Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal Ethan Epstein Discu

He is also a contributor to politico magazine. That is why he is here this morning, talking about a piece about how San Francisco overall Public Housing. Good morning. Is a microcosm San Francisco is a microcosm. ,t has some of the most lavish beautiful housing you can find in the country and some of the worst Public Housing in the entire united states. I wanted to show a paradoxical case that showed the extremes of the housing situation here. Host why is San Francisco looking to reform its Public Housing approach . Guest because it has some of the worst in the country. Subjective measurements it was only two out of dozens in the state of california to merit such a bad grade. Host because the rent is typically so high . There was a lot of mismanagement within a Public Housing department in the city of San Francisco. A lot of the necessary repairs werent being made. Because the real estate in the city was so expensive, it would happen cost prohibitive for the city to do all sorts of maintenance. That resulted in the gilded Silicon Valley mentions a budding slums that would have not looked at a place in calcutta. Of aity took advantage federal program that allows you to turn Public Housing into private operators. Restrictions that ensure indigent folks can stay in the housing but the city stops running the housing. San francisco is a liberal bastion. You can imagine democrats losing their minds over Something Like this. How did it go . Guest i thought it was interesting ideologically. Is a leftwing city. This was arguably a conservative solution. It was privatization. There wasnt some objection to it. There was some objection to it. Even the naysayers are happy with the way things have turned out. Host its called the rental assistance demonstration program. How does that work . Guest it allows Public Housing to partner throughout the u. S. To privatize the Public Housing. Even as i say the word privatize, some of my words and activist community in San Francisco get mad about it, so ill say turn it over to private operators. But it is privatization. Thats how it works. It is still a pilot program. Theres 1. 2 million Public Housing units in the entire u. S. So far, the congress and the president have only approved 3000 units to be turned over to private operators. , i anticipatel bigger changes. Host this started four years ago . Guest Congress Passed it in 2012. Host why did hud start this program . Housings cliches are true in a lot of cases. While congressog appropriates that 2 billion a year for maintenance. It is a massive backlog that will never be filled. The backlog gets worse each year because 2 billion is not enough to keep pace. Clearly, a new solution was needed. You can turn it over to private operators and they might be better at running the housing and they have access to private capital that the government doesnt. They can get bank loans to perform repairs. It had pretty bipartisan support because its kind of a conservative solution but one that liberals would be interested in because its about making Public Housing but appeared Public Housing better. Host give us a sense of the anecdotes, the people you met to illustrate the point youre making. Guest it was moving, actually. I visited one that had been rehabbed the building was gutted and completely rebuilt, basically. There was a woman who lived in the building for 10 years. It was dangerous. There werent locks, people werent there to maintain order. Wept in my presence as she talked about how her life had been transformed by this transformation of her building. Put in theemark i piece that was so and the medic of the whole story. She feels like her house is a home now. So emblematic of the whole story. Host we are speaking with Ethan Epstein about his piece in politico. If you live in Public Housing, call 2027488000. Everybody else can call 2027488001. Tim is calling from indiana. Good morning. Statement. Ust have a was left up to donald trump, we wouldnt have Public Housing. President s budget has proposed significant cuts to hud, as you point out. This program is a little safer than the other traditional Public Housing programs because it has that ideological fusion element to it. Its a solution that even the most hardcore libertarians might be able to support. When this Public Housing is privatized, say a resident has an issue, they cant take it to the city to get addressed. The have to go through whatever corporate hierarchy there is, right . Guest i cant speak to the entire nation. San francisco put in a lot of requirements for the private operators to provide all sorts of services to the residents. At the buildings i went to, theres someone always on site. The accessibility of management has improved as a result of this program. Host what are the prophets like . Like . Profits guest it varies. San francisco mandated that only nonprofits take over. That is not in the federal law. The city of san antonio turned over its Public Housing to a private developer. Thisan make money doing with things like the tax credits. San