Monday, April 25, 2011

One solution to solve the abandonment problem

This article I found does not have all the answers, nor does anyone else, however it gives some insight on what we need to do in order to fix the problem of abandoned homes. The main point that I drew from this article is that one cannot rely solely on the government or a group of people to fix all of our problems; people need to work together as communities, partnered with the government and private groups, to fix this mess.

6 comments:

  1. This really links to the Mallach reading for this week. I've never thought of the role non-profits such as Habitat for Humanity could play, I definitely think cities should explore this option more.

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  2. I agree that non-profits like Habitat for Humanity could have a huge positive impact on some of these communities. I think the biggest difference is that there is no financial incentive for a non-profit to fix up or build a house, so that eliminates the possibility for abusing the system or taking advantage of foreclosed/abandoned homes.

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  3. Habitat for Humanity never really comes to mind when considering the housing abandonment problem, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. If the government provided more financial aid/incentives to these programs, then maybe the non-profit organizations could clean up the foreclosed/abandoned homes so that they can benefit the community.

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  4. This is a good solution for the issue of government having money to spend but lacking the micro-level ability to know exactly what individual communities need. Create a good system of regulation and accreditation for nonprofits to make sure they are on the level and effective, but then increase grants to them to move from large-scale spending to small-scale improvements that genuinely help towns and communities.

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  5. I think that non-profits are sometimes able to do things more effectively than the government, and people are more willing to give money to a cause that they have a choice to help. Over the summer, I volunteered at a non-profit that mostly worked as a homeless shelter with people with dependance issues. However, as part of the program they began buy up houses in a poor part of town with a high crime rate. By fixing up the houses, and having the rehabilitated residents reporting criminal activity to the police, they were able to turn that section of the neighborhood around.
    THis is one example of non-profits working

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  6. It would be nice to see the Habitat for Humanity partner up with the government. They have a long tack record in helping get people homes with loans through their organization. This has been done by following the old rules of home loans; dependable people, check ups, and resonable payments. They might be able to give some pointers to the government and banks.

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