Great Moments in Affordable Housing.
By Jim Conley • Apr 9th, 2007 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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Now why would I call Congressman Barney Frank’s recent “hearing” at Brookline Town Hall on affordable housing a side show? [see previous post]. Today’s Washington Post, in a lengthy article on the new House leadership’s affordable housing agenda (with Frank at the helm), has the answer. [read article]
Here’s Frank — the self-described capitalist — on a measure to provide housing for 25,000 victims of Hurricane Katrina:
“But the night before his committee debated the bill, Frank removed two of Green’s amendments and whittled the 25,000 apartments to 4,500. After listening to the objections of his committee’s top Republican, Spencer Bachus (Ala.), Frank had concluded that Green’s proposals were too expensive and controversial to become law.”
Listen, if Frank can’t see the way to providing housing for people who lost everything due to a natural disaster, he’s not going to find it for others. He’s in too deep (in the form of campaign donations) from those who have an interest in keeping housing expensive.
It’s not conceivable that one can raise $1.7 million from the banking and real estate industries [see detail] and then work to drive down the cost of housing (and the interest paid on loans) for people in the lower income strata.
That would mean a new consumerism in housing…and a nightmare for capitalists.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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[...] And while Waxman does the people’s business, Brookline’s representative in Congress, Barney Frank, is busy cutting the number of affordable housing units for Hurricane Katrina victims [see previous post]. And cashing campaign checks [data] from the businesses his committee is supposed to regulate. [...]
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