francisco in short the nonprofits take the lead. That was to build ideological support among a leftwing population. Host christian is calling from garland, texas. He lives in Public Housing. Caller good morning. I had a solution to the problem with Public Housing. What if you thought about going to the local colleges, going to the Architecture Program and saying if we were to give you young kids 30,000, what would be the cheapest Public Housing you could build . Guest theres an emphasis on keeping costs down. For san a serious issue francisco because San Francisco is so expensive. They had to do everything they could to maintain the lower cost. Difficulty with a plan like yours is i dont really think theres much upside for building new Public Housing anymore. You are seeing places being rehabilitated. Host dennis is calling from san diego. He lives in Public Housing. What is your Public Housing situation like . Caller yes, sir. First of all, im very grateful for the hud Section Eight Program of which im a member. Housing ande enough theres a lot of homeless in our streets. Trumps newident appointee trying to do legislatively with Public Housing that you can share with us . Guest unfortunately, im not as up to speed on the latest moves by secretary carson. I do know the trump budget calls for stringent cuts in hud and i think the new secretary is on board with that. San francisco also has a lot of homeless people. To get into Public Housing, first of all, San Francisco has a huge list and a lottery to get into Public Housing. Homeless have alcoholism or Mental Health problems and they lack a certain organizational aptitude to get on the list to get into Public Housing. That will require a different kind of solution than the solution weve been talking about. Host dennis also mentioned section eight. Can you explain the difference between section eight and Public Housing . Is a section eight substate provided to a person of a certain income that they can take and use for an apartment building. Its different from Public Housing which is a building that is owned and operated by the government. Section eight is more of a privatized solution in itself. Host lydia is calling from minnesota. She also lives in Public Housing. Caller hi. Ive lived in housing about 10 years. Minneapolis in the past has gotten awards as the best Public Housing in the country. Now, we have a new executive whattor who is considering youre talking about in terms of private operators and a lot of people are really afraid. I would be supportive of nonprofits taking over Public Housing. If we look at the forprofit sectors and things like Detention Centers in prisons and prisons and help insurance come im highly dubious. Imnd health insurance, highly dubious. The average rent here is over 1000 a month for a one bedroom. A lot of the working poor struggle and pay 50 or more of their income on rent. Im a very progressive person, im on the left. But i feel like we need to be changing ordinances that make it ofossible to have a variety alternatives to produce low Income Housing like granny houses in backyards trailer parks have been outlawed and they are closing in minneapolis. The tiny house movement. There are other ways you could be creating. To bed, we seem destroying old housing that used to be the housing for people rented. Or, it is being bought up and gentrified and the rent skyrockets. This is everything from 300 unit apartment complexes that were killed in the 1960s and 1970s to beautiful, old 20 apartments in a building built in the 1930s. I want to suggest that conservatives and libertarians and set up focusing on tax cuts for rich folks focus on your local city council and say why are there all these ordinances that make it impossible to create all kinds of lower Income Housing . Guest thank you for that. A couple of quick points. As far as the case in minneapolis i understand what can happen if Public Housing is privatized. In San Francisco, a lot of people have a lot of concerns, too. It worked in San Francisco. This the insured that only nonprofits to cover the housing. Are sensitiveors to local concerns. I would urge you to take action if you are concerned about that. As for your other point about finding other solutions to increase the supply of housing, that is a big debate and it will continue to be one. In the case of San Francisco, for example, one thing that keeps the supply constrained, there are limits on the height to which residential buildings can be built. Im ambivalent about that because San Franciscos unique aesthetic is partially a result of those height limits. We have height limits here in washington, d. C. For the same reason. It keeps the skyline pristine. Theres an artificial constraint on the supply, which any conservative can tell you drives prices up. Andnances limit the kind amount of housing that can be built. As for micro permits, they are illegal in a lot of cities. Lift theies should restrictions on those as well. Theres a mishmash of solutions that can be pursued and they dont fall into tight, ideological lines. Host heres a look at Public Housing in the u. S. By the numbers. Is administered locally by 2900 Public Housing agencies. 