Mr. Cleanface
12-20-2007, 04:59 PM
New Orleans Housing Officials claim surplus: (http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1198066889240600.xml&coll=1&thispage=2)
http://www.nola.com/hp/photos/121907_housing1.jpg
New Orleans resident Sharon Jasper, a former St. Bernard complex resident, was presented by activists Tuesday as a victim of changing public housing policies, took a moment before the start of the City Hall protest to complain about her subsidized private apartment, which she called a "slum." A HANO voucher covers her rent on a unit in an old Faubourg St. John home, but she said she faced several hundred dollars in deposit charges and now faces a steep utility bill.
"I'm tired of the slum landlords, and I'm tired of the slum houses," she said.
Jasper, who later allowed a photographer to tour the voucher-backed private apartment, also complained about missing window screens, a slow leak in a sink, a warped back door and a few other details of a residence that otherwise appeared to have been recently renovated. "I might be poor but I don't like to live poor. I thank God for a place to live but it's pitiful what people give you."
She looks really poor with that giant screen TV, couch, coffee table, house decorations of all sorts, etc.
So how poor is poor in the US?
The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from Dept. of Commerce, HUD, Dept. of Energy, more:
Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.
Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasherOverall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.
.............
There are people dying of starvation across the globe who can't even get clean water to drink, medicine to heal them, or a protective roof over their heads, and we in America, like the woman pictured above, complain and make statements like, "I might be poor but I don't like to live poor. I thank God for a place to live but it's pitiful what people give you." Pathetic. They don't even have these things to give in other parts of the world.
I'm not saying there aren't people who need help in this country, but come on. Sack up Americans.
http://www.nola.com/hp/photos/121907_housing1.jpg
New Orleans resident Sharon Jasper, a former St. Bernard complex resident, was presented by activists Tuesday as a victim of changing public housing policies, took a moment before the start of the City Hall protest to complain about her subsidized private apartment, which she called a "slum." A HANO voucher covers her rent on a unit in an old Faubourg St. John home, but she said she faced several hundred dollars in deposit charges and now faces a steep utility bill.
"I'm tired of the slum landlords, and I'm tired of the slum houses," she said.
Jasper, who later allowed a photographer to tour the voucher-backed private apartment, also complained about missing window screens, a slow leak in a sink, a warped back door and a few other details of a residence that otherwise appeared to have been recently renovated. "I might be poor but I don't like to live poor. I thank God for a place to live but it's pitiful what people give you."
She looks really poor with that giant screen TV, couch, coffee table, house decorations of all sorts, etc.
So how poor is poor in the US?
The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from Dept. of Commerce, HUD, Dept. of Energy, more:
Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.
Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasherOverall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.
.............
There are people dying of starvation across the globe who can't even get clean water to drink, medicine to heal them, or a protective roof over their heads, and we in America, like the woman pictured above, complain and make statements like, "I might be poor but I don't like to live poor. I thank God for a place to live but it's pitiful what people give you." Pathetic. They don't even have these things to give in other parts of the world.
I'm not saying there aren't people who need help in this country, but come on. Sack up Americans.