles for those living in isolated neighborhoods. For example, they are at a major disadvantage when it comes to accessing better school districts, and even better-paying jobs, thus hindering their growth and perhaps even contributing to further waves of poverty.

I strongly believe that it’s the government’s responsibility to enforce inclusion of people from all backgrounds in every neighborhood. While laws such as the HUD’s Fair Housing Act of 1968 exist for the purpose of prohibiting acts of discrimination when they are purchasing housing, it’s clear that this kind of segregation continues to exists, raising question as to the adequacy/proper enforcement of these laws. Diverting more funding towards preventative measures –those that would enforce inclusion in white-only suburban areas, and address the root causes of poverty in certain racial groups—as opposed to short term ameliorative measures such as food stamps is how our government should consider dealing with these issues.

The recession in 2007 made our economy suffer tremendously. My father, for instance, was working in the mortgage business for over ten years and lost his job. Thankfully, we never faced poverty but our economy is still suffering and hasn’t fully recovered yet. Poverty is an issue that countless administrations have tried to solve. And each one has come up with different ways to combat poverty. Considering poverty is still so prevalent today, there hasn’t been any policy or program that has been able to win the “war on poverty”. Poverty is caused by “racism, crime, unemployment, poor schools, family breakdown, high incarceration rates…” There are food stamps and lower-cost housing for people living in poverty, but public assistance isn’t helping them become independent. Instead, they remain dependent on the government; something they themselves don’t want.

The thing that strikes me about poverty is that people who are working full-time jobs cannot support themselves. Working minimum wage, as I’ve said in past responses, is not sufficient to live off of. Both democrats and republicans agree that our economy needs to grow and that there need to be more, better-paying jobs in order to help alleviate poverty. But the parties don’t agree when it comes to raising the minimum wage. Democrats make a good point that the minimum wage should reflect the times and the inflation rates. More than 40% of employable working-age adults are working full-time and they should be able to live off of their salary. Those opposed to a minimum wage raise, explain that a raise could get rid of the number of entry-level jobs. They also see the salary that workers are being paid lining up with their value, and their output. When their value increases, their salary will increase. They believe that people living in poverty won’t be hired at all for jobs because they won’t be willing to pay them the new minimum wage.

Fair-housing laws outlawed race discrimination, but that doesn’t mean the practice has ended. Landlords still manage to employ discrimination in housing through various loopholes. For example, a landlord might not show a Hispanic tenant a two-bedroom apartment, but he will show it to the white applicant. White tenants might be offered preferential rents or have fees waived while other minorities are not given these privileges. Not only to people of color and different race face discrimination, but this is also a severe issue for disabled people as well.

As a result, minorities and the disabled are forced to settle in poor neighborhoods and are unable to receive the same comforts, security, and opportunities. Thus, housing discrimination contributes to the prevalent issue of poverty in New York City. This is an example of the interconnectedness of various problems faced by New York City residents.

However, as I was reading this week’s passage, I couldn’t help but think that although housing discrimination is wrong and unfair, from the land lord point of view, shouldn’t it be up to him or her to decide who they want to live in their private property. Their conceptions may be misdirected but after all it belongs to them. Here too, the problem of private property rights and government intervention is debated. How far can the government go without it being considered a breach on private property rights, one of the rights stated in our bill of rights.

Urban Poverty and housing discrimination has many correlations towards one another. Housing discrimination, post civil rights era mainly occurs in urban areas. For example; if a low income family is looking for section 8 housing, it is difficult for them to find that housing because of the  prices of the homes in the city, or land lords are refusing to house them due to their own personal reasons. Also, with the added affects of gentrification, many low income people would have to move outside of the city because it is hard for them to afford the price in crease of rent, when the neighborhood begins changing, and it value increases. That is one of the reasons why there are a lot more of low income people living in the suburbs than the city because of affordability.  That is also a reason why major cities like New York City have a difficult time fitting low income people into the new housing because even though many real estate developers build the apartments, and leave some apartments open for section 8 users, the price of the apartment, plus the money of the voucher still makes the apartment expensive to live in. Also, getting into project housing can take years, and it is already over crowded.

When reading the chapter about Urban poverty, I found it shocking that the poverty rate is still increasing. Granted a lot of the most recent information is from 2014, but with the changes that have been made to deal with poverty, I expected the numbers to be decreasing not increasing. What I did not find to be shocking is that the largest percentage of those who lived in poverty were African Americans. I do not find it to be shocking because there are many historical factors such as limited access to education, jobs, housing, and low mortgage rates from laws like the G.I Bill, has held African Americans back from elevating themselves. Also, with the stereotype that African Americans are the largest group on welfare (which is untrue), many of those who are in need are held back from need based welfare.

