Okay ... this is in honor of someone at Dems United Meetup, who wanted to know Housing Policy.
Next time, Foreign Policy.
Nader - You ever thought about the fact that votenader.com is just two letters away from notevader.com? Just wondering.
"Restore the social-safety net." Whether this means restoring section eight housing, he doesn't say. How much and where? Who knows.
Land tax. Will put more land into the public use. Could create public housing, or just parks, or maybe won't make rich people donate land at all. Property taxes unchanged.
"adequately fund public works." Is this housing? Is this anything specific? No one knows.
Reduce pollution, and move more pollution sources from poor neighborhoods. So will Kerry. This will improve housing and neighborhoods for the poor.
Environmental protection in transportation and development. Nowhere NEARLY as specific as Kerry. I'm sorry, this could be anything, including the current disaster area of public policy under Bush.
More renewable energy transport. No plan. I will return to this in an energy plan diary two installments from now.
Improve auto safety, as opposed to Kerry, who wants to help people to use cars less altogether.
What would you like? A better airbag, or a bike path? A sidewalk, or a reinforced SUV? A light rail system, or anti-lock brakes? Thank you Mr. 20th Century. It's 2004. I'll return to this in a transport diary.
Further policing against real estate scams and predatory credit. So will Kerry.
Work with other nations and NGOs and the UN to demonstrate appropriate technologies dealing with housing and discover and facilitate the genius of the Third World in areas like agrarian housing. Can someone explain this to me? This is either fantastic or bizarre.
Kerry -
Increase the Supply of Affordable Housing. Many current affordable housing providers are deciding to opt-out of their Section 8 contracts or are prepaying their HUD-insured mortgages. Kerry will provide 1.5 million rental units over the next 10 years for low-income families with his Affordable Housing Trust Fund. He will also encourage the construction and rehabilitation of approximately 500,000 homes for low- and moderate-income families in economically distressed areas over 10 years through his Community Development Homeownership Tax Credit Act.
Enforce Fair Housing and Fair Lending Laws. Same as Nader.
Making Environmental Justice a National Priority. Create Environmental Empowerment Zones to ensure that the federal government considers environmental justice in decisions that affect communities.
Create a new, higher office within the EPA dedicated solely to addressing environmental injustice.
Establish a national tracking system for chronic diseases and environmental health hazards in order to link illnesses to environmental causes that are now not monitored in any comprehensive manner. This is how you do it. Kerry has some good epidemiologists on his team ... it shows.
Kerry will provide new funding and support for faith-based charities or centers that provide shelter, but will make sure such funding complies with the notion of separation of church and state. (no organizations that do any preaching ... so look for lots of Jewish, Hindu, and Wiccan shelters near you soon)
A Plan to Make Our Cities More Secure. Adoption of a new strategic direction for homeland security that ensures that cities are provided with the necessary resources to protect our homeland.
Fully fund the successful COPS program, which President Bush has proposed slashing; ensure that urban areas have the resources to prevent terrorist attacks and keep our streets safe. Join with law enforcement leaders around the country and work to ensure that our law enforcement agencies reflect the richness of America. Communities must feel as though their police departments are part of their communities - not apart from their communities. Nader has lots of criminal justice reforms and equal rights ideas, but not this. He has no plan for hiring more police, actually.
Create the Father Mychal Judge Fund to hire 100,000 new firefighters and provide the equipment necessary to assure firefighters are prepared;
Enlist the National Guard and AmeriCorps in homeland security efforts;
Create a community defense service;
Bring information technology to the war on terror;
Implement public health initiatives; and
Improve port security, bridges, tunnels and private infrastructure.
Federal Transportation Policy That Works For Communities. Advance a federal transportation policy that gives communities the flexibility to improve pedestrian/bike pathways, promote non-automotive transportation and traffic/commerceways, and improve/build/repair mass transit. Improve the transportation planning and decision-making process by strengthening the role of Metropolitan Planning Organizations and increasing the opportunities for meaningful public participation from important and diverse community voices.
Bush -
Faith-based shelters. He doesn't care if they proselytize.
Partner HUD with the Faith Based Office.
Get the Freedom Corps to volunteer on community projects. I haven't seen these guys. Have you?
Continue to underfund First Responders. Continue to stick localities with the bill.
Continue to demolish public housing and kick families out of such housing.
Continue to throw money at quasi-private lenders and call it housing reform.
Continue to ignore predatory real estate and lending practices, especially for the poor and minority buyer population.
"Clear Skies" continues to exacerbate environmental illness in our communities.
Subsidize hydrogen cars, to be launched in 2020.
Continue to underfund federal grants to mass transit.
Continue to log in the public forests.
Continue to stick communities with the bill for toxic cleanup sites, and let polluters go.
Screw with climate treaties and diesel regulations ... this needs a whole diary.
Suffice it to say that he's not bringing you light rail, unless Jesus is driving the engine.