1. 1 million Public Housing units across the country provide homes to 2. 1 million low income americans. The number of Public Housing units has fallen by more than 250,000 since the mid1990s. Theres a backlog of unmet reservation renovation needs. Louiseisten to the calling from fredericksburg, virginia. Caller this guy has talked a lot but hasnt said anything. I want you to share what happened in the small towns in america with Public Housing. The private sector was able to go in and by the Public Housing and now, people, even the poorest want live in them because you have to be really, really poor and kind of a lazy kind of person or an someone who lives off the system will live in there. Decent people who work will live in that housing because its that bad and they are private. Im not against private, but im against turning over the hud tosing to these investors come in and buy up these small houses in small towns and small areas and these people absolutely did not do anything to improve any of these houses. Furnaces, broken windows that needed to be replaced where the utility bills were skyhigh. Ive seen it through my relatives in west virginia. Wew, they are making need affordable housing. People arent afraid to pay for a house. Hey pay it out for their rent they want houses they can actually afford. Somebody making 50,000 a year cannot afford a 300,000 house. Guest i think you point out that theres a lot of local control. The program is authorized, but the way it is administered, a lot of leeway is local. Places where it perhaps hasnt been as effective San Francisco shows a model for how to do it effectively. Strong local control. Host caller from baltimore, maryland on the line for people who live in Public Housing. Caller i live in Public Housing. For sevenliving in it years. It is owned by a private owner. It is terrible. I dont feel its any different than when it was owned by the government. I live downtown. It is owned by a slumlord. I had to repeatedly fight this person. Theres a constant problem with corruption. There have been bedbugs. We had legionnaires disease in the water. They put defective materials in here. I had a sink that was replaced that was leaking when i sent it to hud, they would not respond. Tenants organization. I was even on the news complaining about this and baltimore. I even posted pictures on the facebook. Res a difficult situation they dont have security in here, they dont have cameras on the premises to monitor anything going on. Its terrible. I dont agree that private ownership is helpful at all. Not from my experience. The only reason they are doing anything now is because they were reported. Guest im sorry to hear that and i hope your statement this morning on cspan will help in your cause and fixing the situation. It sounds terrible. Att here is a quick look who is helped by Public Housing. Mostly adults with children, 33 , followed by the elderly at 31 . After that promote disabled adults. Adults. That, disabled grady callingth on the line for all others. From a i have a thought twopronged approach and Public Housing. In north carolina, we have a sweat equity, if you are willing to work in your capable of working and you are capable of working and you dont have a trade its something for you to have because its not a bad thing if youre in Public Housing and you want to move into a home and you cant afford a home, if you are willing to years,r four years, five youve got a job and your on that job five days a week, if you can donate to a program, say five hours, eight hours, 12 hours or what and you work in years,ogram for five youve built a sweat equity into your home that eventually pays you back. You are working on other peoples homes as they are being built for low rent homes people are buying. You build in a sweat equity where these people youve helped along turn around when its your turn to work on your home and build, paint, whatever it takes. During this process, you are not only getting the potential of making the down payment on your home, you are also gaining a trade. You learn to do Different Things in the building trade. In turn, everybody prospers. The individual prospers. They maintain their own home is not Public Housing anymore. Its called warehousing. Guest that sounds great. There are a lot of interesting local initiatives that help people build meaningful and sustainable lives for themselves. A lot of the people in Public Housing, including in San Francisco, are elderly and disabled. They are not able to work. The nonprofits that have taken over these buildings have actually put in place programs that still left them allow that allow them to lead meaningful lives. Things that give these people sustenance, even if they are not able physically to work in the economy. Host are the incentive structures different for private owners of these Public Housing units . You listen to the caller from baltimore, she mentioned the fact that shes had two leaking sinks in a row. Guest ideally, that wouldnt be the response the response would be sending a plumber