top
East Bay
East Bay
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Bay Area affordable housing projects and HUD assisted housing programs are at risk

by Lynda Carson (newzland2 [at] gmail.com)
Haunting Photo Of Mary Jesus Before She Jumped To Her Death From The Oakland Tribune Tower In 2004, After She Was Evicted From Her Housing!
Haunting Photo Of Mary Jesus Before She Jumped To Her Death From The Oakland Tribune Tower In 2004, After She Was Evicted From Her Housing!
Bay Area affordable housing projects and HUD assisted housing programs are at risk

Trump’s fascist picks for his administration are excited to dismantle the federal government

By Lynda Carson - November 18, 2024

The Bay Area affordable housing projects and HUD’s assisted housing programs are at grave risk of being destroyed if the fascist convicted felon Donald J. Trump, and fascist billionaire Elon Musk, and fascist billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, are not stopped from destroying the federal government, and it’s federal domestic programs that assist Americans locally, and all across the nation.

According to HUD’s subsidized housing records during January of 2023, for some of the local Public Housing Authorities (PHAs), there are around 14,011 section 8 units in Oakland, plus 1,970 other subsidized low-rent housing units. San Francisco has around 15,878 section 8 units, plus 640 low-rent units. South San Francisco has 80 low-rent units. Alameda has 1,893 section 8 units. Berkeley has 2,080 section 8 units. Richmond has 409 low-rent units. Alameda County has 7,013 section 8 units. Marin County Housing has 2,384 section 8 units, plus 496 low-rent units. And Contra Costa County has 9,417 section 8 units, plus 963 low-rent units.

In 2004, Section 8 tenants in Alameda faced budget cuts to their HUD housing assistance vouchers.

As an example of what happened when Housing Choice Voucher tenants a.k.a. Section 8 tenants in Alameda faced budget cuts to their vouchers, in part it says, reportedly “On May 14, 2004, 1,659 families and over 600 landlords received notice from the Public Housing Authority of Alameda, California, informing them that there may not be any rent money for the month of June. Tenants and landlords were advised to use their security deposits to pay the rent and to negotiate a way for the renters to repay back the spent security deposits. As well, tenants were given vaguely written “vouchers” that didn’t list any guaranteed rental assistance amount along with lists of referrals to other counties that apparently weren’t worth the paper they were printed on.”

“The origin of this assault on poor folks across the nation began on April 22, when The Department of Housing and Urban Development under the leadership of Bush’s Clarence Thomas alike Boy Alphonso Jackson announced unexpected-and retroactive-cuts to the Section 8 housing voucher program in 2004. The cuts left housing authorities across the country scrambling to make up serious funding shortfalls and forced them to take actions like the ones impacting Ms. Kennedy and thousands of other Sec 8 tenants locally and nationally.”

“I don’t know what I am going to do,” The sorrow -filled words of Charlie Jammer , a blind African-American man who transferred from another county so he could move to a safer location in Alameda has been told that because he only recently transferred to Alameda Section 8 he is losing his section 8 because he doesn’t have “section8 seniority” which of course is just more lies as he has been on section 8 since 1995 in other counties.”

“People need to be aware that they have rights , that they shouldn’t be intimidated by landlords and their attorneys and that they have the right to stay in their apartments and pay their portion of the rent ” Fierce and dedicated tenant organizer Lynda Carson was explaining the legal recourse of tenants , who were given these illegal notices, ” you see as section 8 recipients, we have a three way contract between the tenant, the landlord and the Housing Authority, the contractual requirements of the tenants is to pay their portion .” she went on to explain that tenants should in fact stay in their units and force the landlords to take up legal action for the missing rent from the people not paying ; The Housing Authority.”

In 2023, blindman Charlie Jammer of Alameda was fearful of losing his voucher again, as a direct result of possible budget cuts by Republicans to HUD’s housing assistance programs.

