Time to fix Public Housing

By Raymond Mariano

The current public housing system is a well-intentioned failure. This system, originally intended to provide temporary transitional support to struggling families, has become the housing of choice for multiple generations of the same family. Such a system promotes reliance on public assistance and creates intergenerational poverty.

With each subsequent generation, the lack of motivation to leave public housing becomes more ingrained. Today, children living in public housing are more likely to become adult residents and raise their own children in public housing than in generations past.

Additionally, the intergenerational reliance on public housing clogs the system with the same families. The result is that thousands of families are forced to remain on an endless waiting list.

The current system is based on the mistaken notion that residents of public housing can't do anything to help themselves and that they are destined to fail. We reject that notion. Rather than believing in our residents and helping them get on their feet, our existing system provides a strong disincentive to work and to accurately report income.

The time has come for a bold new approach. One approach aims to break the permanent cycle of poverty and public housing reliance, as well as transform lives by changing the concept behind providing this public benefit.

With close to 80 percent of Worcester's public housing residents unemployed, we propose a requirement for able-bodied residents under the age of fifty to go to work or attend school full time in order to continue to receive housing benefits.

In order to ensure that residents are provided the necessary tools and resources to meet the school/work requirements, all residents will participate in intensive case-management services, and will be provided with access to resources that will help improve the educational, occupational, financial and health needs of each member of the household.

As an incentive to go to work, all residents will participate in an escrow program to allow them to maintain their rents at a pre-employment level. The increased portion of their rent, that would normally result from their increased income, will be put in escrow to allow the resident a greater chance of self-sufficiency when they leave public housing after a few years.

Too many children living in public housing fail and drop out of school. Poor attendance and dismal graduation rates have become the norm. As a part of this new approach, children will be required to attend school on a regular basis and not exceed the guidelines for absences set by the local school district for their family to continue to receive housing benefits.

Although most public and leased housing residents have the desire and motivation to improve their lives, many lack the skills and knowledge to actually do so. Life 101 is a program specifically designed to provide residents with basic but significant life skills, including training related to healthy relationships, parenting, financial literacy, housekeeping, being a good neighbor and conflict resolution.

In general, public housing children lack resources, family support and a positive father/male role model. Lack of education contributes to a lack of sustained employment among our residents.

Ultimately, our goal is to help make residents self-sufficient and motivate them to move out of public or leased housing and take their place in the larger community. We believe that housing authorities should do more than change the windows and doors every few years. In fact, if we are willing to believe in our residents and provide them with the support they need, we believe that we have the opportunity to change lives.

Raymond V. Mariano is executive director of the Worcester Housing Authority.