SEPTEMBER 10, 2010 police from other boroughs work with P.town police to gain control of a violent gang of tenants on Washington St.
Take the ‘Norris’ off the town, add ‘Potts’ and Part One, in a series being published by the Times Herald on crime and “possible answers to stem the tide”… could be talking about our own community of Pottstown.
In fact, renowned historian and author, Michael Tolle, a former resident of West Norriton has written a book entitled, “What Killed Downtown” (Can’t wait to get my copy). Based on excepts from the book and interviews with Michael, he has thoughtfully crafted a chronological timeline of influences and events in Norristown’s history – leading up to what it has become today – Michael is quoted from the article:
“Whatever happened to Norristown was fundamental enough that it applies elsewhere. That was my hope when I started. I never intended to write a book about Norristown that was meant to be read only by people in Norristown.”
My focus here is Section 8, (naturally). Call me obsessed but I own my home in Ward One, Pottstown, that is notoriously overrun with sub-standard rental housing. The tenants who rent here don’t seem to feel the need to keep the fact of their vouchers a secret, contrary to the guarded vault of privacy that HUD proclaims is designed to ‘protect’ the poor from being labeled. Voucher renters here take pride in their ability to acquire a voucher and, little else…
In fact, many times, it is touted as an honor, a special reward – like winning a trophy – for being poor enough or pulling the wool over the governments eyes.
I have a next door neighbor whose social life consists of sitting, endless idle hours every day, on his side porch or at the back of his yard under his carport on the alley, drinking with men from the area – holding court in loud and raucous conversation with the men and women in Pottstown who have nothing better to do with their time.
Often, there are people who live, courtesy of Section 8, in homes and apartments nearby and they loudly discuss the various techniques they have learned to avoid the rules of subsidized housing. From boyfriends who live with their babies mama’s, selling drugs from the rentals, while keeping it on the “low-down” (*wink *wink) – to women who openly discuss their young daughters pregnancies and how much money she will get, I hear it all – to my chagrin.
I know how many times a day, a week, or a month that either my husband or myself call the police to a Section 8 property for violent activity, drug sales, drug abuse, physical altercations and, situations that I consider child abuse. I know when other neighbors call and I KNOW which rentals are Section 8 and which rentals are not.
Neighbors, throughout Pottstown, know who the Section 8 renters are on their blocks too, unless the rare voucher renter happens to be respectful and discreet, there are predictable behaviors, incidents and mannerisms common among most voucher holders, and besides, they don’t mind boasting about their virtually free rent.
So when I read and hear comments from the executive directors of Voucher Housing programs say:
Smoking from a pipe on the steps of a Section 8 rental. Reported to MCVH = they took NO action.
“However, studies don’t bear out any connection between subsidized housing and crime”, an observation from Joel Johnson, executive director of Montgomery County Housing Authority, in the Times Herald article, I ask myself and…
I ask all of you to think about the reasons HUD and directors who administer voucher housing, across the land, rotley repeat the same mantra? (We heard Joel say the same thing at the County Commish’s meeting in Pottstown too).
The directors don’t site studies that back up their statements, although they are easy enough to find on the internet. I’ve come across oodles and oodles of academic studies and research, every one of them appear to be slanted to the expected conclusion of the governments desire to impress upon you that section 8 has nothing to do with crime. They could very well be funded by HUD for that very purpose, for all I know, that is until….
July, 2008 when the Atlantic published this piece, by Hanna Rosen. I’ll set the scene, but PLEASE be sure to read this story – it is a fabulous “who done it” !!
Set in Memphis, riddled with violent crime, live a normal married couple: U. of Memphis Criminologist, Richard Janikowski and his wife, U. of Memphis Housing Expert, Phyllis Betts. Both doing independent research, Janikowski mapping crime and Betts mapping Section 8 households, once the public housing projects were torn down and people were given vouchers, they dispersed throughout Memphis.