Sometimes tenants end up dead as a result of being evicted, and losing their housing, just like poor Mary Jesus of Oakland did back in 2004. “On December 10, 2004, tragedy struck downtown Oakland, when a 33-year-old woman who felt brutalized by Oakland's kangaroo courts plunged to her death from the Oakland Tribune Tower. Mary Jesus, a longtime Oakland renter, had a message that she wanted to get out to the public at large, and she was willing to sacrifice her own life to do so. On that fateful day, Mary Jesus stood high above the crowd down below, and gazed upon hundreds of people gathered on the sidewalks beneath the Tribune Tower, as they shouted out to her not to do it. Local attorney Bob Salinas was one of those in the crowd that tried to save her as he frantically yelled to her not to jump. A moment before she died in a crushing pool of blood on the sidewalk seven stories below, Mary Jesus responded to the crowd by tossing down hundreds of copies of the suicide note that she wanted everyone to read.” More about Mary Jesus on IndyBay https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/12/20/17106881.php .

More about the death of Mary Jesus may be found here, in a LA Times story called “A tenant who paid tragically,” https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-10-me-mary10-story.html .

Woman Jumps From Downtown Oakland, California Building

https://www.firehouse.com/home/news/10508730/woman-jumps-from-downtown-oakland-california-building

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/oakland-dozens-see-woman-jump-from-trib-tower-2629947.php


Trump’s fascist picks for his administration are excited to dismantle federal bureaucracy.

If billionaires Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy are not opposed and are stopped by the public at large and the tenants in the HUD subsidized housing apartments, and programs, the buildings they reside in may lose their federal housing assistance from HUD and other agencies, and the tenants may become evicted, homeless, and unhoused as a direct result.

Fascist billionaire Elon Musk, and fascist billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, are Trump’s pick to destroy the federal government. They are eager to dismantle government federal programs that assist Americans locally, and all across the nation. They are on a mission to destroy the federal government, federal domestic programs, the federal workforce, and federal unions.

Reportedly in the Washington Post, “Trump government efficiency advisers Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have pledged not to bring a chisel to government spending, but rather “a chainsaw.” The particular approach Ramaswamy has in mind could threaten dozens of programs that tens of millions of Americans rely on each day.

Ramaswamy floated on social media a proposal to eliminate programs that Congress funds but where specific spending authorization has lapsed. That may sound like an easy source of savings, but it would ax veterans’ health-care programs, drug research and development, opioid addiction treatment — even the State Department.”

“We can & should save hundreds of billions each year by defunding government programs that Congress no longer authorizes,” Ramaswamy wrote.

The approach from President-elect Donald Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy’s out-of-government “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of Congress and federal spending, experts say.

Additionally, reportedly, “John Thune of South Dakota, who Senate Republicans elected as majority leader on Wednesday, said he supports the non-governmental Department of Government Efficiency led by tech billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. President-elect Donald Trump said the initiative will provide outside guidance “to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.”

Reportedly, on Wednesday, Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, warned against massive cuts to benefits and services if recommendations from the initiative led by Musk and Ramaswamy become law. 

“Budget cuts of this magnitude, coupled with the massive tax reductions Trump has said he will implement, will affect vital programs that tens of millions of Americans currently rely on for their financial security and their health and safety,” Kelley said in a statement. “This includes Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, food assistance for low-income families, veterans’ benefits and health care and so much more.”

According to a release from AFGE, “Federal workers will continue to do their jobs regardless of who sits in the White House as they’re sworn to uphold the law and the Constitution.

As the union representing more than 800,000 federal and D.C. government workers, AFGE will continue to represent our members and advocate for the programs and services that government employees deliver for the American people.

“But make no mistake: our union will not stand by and let any political leader – regardless of their political affiliation – run roughshod over the Constitution and our laws,” said AFGE President Everett Kelley.

During Trump’s first term, his administration tried to dismantle many of our negotiated union contracts, downsize and relocate federal agencies at great disruption and cost to taxpayers, and replace tens of thousands of non-partisan civil servants with political appointees who would blindly do his bidding.

In addition, Trump’s agency heads such as those at the Department of Education and Environmental Protection Agency worked to actively undermine their own agency mission.

“Federal and D.C. government employees should be able to do their jobs without political interference, without violating their Constitutional oath, and without breaking the law – and as their elected representative, we will do everything in our power to make sure that’s possible,” Kelley added. 

Reportedly, “The programs without separate spending authorization that Ramaswamy would do away with represent more than $516 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The 10 largest make up $380 billion. Here’s a look at what some of those programs do.”

