HB 26-07: The Disabled and Needy Rental Fairness Act (Passed)

[SevenEleven]

Like many complicated issues, housing is an area where local, state, and regional governments have proven incapable of solving major problems. In fact, many of these cities have exacerbated their specific problems with compassion clauses or simply by being a nice place to live. It's much better for the federal government to intervene so that the most vulnerable can remain in their own communities instead of congregating in other cities or states.

[SevenEleven]

Rep. Jessica, I have an idea for this bill that might require a bit of work. My idea is that we can keep the parts make renting more fair, and couple that with the construction of some large new public housings divisions in areas that have cheap land and temperate climates to be administered by the federal government and act as a more long term solution. What do you think?

[SevenEleven]

Rep. Jessica, I have some tweaks to formalize this a bit if that's okay with you. It might take me a day or two though. I will build upon your latest changes.

[SevenEleven]

Ftr, I need a little more time for this. It's an important project so there should be no harm in making sure we get it right.

[SevenEleven]

Update: I'm still working on this don't worry.

[SevenEleven]

Mr.Speaker

I ask when will seven have his improvements ready? Our poor and homeless need help and we need to get it done for them.

I yield

I will have it ready very soon, sorry, I've been dealing with some stuff at the moment.

[SevenEleven]

                                                                  AN ACT
                                        The Housing Reform Act for Needy Atlasians
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Atlasia in Congress assembled,

Section I. Title & Definitions
i. The long title of this Act shall be the "The Housing Reform Act for Needy Atlasians"

Section II: Fair Rent Provisions
i. All disabled and SSI/SSDI recipients shall not pay more security deposit within the Republic of Atlasia because of their disability or needs.
ia. This includes people with little rental history.
ii Landlords shall be banned from setting monthly rent to income requirements higher than 2-1 within their rental agreements or policies to get into an apartment.
iii. All waitlists shall exclude factors such as income requirements higher than twice the rent or rental history.
iv. All peoples making less then $25,000 per year shall be included within the needy category and shall be included within section ii and iii above.
iva. All people within the needy category must be employed or actively seeking employment.

Section III: Federal Housing
i. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is granted $50 billion to construct affordable modular home complexes.
ii. These complexes will provide housing for those who cannot adequately provide for themselves.
iii. The first three complexes should be able to house up to 20,000 people.
iiia. The recommended locations are Colby, KS, Ellisville, MS, and Grayson, KY.
iiib. Each unit shall be between 400 and 500 square feet of living space.
iiic. Each unit shall meet the electrical and plumbing requirements determined by HUD.
iv. Residents will receive a monthly stipend of $300.
iva. Residents will have access to work opportunities to earn more money.
v. HUD shall work with the regional and local governments to ensure that homeless populations are matched with a home.
Section IV. Expansion of Subsidies
i. HUD is granted $10 billion to expand rent subsidies for low-income and disabled Atlasians
ia. Preference will be given to SSI/SSDI recipients.
ii. These subsidies shall not exceed 50% of rent or $700 per renter, whichever is greater.

[SevenEleven]

I will ask the sponsor if this amendment is to be considered friendly or unfriendly.

Also, to Sev, are there justifications for the three recommended locations for modular home complexes in Section III? Is this section in general in compliance with existing HUD regulations?

Actually, the locations I've suggested were chosen due to their proximity to major transportation arteries, open land available, and the ability to boost economies that could use the help. What I didn't do was provide a mechanism to change that based on HUD analysis, but it's something I think we should consider. I'll let the sponsor respond first, and my fullest apologies to Rep. Jessica for taking so long.

[SevenEleven]

I will ask the sponsor if this amendment is to be considered friendly or unfriendly.

Also, to Sev, are there justifications for the three recommended locations for modular home complexes in Section III? Is this section in general in compliance with existing HUD regulations?

I''ll say friendly.

I do disagree with location as the heartland isn't where 98% of our homeless live and would move them away from any extended family. I believe the housing should be near the cities that are most effected by homelessness. But that is something we will workout with sev.

Yeah we can work on that if you'd like. I tried to choose areas where land would be cheap and there's a lot of space, for efficiency purposes. But there are plenty of alternatives to what I've suggested, as well. I would point out, though, that where homeless are isn't necessarily where homeless are from. If you're going to be living on the streets, why wouldn't you grab a bus pass to Los Angeles or San Diego?

One positive is that the rental provisions of the bill will help prevent future homelessness, so you're attacking the problem from multiple angles.

[SevenEleven]

Wording should be cleared up a bit, but Aye.

[SevenEleven]

There's no room to build inexpensive housing in San Francisco and New York. We need to operate around this unfortunate reality.

[SevenEleven]

There's no room to build inexpensive housing in San Francisco and New York. We need to operate around this unfortunate reality.

I've amended the amendment and listed all new locations "just outside" as in within 25 miles of them. Would that work?

So what you can do is pull up google maps and look at the satellite view. For example, in California, pretty much everything that isn't federal parks or highly mountainous is developed. There is no empty space in the Bay Area at all, and if you cross the mountains to the valley, you'll see that the flat open land is being used for agriculture, which can be used but might not be optimal. NY is in a similar position.

If there were to be one in CA, it would probably have to be near Taft, CA.

[SevenEleven]

For now, sure. I'm not certain as to whether Rep. Jessica planned to leave the amendment as it is or modify it further.

[SevenEleven]

Nay for now.

[SevenEleven]

I can't speak for the sponsor, but I think this amendment is a more effective way to deal with the issue at hand.

[SevenEleven]

Woops my brain shorted and I forgot to respond - the amendment is certainly an improvement to the bill though I still have issues with the philosophy to the bill. The homeless crisis won't be solved by dumping them in the exurbs.

What will solve it, then? And no, it's not dumping them, it's housing them. This allows us to build affordable housing without recreating the tenements.

[SevenEleven]

The only homeless dumping going on has been to our beautiful cities, where thousands of homeless come from all over the country because they can at least have some sense of community and enough supply of people to panhandle. As it turns out, being homeless in a working class town of 20k people is a lot tougher than a plentiful coastal city.

[SevenEleven]

Woops my brain shorted and I forgot to respond - the amendment is certainly an improvement to the bill though I still have issues with the philosophy to the bill. The homeless crisis won't be solved by dumping them in the exurbs.

What will solve it, then? And no, it's not dumping them, it's housing them. This allows us to build affordable housing without recreating the tenements.

The difficulty is ensuring that these folks can access job opportunities when they're so far from city centers - if public transit is good, this isn't as much of an issue, but in some of these locations that's not the case. As there's an employment stipulation, that's a pretty big problem.

The bill provides work opportunities within the complex, the only way these people aren't working is they abjectly refuse to participate.

[SevenEleven]

Aye.

[SevenEleven]

7-1, to be pedantic.