Berkeley's scheme to privatize public housing, double-crosses the poor

Berkeley's scheme to privatize public housing, double-crosses the poor

By Lynda Carson -- March 16, 2010

Berkeley - The scheme to convert Berkeley's 75 public housing units into a cash cow for the city, moves further along day by day. No longer can the poor count on public housing to be there for them in the future if the public housing is sold to a local nonprofit housing developer that would exploit the properties in every way possible, in addition to maximizing their profits by exploiting the Section 8 program, as part of the process.

The Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) is expecting to receive approval from HUD by early April to sell it's occupied public housing units, and is doing whatever it takes to get the tenants on board with killing Berkeley's public housing program.

However, the scheme to privatize Berkeley's public housing units relies heavily on grabbing Section 8 tenant-based vouchers from the poor, and converting them into project-based vouchers (PBVs) for the developers planning to get their hands on Berkeley's public housing. These voucher conversions take precious funding from the poor, and shifts the funding to greedy developers who want the money for their building projects.

The Section 8 program (a.k.a. Housing Choice Voucher Program) provides vouchers for the elderly, poor and disabled, to assist in subsidizing their rents, and the vouchers are administered by local housing agencies.

Nonprofit developers believe that converting Section 8 tenant-based vouchers into project-based vouchers for their buildings is very profitable indeed, and lobby hard to convince local housing agencies into converting as many Section 8 tenant-based vouchers as is possible, into project-based vouchers that can be used for their profit-based affordable housing sites.

Berkeley's public housing tenants are stunned, shocked and have been speaking out in opposition against the scheme to privatize their long-time housing, and in response the BHA recently moved to stack the deck against those who are in opposition to the plan to kill Berkeley's public housing program.

In a reactionary move against the public housing tenants who are opposed to the plan to kill Berkeley's public housing program, as recent as February 11, 2010, BHA director Tia Ingram urged the BHA board of commissioners to vote "yes" on agenda "Item 9B" of the Action Calendar, for that evenings BHA commissioner's board meeting.

By voting "yes" on agenda Item 9B, the commissioners reactivated the BHA's "Resident Advisory Board" (RAB) which has been dormant or disbanned for some time now, and documents reveal that through this action, Ingram intentionally is trying to stack the deck against any opposition to the sale of Berkeley's 75 public housing units, under the guise of reactivating the RAB.

Ingram and the BHA commissioners need the RAB to be pliant and available, to provide input and comments on the BHA's Annual Plan before it can be implemented, and Ingram is seeking enough people for the RAB who are willing to go along with the plan to sell Berkeley's public housing, as a way to fight back against those who are in opposition to the sale of Berkeley's public housing. Ingram has already made her choice, and has chosen volunteers for the RAB that she feels may be bent to her will.

In a Feb. 11, statement to the BHA's board members, Ingram wrote, "It is critical that we use the Annual Plan process to carefully review and redefine our discretionary policies and procedures. A collaborative effort with participants who have BIG PICTURE vision, and can work in a collaborative, respective manner is critical," says Ingram.

The big picture is that BHA's executive director Tia Ingram has absolute power over those in the BHA's public housing and Section 8 program being selected for the RAB, and due to annual contract recertifications continually taking place in the BHA's housing programs, tenants in those programs feel intense pressure to do what ever it takes to make the BHA happy, as a way to renew their contracts.

Indeed, the pressure is mounting on Berkeley's public housing and Section 8 tenants to go along with the plan to sell Berkeley's 75 public housing units, and on Feb. 11, Ingram provided a list of tenants names she wants for the RAB, to the BHA's commissioners.

As further evidence of the scheme to stack the deck against those in opposition to the sale of Berkeley's public housing, in a state of panic Ingram informed the BHA commissioners that, "We learned recently, via the media, and a communication from HUD, that some public housing residents have organized and are meeting. This committee has not advised BHA of it's existence, has not shared it's concerns with the BHA, nor has it identified it's membership."

Ingram is referring to the public housing tenants group called Residents Awareness in Action, including the 20 public housing tenants or more that signed a letter to HUD stating that they are in opposition to the sale of their long-time public housing.

In addition James E. Vann who was the architect for Berkeley's public housing units back in the early to mid 80s is shocked by the plan to sell it's valuable public housing and said, "The city and BHA promised to keep it's public housing permanent (in perpetuity) to receive a special "Title 1 Grant" of funding from HUD to build that housing for the poor, and now they are breaking their promise to current and future generations of the poor, who desperately need low-income housing to remain in their communities."

So-called affordable housing is not the same as low-income housing, because so-called nonprofit housing developers discriminate against the poor with their minimum income requirements.

Berkeley's public housing residents invite the public to join them in the struggle to save Berkeley's public housing, and urges the public to join them on Saturday mornings from 10am - 12pm at Intercity Services, 3269 Adeline St., in Berkeley, for their weekly meetings. Contact; saveberkeleypublichousing [at] gmail.com

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com