We Cannot Quarantine the Poor

Larry James has an interesting post on his blog. It has to do with the need for low income housing, of some type, in every neighborhood. Its a great challenge. All of us who own property are challenged by this idea. The nicer we consider our neighborhood, the harder we struggle with the prospect of this in our back yard. Larry's honest enough to admit his conflict, I know I admit mine as well. However, at the end of the day, we cannot quarantine the poor in neighborhoods of whatever kind, without expecting more of the same. I grew up in a neighborhood that included the working class, the poor, doctors, teachers and pastors all within walking distance. Nearly all of us grew up with a healthy perspective on life, exposed to good values and a reasonable hope that through hard work we could live a better life than our parents.

Not all of us made it. Some of us went to colleges and universities. Some of us went to prison.

Some died young due to violence and drugs. There are no guarantees, other than you lessen excuses and increase chances, when you expose children and youth to a broad spectrum of life challenges and choices.

That's not the reason for this section of the post though...

Some thoughtful respondents to Larry's post raised the question of poor neighbors and their inability to keep their properties neat and tidy. I pastored for more than 20 years in one of the poorest neighborhoods in South Dallas and I admit it can be a problem. One respondent mentioned that hordes of volunteers come annually, into poor neighborhoods to keep these neighborhoods neat and tidy. Correction: not annually - monthly, if not weekly! It used to happen, almost weekly until we decided to do something about housing and the neighborhood association actually began doing code enforcements job for them.

You see most of those properties that we stereotypically think of as being owned by 'those people' aren't actually owned by 'those' people. The vacant lots, with the overgrown weeds, beer bottles, debris and other litter, are owned by people who don't live in those communities. As a matter of fact they live in neighborhoods of people who wouldn't want low income people living in their community. I know its true, because when we started looking at where to build infill housing in the neighborhoods we would check the tax roles.