| It's rare -- very rare -- when Miami-Dade's "strong mayor," Carlos Alvarez, its board of county commissioners, and local activists (for low income housing and the poor) agree, on anything. When they do, one should take notice.
In this case, all of the above agree, as do I, and many observers in South Florida, that the Bush Department of Housing and Urban Development's move to take over the Miami-Dade Housing Agency is both precipitous and unnecessary.
How is it that, two years after the scandals detailed in the Miami Herald's "House of Lies" series occurred, the agency charged with overseeing the spending of federal housing funds by the county-supervised agency, only now decides its time to take over? Where was HUD when these scandals -- many of which involved federal, meaning HUD, funds, were taking place? Where was their oversight? It's clear that the county agency was a playground for scandal, fraud and abuse. It's true that the agency squandered tens of millions of dollars giving sweetheart deals to insider contractors and developers who never intended to build a single unit of low income housing -- and who in many cases simply flipped the properties for personal gain, while never repaying the loans. It's true that the agency was a disgrace, which should become the target of multiple prosecutions. And its true that the county commission did little, or nothing, to stop or catch the abuses. You might even say they deserve a healthy share of the blame, and shame.
However, the House of Lies scandals are the agency's recent past. It's currently under new management, and from all that I hear from housing advocates who are on the ground, working with the very people bilked by MDHA, making progress. And for HUD to now move in, citing of all things, the possibility that poor people were getting too much Section 8 money, is outrageous.
Further, the man pushing the takeover, Orlando Cabrera, a crony of both Jeb and George Bush, and the Latin Builders Association, cannot, and will not, promise that he will not pursue the tried and true Bushian policy of privatization. Look for him to do exactly that, with some of the last arable, unoccupied land in South Florida. And who stands to benefit? The aforementioned LBA and Jebbie's development firm, the Codina Group.
Sound cynical?
It should. Especially since the man who runs the agency that is purporting to save Miami-Dade from itself, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, has been caught red-handed, using a partisan litmus test for the awarding of federal contracts. He plays by the Bush rules, and there's no reason to assume he'll stop doing so now. And among those rules is the following: thou shalt pursue public policy with as little basic competence as possible, for as long as you can get away with it. Ring up some friends in New Orleans, Philly or Detroit, and ask how their HUD-run public housing agencies are doing. For that matter, ring up Riviera Beach.
You'll forgive me if I take a dim view of the Bush administration's latest land and power grab in the 27 electoral vote state of Florida. I've had seven years to become this cynical.
Meanwhile, Mayor Alvarez is vowing to fight the HUD takeover in court, as he stated in a defiant press conference yesterday. His argument: the agency cannot prove that Miami-Dade is still in a state of default -- it's allegations are true, but they're past history. And as for the boogeyman of Section 8 certifications? Alvarez expects them to be completed, in their entirety, next month. In fact, the newfangled MDHA is already working closely with the community most affected by the House of Lies scandals: Liberty City, a mostly black enclave where poverty and want outrun hope and possibility far too often. Bringing HUD in as the big stick will likely sideline those community workers, placing the Bushies and their cronies firmly in charge. And as for the financial scandals -- with a strong mayor now in place, and the direct accountability that he has mandated to all department heads, including the new head of MDHA, Kris Warren, the buck actually stops somewhere today, something that wasn't true when the Herald was earning that Pulitzer.
By the way, the Miami Herald -- the agency who informed a credulous HUD that its $275 million was being flushed down the toilet (and without whom apparently Mr. Cabrera would have been none the wiser...?) Their editorial board agrees with me.
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Labels: Florida, Miami-Dade, politics, poverty, public housing |
