Taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidize alcoholism.
Public Policy Recommendation of the Month
Section 8 Housing
Section 8 is a government program that subsidizes rent for low-income households.
It also subsidizes a lot of drinking and drugging.
A recent report in The Wall Street Journal (“Real Estate Bust Opens New Doors for Subsidized Tenants,” August 8, 2010) reported that many neighbors “have long contended that government-subsidized tenants increase crime and depress property values,” even while admitting that having a house occupied is better than leaving it vacant. Still, in a lesser-of-the-evils attitude, with mixed emotions they ask, “Which poison do we choose?”
They shouldn’t have to choose. Section 8 tenants have brought big changes to many, including the now-depressed town of Antioch, California on the Sacramento Delta near Stockton. “Fights, loud parties and litter” are pervasive. While homes qualifying for subsidized housing must pass an inspection, the tenants do not—and the landlords typically don’t care because they are guaranteed the rent from the government. It’s time to require that tenants who feed at the public trough be, in some way, tested for alcoholism and other-drug addiction. The public has a right to spend its money more wisely than giving it to likely addicts. And by doing so, we may well help the Section 8 tenants to escape the clutches of government hand-outs that insure they stay poor and dramatically decrease the likelihood that they will become all they can be.