What's Odious and Dickensian ?--4 Discriminatory Ways People Suffer Income Segregation

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http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/whats-odious-and-dickensian-4-discriminatory-ways-people-suffer-income-segregation



1. Nice pool—now keep out.

In Los Angeles, a developer’s proposal for extending a West Hollywood building includes separate amenities for low-income residents. The Community Development Department, which disapproves of the large size of the project, noted in its report:

“The current configuration has the affordable units looking down on a pool they are prohibited from using. This very obvious delineation of amenities runs contrary to West Hollywood’s policies of inclusiveness and equal access for all… Housing staff remains unable to support the proposed project because there would be separate amenity areas for the affordable housing tenants and the market-rate homeowners.”

***SNIP

2. Private elevator for the wealthy.

Writing about NYC’s poor door for Slate , Kristin Hohenadel pointed out that a mixed-use building in the city has private elevators for the wealthy. She wrote:

“At 5 Tudor City Place in Manhattan, for example, a multimillion-dollar penthouse has a private elevator, while 20-some other floors of 1920s microapartments, many of which are too small to be legally built today, share a block of four elevators.

***SNIP

3. Low-income housing… with a perfect envelope and credit score.

Nine luxury residential buildings will be coming to Brooklyn in the next few years that will include mixed-use units, some with rents as low as $546 per month. But developers, who are required to give priority to local residents, say they are having trouble filling the affordable housing units. It’s not because people aren’t applying; in fact, Rob Solano, director of Churches United For Fair Housing, said applicants are being denied for ridiculous errors and mediocre credit scores.

***SNIP

4. Republicans in Congress push for federal probe into housing vouchers.

Since 2011, about 700 low-income tenants in Chicago were given “super-vouchers” to live in high-end buildings, in what the Chicago Housing Authority calls “opportunity areas.” These are neighborhoods with good schools, access to employment and low poverty rates. These buildings don’t have poor doors. Instead, residents share pools, gyms and other amenities the building provides. Sounds nice right? Wrong, says Rep. Aaron Shock (R-IL). To him, it sounds like a waste of tax dollars.