Let’s not waste our time trying to solve the issues . . . that’s too hard.
The Mayor is back with his broken plan to disperse poverty. The plan is broken because it likely isn’t legally possible and it won’t accomplish what he wants.
Can someone who the Mayor might listen to explain to him two fundamental flaws to his plan.
1. If the two housing authorities merge, there will no longer be the rule that if you apply inside the City of Madison, for the first year you have to live here and if you apply from outside the City of Madison, for the first year, you have to stay in Dane County outside of the City of Madison. With a merger, these lines go away. Given a choice, do you think people will be moving outside the City, or to the City (where there is better public transportation and more services)? Plus, while all landlords in Dane County are required to take section 8 vouchers, many outside the City do not and two municipalities (Sun Prairie and Middleton) are trying to make sure that their landlords don’t have to follow the county law. Hmmmm . . . somehow I think this plan to disperse may end up concentrating section 8 renters, not dispersing them.
2. Yes, it is important to build more affordable housing outside the City of Madison, but when you do that, do you think somehow people from Madison are suddenly going to flock to Cross Plains and Mt. Horeb? Or, do you think that the people who currently live in those towns also need the affordable housing.
This plan to disperse poverty has holes in it. I feel sorry for those who have to sit on a committee and waste their time for a year. Meanwhile, actually SOLVING poverty issues doesn’t seem to be on the radar screen.