Among the programs that may be targeted by the fascist convicted felon Donald J. Trump and his myrmidon cut throat billionaires Musk and Ramaswamy, they include veterans’ health care, drug development and opioid addiction treatment, housing assistance, education spending, NASA, health-care and student loan programs, head start, workforce training programs, child care assistance, food programs, and Education assistance for disabled students.

Additionally, According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, reportedly according to a recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in part it reads, “Over the last several months, groups of House Republicans and the Heritage Foundation have released policy agendas that, taken together, would create a harsher country with higher poverty and less opportunity, where millions of people would face higher costs for health care, child care, and housing, and millions more would lose health coverage — all while wealthy households and corporations benefit from an unfair tax code that provides them with outsized tax breaks. These skewed priorities would exacerbate inequities in income, wealth, health, and hardship across lines of race and ethnicity, widening already glaring differences that have their roots in racism and other forms of discrimination.”

And in a recent report or memo from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), in part it states, “Urge Congress to pass a final FY25 spending bill with increased funding for HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs.”
 
Regardless of the timing of the disaster aid bill, Congress will need to enact a final FY25 spending bill to ensure federal programs – including HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs – receive increased funding in the coming year. Because the cost of housing and homelessness assistance rises every year, it is crucial that HUD receive increased funding every year to maintain the number of people served. Advocates can use NLIHC’s resources to take action today and push Congress to pass increased funding for affordable housing and homelessness in FY25, including for NLIHC’s top priorities: 

Full funding to renew all existing contracts for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program and expand assistance to 20,000 more
households.
 
$6.2 billion for public housing operations and $5.2 billion for public housing capital needs.

$4.7 billion for HUD's Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program.

$100 million for the Eviction Protection Grant Program. 

At least $1.3 billion for Tribal housing programs, plus $150 million for competitive funds targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.

Our country is in dire straits, because the fascist convicted felon Trump, and the picks for his administration want to destroy the federal government, and it’s federal domestic programs meant to assist the public.

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

Below may, or may not be some FEC campaign contribution links to some of Trump's picks for his administration.

>>>>>>
>>>>>>
Elon Musk

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Elon+Musk

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202410159698270936

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202102209428708009

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202107029450971661

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201510210200308474 - Elon Musk, Palo Alto

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?13020210171 - Elon Musk, 1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, CA

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?10020931357

>>>>>>>
Vivek Ramaswamy


Name
RAMASWAMY, VIVEK
City, state and ZIP code
PETALUMA, CA 94954


https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Vivek+Ramaswamy

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202407159660069728 -

Vivek RAMASWAMY

9172 West Meadow, Dr.
Westchester, Ohio, 45069-3721

>>>>>>>>
Robert F. Kennedy Jr

4 Jason Court
Scotch Plains, NJ, 07078-2857

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Robert+F.+Kennedy

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201612080200677454

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202010229333192013

>>>>>>>>
JD Vance

1858 WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT RD
CINCINNATI OH 45206-1874

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=JD+Vance

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202109049466603639

>>>>>>>>
Marco Rubio

6060 SW 13th Street
Miami, FL, 33144-5714

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?10930799026

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?28994345657

>>>>>>>>
Peter Hegseth

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Peter+Hegseth

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?13964031334

>>>>>>>>
Matt Gaetz

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Matt+Gaetz

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202404149627645044

>>>>>>>>
Doug Burgum

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Doug+Burgum

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202404159627959096

>>>>>>>>
Kristi Noem

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Kristi+Noem

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?28991187930

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?28020413618

>>>>>>>>
Mike Waltz

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Mike+Waltz

>>>>>>>>
Elise Stefanik

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Elise+Stefanik

>>>>>>>>>
Tulsi Gabbard

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Tulsi+Gabbard

>>>>>>>>>
John Ratcliffe

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=John+Ratcliffe

>>>>>>>>>>
Mike Huckabee

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Mike+Huckabee

>>>>>>>>>>>
Steve Witkoff

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Steve+Witkoff

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202401319619161797

>>>>>>>>>>>
Taylor Budowich

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Taylor+Budowich

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202407109652802779

>>>>>>>>>>>

Add Your Comments
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$65.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network