right away. That was a disturbing call. She also made the point that it was just as bad when it still had Public Ownership and she hasnt seen improvement, but its not as if it was good before the owners took over. There isnt much incentive for i dont think theres that much incentive for bureaucrats to serve the public that welcome especially when you are talking about a pretty politically theyent class of people dont have much economic power. Unless you find some really generous hearted Public Servants to my think you will have a lot of people basically neglected in San Francisco<\/a> overall Public Housing<\/a>. Good morning. Is a microcosm San Francisco<\/a> is a microcosm. ,t has some of the most lavish beautiful housing you can find in the country and some of the worst Public Housing<\/a> in the entire united states. I wanted to show a paradoxical case that showed the extremes of the housing situation here. Host why is San Francisco<\/a> looking to reform its Public Housing<\/a> approach . Guest because it has some of the worst in the country. Subjective measurements it was only two out of dozens in the state of california to merit such a bad grade. Host because the rent is typically so high . There was a lot of mismanagement within a Public Housing<\/a> department in the city of San Francisco<\/a>. A lot of the necessary repairs werent being made. Because the real estate in the city was so expensive, it would happen cost prohibitive for the city to do all sorts of maintenance. That resulted in the gilded Silicon Valley<\/a> mentions a budding slums that would have not looked at a place in calcutta. Of aity took advantage federal program that allows you to turn Public Housing<\/a> into private operators. Restrictions that ensure indigent folks can stay in the housing but the city stops running the housing. San francisco is a liberal bastion. You can imagine democrats losing their minds over Something Like<\/a> this. How did it go . Guest i thought it was interesting ideologically. Is a leftwing city. This was arguably a conservative solution. It was privatization. There wasnt some objection to it. There was some objection to it. Even the naysayers are happy with the way things have turned out. Host its called the rental assistance demonstration program. How does that work . Guest it allows Public Housing<\/a> to partner throughout the u. S. To privatize the Public Housing<\/a>. Even as i say the word privatize, some of my words and activist community in San Francisco<\/a> get mad about it, so ill say turn it over to private operators. But it is privatization. Thats how it works. It is still a pilot program. Theres 1. 2 million Public Housing<\/a> units in the entire u. S. So far, the congress and the president have only approved 3000 units to be turned over to private operators. , i anticipatel bigger changes. Host this started four years ago . Guest Congress Passed<\/a> it in 2012. Host why did hud start this program . Housings cliches are true in a lot of cases. While congressog appropriates that 2 billion a year for maintenance. It is a massive backlog that will never be filled. The backlog gets worse each year because 2 billion is not enough to keep pace. Clearly, a new solution was needed. You can turn it over to private operators and they might be better at running the housing and they have access to private capital that the government doesnt. They can get bank loans to perform repairs. It had pretty bipartisan support because its kind of a conservative solution but one that liberals would be interested in because its about making Public Housing<\/a> but appeared Public Housing<\/a> better. Host give us a sense of the anecdotes, the people you met to illustrate the point youre making. Guest it was moving, actually. I visited one that had been rehabbed the building was gutted and completely rebuilt, basically. There was a woman who lived in the building for 10 years. It was dangerous. There werent locks, people werent there to maintain order. Wept in my presence as she talked about how her life had been transformed by this transformation of her building. Put in theemark i piece that was so and the medic of the whole story. She feels like her house is a home now. So emblematic of the whole story. Host we are speaking with Ethan Epstein<\/a> about his piece in politico. If you live in Public Housing<\/a>, call 2027488000. Everybody else can call 2027488001. Tim is calling from indiana. Good morning. Statement. Ust have a was left up to donald trump, we wouldnt have Public Housing<\/a>. President s budget has proposed significant cuts to hud, as you point out. This program is a little safer than the other traditional Public Housing<\/a> programs because it has that ideological fusion element to it. Its a solution that even the most hardcore libertarians might be able to support. When this Public Housing<\/a> is privatized, say a resident has an issue, they cant take it to the city to get addressed. The have to go through whatever corporate hierarchy there is, right . Guest i cant speak to the entire nation. San francisco put in a lot of requirements for the