POL 327

Housing
- greatest number of homes are single family
- differential in quality of neighborhoods
Neighborhood Affect: facts that change quality of neighborhood that causes it to either increase or
decrease
- good Factors: jobs, trendy, housing stock, access to mass transit
o Increasi ng Demand: neighborhood looks better, more stores open
downside: high rents
o Gentrification: the improvement of a city and the influx of upper/middle class
- Bad Factors: crime, no jobs, no mass transit
o Decreasing Demand: people dont want to live there and dont want to fix up houses,
businesses dont want to move in
Mortgages: loan that is delicate
- need to know person loaning the money to is good for the money
- most people do not have the money to pay for their first house on their own
- Loaned at a certain rate
o Fixed: % remain same
o Adjustable: low rate but then tied to indicator so can go up
o EX: borrow 200,000 @ 5%- 1200/month + 1/12 property tax (600)=1800/month
REALITY: actually lower b/c deducted
- Down payment: more money put down safer feel about mortgage
- Investment: long-term the value of the home will increase
Federal Programs to Encourage Mortgage Insurance
- Federal Housing Admin: mortgage insurance and guarantee
- Federal National Mortgage Association: ensure mortgages
- KP: second market for mortgages- buy bundles of mortgages to guarantee
Housing and Civil Rights: fair and open to all- began around 1960s
- C.R. Act 1968: real estate- outlaw discrimination in sale/rental of houses
o if advertise property for rent/sale you need to accept a bona fide offer for what you
asked for- need to accept the first real offer that meets your price
bona fide means it meets the asking price and is made by someone who has
financial means to make good on the offer
o rent apartment and ad for certain amount also needs to be bona fide offer
o racial steering: cannot have listing and only show a certain area depending on race
must show all houses within your economic parameter
o discrimin ation in lending terms and conditions is outlawed
o bar discrimination in housing finance- bank needs to give a loan to a black person
mathematical decision: down-payment income and employment
o redlining: bank cannot look at area where it is low class and at risk of default and not
give mortgage in neighborhood
o Blockbusting: real estate brokers panic white homeowners with warnings that the
neighborhood would turn block and therefore white homeowners should sell quickly
before their housing value was driven any lower
real estate brokers than buy up houses at bargain prices and resell them at
substantial profits after the panic was over
- Community Reinvestment Act: gives federal government power over banks
o can deny request for mergers or expansions if the banks pattern of lending shows
evidence of redlining or discrimination
o ensure that federally regulated or insured lenders have affirmative obligation to make
loans in their communities
o regulators need to rate lenders reinvestment and take into account when deciding to
approve or deny an application to change banking operation
Affordable Housing: changes from place to place
- no absolute number
- Held Back By:
o cost of land
o proximity to job/built in market
o government preserved/farm lands w/ development rights
- Land is a finite resource which will retain home values
Ways to make Housing Affordable
- make lots smaller and need less feet to build house- HARD b/c negative response from those
who were already living there
- show below salary level- government will pay part of rental or house costs
- funds to builders and promise will be below avg. rent of area
Community development: 1974 Nixon Plan
- Housing and Community Development Act of 1974: municipalities get federal grants on the
basis on a formula that counts population, age of housing stock, and poverty.
o can be used for broad range purposes
o Services must be for the benefit of low and moderate income incomes and minority
groups
o citizens must be able to comment first
Housing Subsidies
- Project- Based Rental Housing: subsidies given to builders to lower the cost of constructing
apartment houses. In return for receiving subsidies the builder agrees to limit the occupancy of
the building to tenants under a certain income limit and also agree to limitations on how much
rent he or she would charge
Poverty
- 1960s did not have anything that could be considered a national antipoverty program
o not an objective of government
o no widespread consensus for general effort to eliminate poverty
- see poverty largely as result of individual luck, decisions, attitudes see existence of poverty
primarily as a failure of the larger social system
- The idea that government, majorly federal government, should get involved in poverty began
under JFK
Programs
- office of economic opportunity & economic opportunity act: give people means to work their
way out of poverty and form of aid
o Community Action Program: every major city and many smaller cities and towns to
provide a variety of neighborhood services in areas such as health, employment,
recreation, and child care.
board of directors must include the poor
mobilize poor and increase their political awareness and participation
- Aid to Families with Dependent Children: 1960s: King vs. Smith: 1968- presence of man in
house cannot serve as basis for terminating woman and her children
o before if there was no man in the house you could get aid
- Manpower Development and Training Administration: large sums were appropriated for
manpower training targeted to the poor with an emphasis on the youth
o Job Corps: job training in a residential setting to disadvantage youth
- Food Stamp Program: 1965- for food and few related items but actually an equivalent to cash
- Medicaid Program: give medical care for medically indigent people under the age of 65
o low income people without medical insurance- grew rapidly
o next largest entitlement program in the U.S. after S.S.
Why deciding to make war on Poverty?
- end of WWII economy was doing well and appeared that we had resources to end the paradox
of poverty amidst plenty
- success of WWII
- timing of the war on poverty took it a while after WWII for the natioin to realize that some
places and segments of the nation were not enjoyin national prosperity
- Civil Rights Movement 1960s made Blacks demand change more than ever before
o problems of blacks moved North
- Rioting that hit Northern and Western cities 1965-68
o L.A.: Black motorist was stopped by White policemen suspecting he was driving drunk
o urban guerilla warfare was confined to ghetto neighborhoods
base of poverty, high unemployment, racial discrimination
Disappointing Outcome
- 1950s and 60s the poverty rte declined but in the late 1960s it leveled off and remainedstable
- 1960s: economic growth, but the number of people receiving aid doubled
o many demand all benefits legally entitled
Conservative View
- think that providing aid encouraged out of wedlock births and break up
- roots of marriage among less educated and minimal job skills for public assistance in forms
made a better and more reliable provider than a low-earning man
- need to cut back the whole apparatus of aid
- because getting aid, the people chose to reduce the hours they took working
- recipients divorce and separation increased
- Bill Clinton
o Welfare Reform 1996: abolished AFDC, replaced by block grants to states
states had considerable discretion in spending
states wee required to place a certain percentage their welfare caseloads in jobs
or face in their block grants
no person can receive public assistance for more than 5 years across their
lifetime
increase funding for child care and assist AFDC mothers in being able to work
cutback for food stamps
found jobs but low paying
Wider Perspective
- family breakup and consequence
- religious belief
- active sex life outside of marriage makes marriage less attractive
- technological changes
- 3 changes
o increase life expectancy
lowers amount of people who mate for one life
o decrease in avg. number of births per woman across her life span
reduce economic dependence of woman on man
o decrease in relative importance of physical strength in the labor market
reduce econ. dependence of woman on man
o weakening of marriage as we know it
Melting Pot Mosaic/Salad Bowl
- all new immigrants are Americanized and
melted into one society
- more optimistic
- Factors: English Language, moving out to
diverse neighborhoods, higher education
- difference between ethnicities
- entity but if look closely, see components
that make it up separately
- characteristic of ethnicities are retained
longer
- Educate: bilingual or total emersion

