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Grim Proving Ground For Obama's Housing Policy
boston.com — Grove Parc has become a symbol for some in Chicago of the broader failures of giving public subsidies to private companies to build and manage affordable housing - an approach strongly backed by Obama as the best replacement for public housing. Obama contributors profited from the subsidies even as many of Obama's constituents suffered.
novaculus- 38 diggs
- digg it
- novaculus, on 09/04/2008, -0/+11FTA:
"As a state senator, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee coauthored an Illinois law creating a new pool of tax credits for developers. As a US senator, he pressed for increased federal subsidies. And as a presidential candidate, he has campaigned on a promise to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that could give developers an estimated $500 million a year.
But a Globe review found that thousands of apartments across Chicago that had been built with local, state, and federal subsidies - including several hundred in Obama's former district - deteriorated so completely that they were no longer habitable.
Grove Parc and several other prominent failures were developed and managed by Obama's close friends and political supporters. Those people profited from the subsidies even as many of Obama's constituents suffered. Tenants lost their homes; surrounding neighborhoods were blighted.
Some of the residents of Grove Parc say they are angry that Obama did not notice their plight. The development straddles the boundary of Obama's state Senate district. Many of the tenants have been his constituents for more than a decade.
"No one should have to live like this, and no one did anything about it," said Cynthia Ashley, who has lived at Grove Parc since 1994."
"The campaign did not respond to questions about whether Obama was aware of the problems with buildings in his district during his time as a state senator, nor did it comment on the roles played by people connected to the senator."- vexingmodstwo, on 09/04/2008, -0/+9Whoa. The media is actually looking into Obama now?
You think CNN will do a story on this on cable? How about Olbermann? LOL!
- vexingmodstwo, on 09/04/2008, -0/+9Whoa. The media is actually looking into Obama now?
- BillE3, on 09/04/2008, -0/+9Corrupt business as usual does not seem like change you can count on. Or is he just planning on changing what is working in other states to become like what is not working in Chicago?
- Tubman69, on 09/04/2008, -1/+7Being from Chicago this is nothing new. There are probably a hundred more stories like this that have yet to be told. Business as usual for Obama, Daley and the rest of the Chicago political machine.
- novaculus, on 09/05/2008, -1/+2Tub, ain't it the truth. Known around political circles as "The Chicago Way".
- frolet, on 09/05/2008, -0/+2This should be dugg down into negative oblivion very shortly, thanks to the Obama Defense Force that patrols Digg...
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