private operators to provide all sorts of services to the residents. At the buildings i went to, theres someone always on site. The accessibility of management has improved as a result of this program. Host what are the prophets like . Like . Profits guest it varies. San francisco mandated that only nonprofits take over. That is not in the federal law. The city of san antonio turned over its Public Housing<\/a> to a private developer. Thisan make money doing with things like the tax credits. San francisco in short the nonprofits take the lead. That was to build ideological support among a leftwing population. Host christian is calling from garland, texas. He lives in Public Housing<\/a>. Caller good morning. I had a solution to the problem with Public Housing<\/a>. What if you thought about going to the local colleges, going to the Architecture Program<\/a> and saying if we were to give you young kids 30,000, what would be the cheapest Public Housing<\/a> you could build . Guest theres an emphasis on keeping costs down. For san a serious issue francisco because San Francisco<\/a> is so expensive. They had to do everything they could to maintain the lower cost. Difficulty with a plan like yours is i dont really think theres much upside for building new Public Housing<\/a> anymore. You are seeing places being rehabilitated. Host dennis is calling from san diego. He lives in Public Housing<\/a>. What is your Public Housing<\/a> situation like . Caller yes, sir. First of all, im very grateful for the hud Section Eight Program<\/a> of which im a member. Housing ande enough theres a lot of homeless in our streets. Trumps newident appointee trying to do legislatively with Public Housing<\/a> that you can share with us . Guest unfortunately, im not as up to speed on the latest moves by secretary carson. I do know the trump budget calls for stringent cuts in hud and i think the new secretary is on board with that. San francisco also has a lot of homeless people. To get into Public Housing<\/a>, first of all, San Francisco<\/a> has a huge list and a lottery to get into Public Housing<\/a>. Homeless have alcoholism or Mental Health<\/a> problems and they lack a certain organizational aptitude to get on the list to get into Public Housing<\/a>. That will require a different kind of solution than the solution weve been talking about. Host dennis also mentioned section eight. Can you explain the difference between section eight and Public Housing<\/a> . Is a section eight substate provided to a person of a certain income that they can take and use for an apartment building. Its different from Public Housing<\/a> which is a building that is owned and operated by the government. Section eight is more of a privatized solution in itself. Host lydia is calling from minnesota. She also lives in Public Housing<\/a>. Caller hi. Ive lived in housing about 10 years. Minneapolis in the past has gotten awards as the best Public Housing<\/a> in the country. Now, we have a new executive whattor who is considering youre talking about in terms of private operators and a lot of people are really afraid. I would be supportive of nonprofits taking over Public Housing<\/a>. If we look at the forprofit sectors and things like Detention Centers<\/a> in prisons and prisons and help insurance come im highly dubious. Imnd health insurance, highly dubious. The average rent here is over 1000 a month for a one bedroom. A lot of the working poor struggle and pay 50 or more of their income on rent. Im a very progressive person, im on the left. But i feel like we need to be changing ordinances that make it ofossible to have a variety alternatives to produce low Income Housing<\/a> like granny houses in backyards trailer parks have been outlawed and they are closing in minneapolis. The tiny house movement. There are other ways you could be creating. To bed, we seem destroying old housing that used to be the housing for people rented. Or, it is being bought up and gentrified and the rent skyrockets. This is everything from 300 unit apartment complexes that were killed in the 1960s and 1970s to beautiful, old 20 apartments in a building built in the 1930s. I want to suggest that conservatives and libertarians and set up focusing on tax cuts for rich folks focus on your local city council and say why are there all these ordinances that make it impossible to create all kinds of lower Income Housing<\/a> . Guest thank you for that. A couple of quick points. As far as the case in minneapolis i understand what can happen if Public Housing<\/a> is privatized. In San Francisco<\/a>, a lot of people have a lot of concerns, too. It worked in San Francisco<\/a>. This the insured that only nonprofits to cover the housing. Are sensitiveors to local concerns. I would urge you to take action if you are concerned about that. As for your other point about finding other solutions to increase the supply of housing, that is a big debate and it will continue to be one. In the case of San Francisco<\/a>, for example, one thing that keeps the supply constrained, there are limits on the height to which residential buildings can be built. Im ambivalent about that because San Francisco<\/a>s unique aesthetic is partially a result of those height limits. We have height limits here in washington, d. C. For the same reason. It keeps the skyline pristine. Theres an artificial constraint on the supply, which any conservative can tell you drives prices up. Andnances limit the kind amount of housing that can be built. As for micro permits, they are illegal in a lot of cities. Lift theies should restrictions on those as well. Theres a mishmash of solutions that can be pursued and they dont fall into tight, ideological lines. Host heres a look at Public Housing<\/a> in the u. S. By the numbers. Is administered locally by 2900 Public Housing<\/a> agencies. 