In the reading I saw an argument for raising minimum wage. On the yes side of raising minimum wage, they believe that raising the wage would reduce people living in poverty by the millions. They also points out that even though critics believe that people in poverty do not work, in contrary they do work and by increasing minimum wage, a family living in poverty can step out of the threshold. On the no side, the person argues that it will only help about 5% of the people living in poverty,and it would limit the amount of entry level jobs available that will accept people with limited skills. The biggest argument for the no side is that with the minimum wage increase, it may take them out of poverty on paper, but it will stop them from receiving aid that can help them relieve other financial stresses, especially if you live in a huge city where rent, and other expenses can be too much for a certain wage to afford. I actually agree with the no side because it is not enough to raise minimum wage, you also need to raise the poverty threshold so other expenses that live in comes families may have can be paid as well, which is difficult as each state has a different standard of living.

Housing and rental discrimination still persist today.  In the past, discrimination was more open and overt; today, it is subtle.  Minority buyers and renters are treated less favorably than whites.  Whites generally are given more information, help, and options than minorities by realtors, bankers, and insurance providers.  For example, banks have become stricter to minorities, offering “higher down payments and less favorable mortgage rates.”  As a result, minorities have a tougher time buying a house.  Very little has been done to dismantle the segregated neighborhoods.  Real estate practices continue to contribute to residential segregation. Even today, the Fair Housing Act is not adequately enforced.  For example, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is processing fewer complaints, it is taking longer to process complaints, and victim compensation has declined.

I truly believe that educating those in poverty can help decrease urban poverty rates. Inner city schools should provide equal opportunities to students that other schools in the U.S. offer. If funding is an issue for inner city schools, then the government should increase the schools’ funding (easier said than done). Federal aid and programs can work but they are seriously flawed. Many people that qualify to receive aid can use the assistance. But if they are working and receive raises for doing well or promoted to a higher position with a higher wage, those once eligible for aid will no longer be eligible. Thus, these people can be worse off if they receive a wage increase. We can’t slightly open the door for those in poverty and then shut the door once they reach the handle. I remember one class we spoke about whether a job application should have a box to check for those that were incarcerated. If the box disappeared, many more people will be able to get jobs and support their families. Of course those that sexually molested children shouldn’t be able to work in a daycare (or anywhere). But the people who were busted for petty crimes, such as carrying drugs in their pocket, should be able to work.

The “War on Poverty” was declared by President Lyndon B. Johnson fifty years back but this is a war that is still going on today. Furthermore, the issue has just worsened over the last few decades as a study by City Observatory stated that the number of high poverty neighborhoods in our largest cities have tripled since 1970 and the number of poor people living in those high poverty neighborhoods has doubled. This is of course an issue that is being dealt with, but we will need to do a lot more if we ever hope to solve it. I’ll admit that dealing with poverty isn’t so simple. There is a lack of a high-quality education for those from a lower socioeconomic background and a lack of jobs due to many industries that have stagnated over the years. In addition, social issues like housing discrimination make it extremely hard for people, namely minorities, to find housing in a decent neighborhood.

Poverty isn’t something restricted to African Americans, Hispanics, or a specific race – but it’s true that minority groups are hurt the most by the far-reaching effects of poverty. While more federal aid and anti-poverty programs can indeed help, it’s not enough to solve this long-term issue. Poverty is cyclical – those who are in poverty are likely to stay in poverty for a long time but that doesn’t mean we can’t do anything about it. The government will need to take different approaches, some of which will be controversial such as increasing the federal minimum wage or increasing taxes on extremely wealthy individuals. Big businesses should also be doing more against poverty since they have been doing quite well in recent years. If we want to break the cycle of poverty, we will need everyone to do their part.

In Chapter 11 of Urban Issues, it is stated that regulations require lenders to closely examine factors such as a borrower’s income and debt levels which indicate an applicant’s ability to repay. Thus, according to Urban Issues, these factors are more often correlated by race and ethnicity. The fact that this is the case poses a really big problem with the system. It poses the issue of inequality once again and that not everyone has a fair opportunity of achieving their goals, whether it getting into a prestigious university or owning a home. Chapter 11 of Urban Issues highlights the point that non whites are often stagnant socioeconomically because they are not shown a way out of their income brackets and more so poverty. For instance, Urban Issues states that the HUD is guilty of consigning the poor to the inner city instead of having public housing throughout the city. In addition, one third of all African Americans living in the city were living in highly or hyper segregated neighborhoods. The only way people can really want a better life is if they have something to compare to. If non whites are constantly placed in neighborhoods that are impoverished then they would not know any better and even if they want to create a change, there are no resources accessible for them to do so. Some stated examples that showed this type of discrimination to be true was that the white testers who posed as customers were shown to a “safe” neighborhood while those who were black were shown to less desirable, high crime areas and African Americans, Hispanics and Asians seeking apartments to rent were shown fewer units than whites. One interesting point that was discussed in Urban Issues was that not much funding is granted to testers and part of the reason for this I believe, might be because the government does not want to openly admit discrimination is an issue because it’ll ultimately fall upon them to fix it. Furthermore, something that was quite surprising was that the allegations of housing discrimination against people with disabilities represented more than half of the complaints filed in 2014.

