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COMMENTARY: That's OK... I Really Like It Under The Bridge

Beneath the bridge,

Did dwell a troll;

But an apartment,

Was his goal.

One problem with poverty is that there's no money in it. That's why banks,

supermarkets, newspapers, and department stores avoid inner cities.

Check-cashers, bodegas, and laundromats are the hot tickets there now.

Another problem is that the poor have no free time. Poverty keeps them

hopping. There are often a couple jobs, a couple kids, a couple relatives, a

couple wretched cars, and a couple health afflictions. That leaves no time for

politics, or maybe even voting. Consequently, when government passes budgets,

people higher up on the food chain end up with the dough.

One clear example is housing. If you're rich enough to own a home, you get a

tax break for your mortgage interest, no questions asked. No application or

annual appropriation is needed. It just goes on year in, year out, regardless

of cost or personal wealth. The richer you are, the bigger the break. And now

TV ads urge us to get a tax break even on our credit card interest, just by

converting to a home loan. All we need is a house.

But about a third of Connecticut's families don't own one. A few simply don't

want the hassle, but most lack the wit, drive, or ancestors to become members

of America's home-owning mainstream. Tough luck. The devil takes the hindmost.

One new report says that 39 percent of Nutmeg renters cannot even afford a

typical two-bedroom apartment. That generally means they either live in a

crummy place, eat crummy food, don't get the hernia fixed, or all of the

above.

Fortunately our Judeo-Christian tradition does not let us ignore such

ill-housed breathren completely. Over time we have devised public housing,

Section 8, T-RAP, low-income housing tax credits, and other carefully targeted

programs. Unfortunately these trinkets have to be reapproved every year or

two. Some years are bountiful, others barren. Take T-RAP. This is a state

program which pays that portion of your rent exceeding 40 percent of income.

That is, if you're lucky enough to be selected. This year its budget is $5

million. Next year the governor has cut it to $2.5 million. Tough cookies.

But wait... what is the impact of having to spend even 40 percent of family

income on rent? When I was young, we were admonished to hold that to 25

percent. Otherwise we'd get in trouble.

And so, a lot of people are in trouble. An estimated 14 million kids live in

apartments with lead paint. Another 10,000 annually come down with asthma from

cockroach droppings. Nobody seems to have a reliable figure for rat bites. And

these, of course, are the folks with at least a roof over their heads. The

kids in homeless shelters often don't even go to school. Their moms can't pony

up the dough for the required physicals.

Somewhere, it seems, our vaunted Judeo-Christian tradition has taken a wrong

turn. When it comes to housing, even the dreaded atheists do a better job. We

could too, if we troubled to heed our own scriptures. Take homeless families.

They don't need shelters... they need homes. The right to a decent place to

live ought to be as fundamental in our God-fearing culture as a mortgage

interest deduction. And crazy street people need a rooming house, not a

bridge. Probably Prozac, too.

In Connecticut they don't get these things. There's no public support. We tell

the pollsters we want tax breaks, not housing units, so that's what the

governor gives. Connecticut, because of its high rents, low temperatures,

fascination with wealth, and rigid zoning, remains one of the worst places in

the country to find a decent home. We're not doing such a hot job as our

brother's keeper.