1. 1 million Public Housing<\/a> units across the country provide homes to 2. 1 million low income americans. The number of Public Housing<\/a> units has fallen by more than 250,000 since the mid1990s. Theres a backlog of unmet reservation renovation needs. Louiseisten to the calling from fredericksburg, virginia. Caller this guy has talked a lot but hasnt said anything. I want you to share what happened in the small towns in america with Public Housing<\/a>. The private sector was able to go in and by the Public Housing<\/a> and now, people, even the poorest want live in them because you have to be really, really poor and kind of a lazy kind of person or an someone who lives off the system will live in there. Decent people who work will live in that housing because its that bad and they are private. Im not against private, but im against turning over the hud tosing to these investors come in and buy up these small houses in small towns and small areas and these people absolutely did not do anything to improve any of these houses. Furnaces, broken windows that needed to be replaced where the utility bills were skyhigh. Ive seen it through my relatives in west virginia. Wew, they are making need affordable housing. People arent afraid to pay for a house. Hey pay it out for their rent they want houses they can actually afford. Somebody making 50,000 a year cannot afford a 300,000 house. Guest i think you point out that theres a lot of local control. The program is authorized, but the way it is administered, a lot of leeway is local. Places where it perhaps hasnt been as effective San Francisco<\/a> shows a model for how to do it effectively. Strong local control. Host caller from baltimore, maryland on the line for people who live in Public Housing<\/a>. Caller i live in Public Housing<\/a>. For sevenliving in it years. It is owned by a private owner. It is terrible. I dont feel its any different than when it was owned by the government. I live downtown. It is owned by a slumlord. I had to repeatedly fight this person. Theres a constant problem with corruption. There have been bedbugs. We had legionnaires disease in the water. They put defective materials in here. I had a sink that was replaced that was leaking when i sent it to hud, they would not respond. Tenants organization. I was even on the news complaining about this and baltimore. I even posted pictures on the facebook. Res a difficult situation they dont have security in here, they dont have cameras on the premises to monitor anything going on. Its terrible. I dont agree that private ownership is helpful at all. Not from my experience. The only reason they are doing anything now is because they were reported. Guest im sorry to hear that and i hope your statement this morning on cspan will help in your cause and fixing the situation. It sounds terrible. Att here is a quick look who is helped by Public Housing<\/a>. Mostly adults with children, 33 , followed by the elderly at 31 . After that promote disabled adults. Adults. That, disabled grady callingth on the line for all others. From a i have a thought twopronged approach and Public Housing<\/a>. In north carolina, we have a sweat equity, if you are willing to work in your capable of working and you are capable of working and you dont have a trade its something for you to have because its not a bad thing if youre in Public Housing<\/a> and you want to move into a home and you cant afford a home, if you are willing to years,r four years, five youve got a job and your on that job five days a week, if you can donate to a program, say five hours, eight hours, 12 hours or what and you work in years,ogram for five youve built a sweat equity into your home that eventually pays you back. You are working on other peoples homes as they are being built for low rent homes people are buying. You build in a sweat equity where these people youve helped along turn around when its your turn to work on your home and build, paint, whatever it takes. During this process, you are not only getting the potential of making the down payment on your home, you are also gaining a trade. You learn to do Different Things<\/a> in the building trade. In turn, everybody prospers. The individual prospers. They maintain their own home is not Public Housing<\/a> anymore. Its called warehousing. Guest that sounds great. There are a lot of interesting local initiatives that help people build