Police Called When Crowd Signing Up For Housing List Gets 'Out Of Control'

[noonwitch]

I don't think subsidized housing is ever a good idea. I'm not saying that unfortunate people should not get assistance, but I am saying that their rent should not be subsidized or paid for. The rental market itself would take care of the need for cheap housing.

There's subsidized housing and then there is public housing. The latter are what we think of as "the projects". They look good when first opened, and turn into drug dens and gang territory within days.

Subsidized housing can mean the projects, but it frequently is a landlord who the government pays part of the rent to, and the tenant pays the rest. I've seen some nice housing in this type of program-Section 8. It gets a bad name, and there are lots of abuses, but when the landlord and tenants are both coming into the deal with honesty, it can work well. There are some provisions that give landlords low-interest loans to improve the property. The tenant can frequently live with her family in a single home, instead of an apartment in a project, which provides better access to schools, jobs and the other things that lead out of poverty.

[Novaheart]

I'm suspicious of these "rent to own" signs I see in the poorer sections of St Pete. It occurred to me that what they might be doing is renting these houses out Section 8 and supposedly using some of the rent collected towards the "down payment" with a promise of owner financing. A more criminal model would be if they were telling the tenant that it was a contract for purchase, ie you get Section 8 to pay for your house, but deed doesn't transfer until it's paid for. Either way- it's I'm pretty sure it's illegal and that no one actually ends up buying a house this way.

[noonwitch]

I'm suspicious of these "rent to own" signs I see in the poorer sections of St Pete. It occurred to me that what they might be doing is renting these houses out Section 8 and supposedly using some of the rent collected towards the "down payment" with a promise of owner financing. A more criminal model would be if they were telling the tenant that it was a contract for purchase, ie you get Section 8 to pay for your house, but deed doesn't transfer until it's paid for. Either way- it's I'm pretty sure it's illegal and that no one actually ends up buying a house this way.

That could be. I'm mistrustful of rent to own properties because they are mostly managed by real estate companies. They can't sell it, so they rent it. That means there is something wrong with either the house or the neighborhood.