Because this couple were workaholics, (most likely), and because they brought their work home with them they, (somewhat reluctantly), merged their maps of crime and Section 8 housing together. Here’s what they found:
“Janikowski merged his computer map of crime patterns with Betts’s map of Section8 rentals. Where Janikowski saw a bunny rabbit, Betts saw a sideways horseshoe (“He has a better imagination,” she said). Otherwise, the match was near-perfect. On the merged map, dense violent-crime areas are shaded dark blue, and Section 8 addresses are represented by little red dots.
All of the dark-blue areas are covered in little red dots, like bursts of gunfire. The rest of the city has almost no dots.”
An American Murder Mystery: ”Why is crime rising in so many American cities? The answer implicates one of the most celebrated antipoverty programs of recent decades.”
So let’s examine Mr. Johnson’s convictions:
Johnson said: “People have many misconceptions about who is participating in the voucher program.”
Rest assured, Pottstown & Norristown homeowners have no misconceptions, we see what we see and know what we know. IF, per chance, it were the gov’s intention to improve Section 8 then, they will have to stop swimming in De Nile. Clearly, it is only their intention is to deny our reality and to defend the program, which is a bit like defending Charles Manson - only worse – because Section 8 is killing off entire communities.
“Over half of the participants in the voucher program are disabled,” Mr. Johnson goes on to say… Criminal background checks and other verifications are done when households apply that look for criminal activity.”
“Depending on the nature of the criminal history, going forward if there is new criminal activity we can take action to terminate people from the program.”
I am personally aware of two situations in Pottstown, right now, where a next door homeowner reported problems with Section 8 tenants to MCVH. From disruptive conduct, live-ins not on the lease, to stolen merchandise and drugs, (of which photo evidence exists along with a multitude of police reports), MCVH has done NOTHING to remove the culprit from voucher housing.
A landlord reported his tenant, Tracey Accor, in April or May, for destruction of his house, police and Sheriff reports of drug raids at the home, arrest of her daughter from the home, Sheriff’s battering down the door. Tracey retained her voucher and moved to another rental where she, or someone in her house, started an oil fire and displaced the neighbors next door. There has been no effort by MCVH, as reported to date by the former landlord, to investigate and remove her from voucher housing.
WHOSE DEFINITION OF “CRIMINAL” does Voucher Housing use to gauge bad, antisocial, destructive behavior? While they have definitely contributed to the demise of acceptable social norms in Pottstown, the law is still the law and crime is still crime. Is HUD under no obligation to assist in upholding law? Then, hypothetically speaking, does that make them accomplices when they look the other way? Property owners can be held liable when they know criminal activity takes place in their rentals…what makes a gov’t program immune?
“… So there are 3,000-plus housing authorities that operate voucher programs in jurisdictions all over the country. We happen to be the agency that administers the program here in Montgomery County and provide rental subsidies on behalf of income qualified households to rent privately owned rental units in any location that they choose.”
Any location that they choose?
Well, that’s not entirely true. A young black man arrived one day to share his story with me. After losing his job in Philly he, his wife and children needed housing assistance until he could find new work. Upon being accepted to Section 8, they were told, by an employee of MCVH, to take their voucher to Pottstown and look for housing in “The Square” the young man explained that was their reference to the First Ward, where the majority of voucher housing exists, along with crime…
CRIME Mr. Johnson, we know it when we see it. And, so did he. He told me he could not and would not move his family into a slum that did not feel safe. He frantically searched for housing in a neighborhood where his children could play outdoors, then, quickly found work. He is an exceptional, loving and responsible man.
Aside from all of the intellectual, academic, scientific studies that HUD and their executive directors of Voucher Housing offer us, the realities don’t pan out empirically.
Pottstown and Norristown are veritable laboratories of empirical data about crime and the failure of the Federal Govt’s Section 8 program.
Communities and generations of spirits are devastated and broken by the voucher housing experiment. The only real winners are Section 8 investors and the real estate industry – a very powerful lobby.