In Chapter 12 of Urban Issues, it is noted that in Detroit 67% of the people living there, live under the poverty line. One of the main reasons for this as discussed is because people aren’t earning enough to keep up with the cost of living. Hence, this leads into the topic of increasing minimum wage. Increasing the minimum wage has its pros and cons like everything else but it’s safe to say it’s necessary if for example in Detroit, half of the population is living in poverty. Yes, business owners rightfully earn their money because it’s their businesses but they can afford to spend more on labor to ensure that people have enough to survive. It was also quite surprising to see that anti-poverty programs account for only 1/6 of federal spending but yet lifted millions of Americans out of poverty. As much as anti poverty programs like social security and food stamps help people in need, the government should also put more funding into programs and initiatives that would prevent people from being at the poverty line in the first place.

I was unimpressed with this chapter.  To be frank I’ve been unimpressed with a large portion of the CQ reader, because it has seemed to conform to many of the party lines in its analysis, while not providing true innovative thought, which I was hoping it would.

While reading this chapter, I was appalled to learn of the proposals to solve the problem of urban poverty, the first always being better paying jobs. Furthermore, it is discussed that big business and the wealthy should intervene, and that federal housing may be able to solve the problem.  Quite frankly, I am of the belief that all these solutions would simply relocate the problem, or temporarily solve it. In my mind, the beginning to the road to real progress on the alleviation of urban poverty begins with the public schooling system, and the inconsistency with funding.  Anyone who feigns surprise when they hear of the one sidedness when it comes to funding for public schooling within the City should simply take a short trip to Brownsville-East New York,  or visit Clinton H.S. in the Bronx, and realize that there are real issues that many people seem to be ignoring.  A good friend of mine who I work with, born in raised in Brownsville, is the victim of this disparity of funding.  At 22 years old, I can vouch for his intelligence, but further vouch for his lack of education which has resulted in his caddying and working at a fast food restaurant as his chosen career paths.  And to some extent it is a shame, in that his brother is graduating with a bachelor in Accounting this year, while his educational past has led to a lack of prospects for his own future.  These types of narrative, of which I a personally aware of numerous, are the beginning of the issue with Urban Poverty in my mind.

I did think that the “Promise Zones” hold potential, but that the federal and state funds should be provided even more so to the public schools within these areas, to ensure students are given ample attention and materials in order to ensure that their needs are met.  If it is unclear, I am a believer that education is the key to a future of opportunity, and once funds are already being allocated, we must make sure that they are allocated to areas which would have true benefits for entire communities as well as individuals, not to mention America as a country, far into the future.

Urban poverty is a serious issue that has existed for years and will most likely exist for many years to come. Chapter 12 in CQ Reader discusses how urban poverty has come about and ways to combat it. As with every issue, it boils down to politics. Liberals want to have social programs and federal aid, while conservatives want the government to have a smaller role and individuals to take personal responsibility. Greg Mankiw, a Harvard economics professor, stated, “Economic theory says that the wage a worker earns, measured in units of output, equals the amount of output the worker can produce.” While this is simplifying the idea and there are other factors involved, there is truth to this statement. A worker can only be paid for what the value of their work is worth. I believe the best way to increase the value of a worker’s worth is through productive educational programing.

Richard Doar, a fellow in poverty studies at the American Enterprise Institute, explains that the importance of job training and educational programs that help prepare young people for work. Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, delved into the importance of programs to help people prepare and find jobs by providing job training and educational programs. He adds discouraging pregnancy outside of wedlock to his list of ways to aid society. While I disagree with that statement to a certain extent, I appreciate his clarification that it is an economic judgment and not a moral one. The bottom line is giving members of society the tangible tools that can help them succeed will do just that. As the Chinese proverb goes, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

As a society, we need to also help those who we may fear or have different feelings towards. Becky Pettit, a University of Washington sociologist, showed proof to the “prison to poverty” cycle. She showed how poverty lead to crime which leads to imprisonment. A vicious cycle that causes the rate of young African-American men who dropped out of high school and were in jail to almost quadruple. The Ready, Willing, and Able transitional jobs program is great way to help formerly homeless or incarcerated men have a second chance. In life we all make mistakes and it is important to have groups that are willing to help those that need it. A 2010 Harvard University studied showed that Ready, Willing and Able reduced reoffenders by 60 percent. This reminds me of a recent TED talk I watched. Adam Foss, a prosecutor, believes in the reallocation of prison funds to provide help for those who can benefit from programs to better their futures. Instead of throwing people in jail, Foss believes that providing proper education can help make society a better place. I agree with him and truly believe that he is changing the role of the prosecutor for the positive.