Immigrants Hurt Economy
- Jobs off the books so dont contribute to income tax or property tax
- no medical insurance and therefore our insurance is increased to cover those who dont have
insurance
Immigrants Add to the Economy
- do jobs that native born Americans dont want to do
- do those jobs for less
19
th
Century Immigrants: Ireland, Scotland, Germans, Italians
Todays Immigrants: In order
- Mexico
- Russia
- Philippines: link b/c controlled by US until 1946
- Vietnamese
- DR
- China
India: speak E because controlled by English
- Cuba
Poverty Line: $12000 family of 3 nationally
- not declined as a percentage
- number of jobs increase but poverty has not decreased
Role of Family Structure: of all poverty in US
- one family and lack of skills
Programs to Lower Poverty Level
- Unemployment Insurance: 1930s- all workers who work on books and get laid off
- WPA: busy work and help build buildings
- Great Society: LBD- Community Action Agencies
o aid to community
- Head Start: some not prepared for kindergarten and 1
st
grade
o so give kids head start so be on same level
o emphasize early years of education
- CETA Program: if you take these people on we will pay their salary
3 Programs:
- Social Security: 1935- never meant to supply someone with income so can retire
o addition BUT not same figure as salary
o NOT going into a bank account or separate/revenue stream
o buy treasury bonds and only keep track how many years took part in workforce
o NOT wanted people to retire so open more spots for the younger people
17 people working for 1 retired- 1970
2 people working for 1 retired- 2010
o Incentives: retire at 62 then pay a penalty
cant have a second job w/ more than $12,000/yr
- Medicare: growing faster than social security-1965
o open for all Americans over the age of 65
o pays for over 80%
- Medicaid: no age restriction BUT need to prove you dont have the means to pay for medical
bills
o for those who have very little and cannot afford medical insurance
o most pressuring- older Americans end up in nursing homes and spend you down until
and then Medicaid has to pay

TANF: replace AFDC
- people try to provide money for people to get education to get employment
Justice System: expensive in budget but education more
- police: need to take exams
o LI: different because they have arbitrator come in and set amount of raises
o common death-high speed chases
o move into small constituency: reduce competition- only names of people who live in
the particular areagreater chance of being chosen
- Probation: college students- hired by local government
o lots of cases that need to keep track of
- D.A and A.D.A: rarely see D.A. in court room
o A.D.A: right out of law school
work at government salary and in court quickly
- Grand Jury: 23 people- doesnt decide if innocent or guilty
o decide if the government has enough evidence to go to trial
o very few cases are turned down- tend to favor the D.A.s case
What happens to people who are arrested?
- 35%: juveniles-
o handles in separate system
- 30%: dont have enough evidence to go further so are arrested and let go
- 30%: plead guilty to a reduced sentence
- 5%: plead not guilty
o 3%: guilty and 2%: not guilty (60% chance of being convicted)
- KP: a lot of things can happen if you get arrested
What happens to those found guilty?
- 14% probation restrictions on your life
- 19%: go to jail
o 8% go to jail for more than 1 year
o 11% go to jail for less than 1 year
- 8%: go to big state prisons upstate
o NOTE* no jails in long island b/c we dont want it
Violent Crimes: 18
Property: 16 male
Has Crime been declining?
- since 1990 it has been declining nationally
- NYC crimes have dramatically decreased
- reasons crime low in country: number of imprisonments have been rising since 1969
- worldwide crime: equal among all nations except in murder- US is highest
Crime as a political issue: always say they lower crime rate
- lower because country is older and population changes NOT because of public policy
Broken Window Syndrome: never repair or managed so just get worse