meaningful and sustainable lives for themselves. A lot of the people in Public Housing<\/a>, including in San Francisco<\/a>, are elderly and disabled. They are not able to work. The nonprofits that have taken over these buildings have actually put in place programs that still left them allow that allow them to lead meaningful lives. Things that give these people sustenance, even if they are not able physically to work in the economy. Host are the incentive structures different for private owners of these Public Housing<\/a> units . You listen to the caller from baltimore, she mentioned the fact that shes had two leaking sinks in a row. Guest ideally, that wouldnt be the response the response would be sending a plumber right away. That was a disturbing call. She also made the point that it was just as bad when it still had Public Ownership<\/a> and she hasnt seen improvement, but its not as if it was good before the owners took over. There isnt much incentive for i dont think theres that much incentive for bureaucrats to serve the public that welcome especially when you are talking about a pretty politically theyent class of people dont have much economic power. Unless you find some really generous hearted Public Servants<\/a> to my think you will have a lot of people basically neglected in Public Housing<\/a>. Jim is calling from South Carolina<\/a> on the line for all others. Good morning. Caller good morning. I was wondering why the San Francisco<\/a> model is working versus the government trying to maintain the low income. What is it that these private people are doing . Visit economics because their labor is basically free or is it Something Else<\/a> . What is the reason why this model works and the government model does not work . Guest a couple of reasons. One, it is just the access to capital. 5 billion dollar maintenance backlog in Public Housing<\/a> and the only way that 25ernment is only billion maintenance backlog in Public Housing<\/a> and the only way the government is able the private operators can access bank funding. In the case of San Francisco<\/a> specifically come i mentioned that nonprofits took over these Public Housing<\/a> units. These nonprofits have already existed in the local neighborhoods where they took over the buildings for decades. This idea that housing was a right, these organizations sprung up to fight for that right. Experiencee of that of working with residents and serving their local community, there was a builtin desire and knowhow on how to serve local residents. Not only did they have the money to make the place is better, but they had experience already building and managing Public Housing<\/a>. They had expense providing services to rent them. They had a decade of on the ground expense doing these kinds of things. Thats why its working in San Francisco<\/a>. Im not sure why it hasnt in a place like baltimore. Host amy is calling for michigan on the line for all others. Caller good money. My question is building on the last caller. Presumably there was low hanging fruit in San Francisco<\/a> and they were able to address key problems relatively quickly. Wondering what they were and how they fixed it. You just said they had some local knowhow. Are there some key examples of things they were able to turn around quickly because of that knowhow . Caller sure. Guest sure. There were two big problems. One was physical. The other was on the level of human to human contact. You have things like leaky roofs , some have asbestos. There was a building for disabled people were happy elevators was out of service happy elevators were out of service. Half the elevators were out of service. Spending 200,000 per unit in rehabbing those buildings. There was neglect of the residents. The city was so understaffed that there was one manager per multiple buildings. There were buildings that had no contact. If you had a leaky sink, there was no one you can go to. If there was a broken lock and you had all sorts of miscreants coming in and out of the place, there was no one to talk to about it. Having someone on site has made a world of difference. Some residents were afraid to leave their units because the rest of the building was so scary. Now that there are people on 24 7 who bring and social workers and people who provide activities and cooking classes and art classes and field trips that was a result of people already having experience doing these kinds of things and never local communities and being better resourced. Didnt have the manpower to provide those resources. Host weve been talking about Ethan Epstein<\/a>s piece in politico. Journals washington live every morning with news and issues that impact you. Coming up on sunday morning, Phyllis Bennis<\/a> from the institute for policy studies discussing the trump administrations Foreign Policy<\/a> and the presents recent speech on afghanistan. Brian mcgrath, formal naval officer, now with the hudson institute, talks about recent collisions involving u. S. Warships. Be sure to arch cspans washington journal, live at 7 a. M. Eastern. 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