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In reply to the discussion: Section 8 housing voucher distribution canceled after thousands waiting in line get out of control [View all]Tigress DEM
(7,887 posts)People go out and help build homes for Habitat for Humanity. Same basic idea.
Other times you can buy a house and put in "sweat equity" as a way to bring down the COST and still ADD Value to the home.
The great part about it is that people who are getting "assistance" from the government are also paying it forward or earning it, whatever description works to say they would be in a position to be "ABLE" to be part of their own solution.
SEE "RENT-QUITY" for a bit more of my ideas on the subject.
I kept thinking to myself that so many resentful, unrealistic people in this country INSIST on balancing the budget on the backs of the poor..... WHAT IF? What if we gave the poor the means to get the job done?
What if we could keep people who are on assistance from being thrown back out on the street as soon as they get a job and start seeing a tiny bit of hope?
What if any job they had could have the paycheck funneled into accounts that preplanned their successfully leaving assistance behind with prepaid accounts for basic needs? 1 year's "rent" in advance. An account for car insurance for a year or a years worth of bus passes?
The main difference between the poor and people that can ride out situations that put people out on the street is having enough of a buffer zone between themselves and abject poverty.
Even the "working class poor" could use the program to set aside part of their income in a safe savings account for specific needs. A pre-paid medical reimbursement account that doesn't go away at the end of the year for example. AVERAGE people could use these accounts as tax shelters of a sort with the income being set aside from taxed income because it will be used for future need and therefore lessen the chance that someone in the working class would fall down into the area where full assistance would be required.
It would keep more people working, enable people to even keep a crappy minimum wage job and still have their basic needs met and be able to plot a path OUT of poverty.