The People Who Broke America. I Want Some Aspects of America Back from the Crooks Who Have Stolen It.
Where are the billions of dollars that the government has earmarked for housing and mortgage payment assistance? We want answers. "...this crisis that should not be a crisis..." US Rep. Cori Bush
We need to find out what is going on with the billions of dollars that the government has allocated for COVI-19 emergency housing and mortgage assistance. In Massachusetts, Governor Baker allocated 400 million dollars in emergency housing assistance. In Boston, the city set up a system through Metro Housing, namely RAFT, to get the funds administered and distributed. But the system has failed applicants, many of whom resorted to filing complaints with the city.
This story is a reflection of our broken government and the failing American democracy. And we must stop the trend now before it is too late. We must stop electing politicians whose tongues speak words that are soon denounced by their actions. We must stop trying to plug gushing wounds with Band-aids. And no number of trillions of dollars that the federal government spends will fix the problems that have been created and allowed to pile up by the absence of transparency in government and the complete lack of accountability, compounded by corporate corruption.
The first Stimulus bill of 2,2 Trillion dollars, named The Cares Act and signed into law in March 2020, did not include housing relief funds. But at the time, a general moratorium had been placed on eviction and foreclosure.
The second stimulus package, a $900 billion pandemic relief bill signed into law in December 2020, included $25 billion in emergency rental relief and mortgage assistance.
The American Rescue Plan, the third stimulus package, enacted in March 2021 included:
$9.9 billion will be allocated to the Homeowners Assistance Fund to help homeowners in need pay overdue mortgage bills, taxes, insurance, and HOA dues. These funds were supposed to be distributed through state Housing Finance Agencies
$25 billion in emergency rental assistance for renters, made available through state and local governments.
Billions of these government dollars are being squandered or wasted. Much of that money is not going to the people for whom it was designated to meet urgent needs, such as keeping tenants in their homes and preventing mortgage foreclosures. US Representative Cori Bush slept on the steps of the Capitol Building to protest the end of the eviction moratorium last month and lamented the absence of policy to bridge the gap.
However, while Representative Cori Bush of Missouri’s 1st Congressional District was trying in all sincerity to prevent what she and others, like US Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota's 5th congressional district, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, referred to as a potential catastrophe of mass eviction, the states did nothing to get the organizations that had been tasked with administering, managing, and distributing those funds to allocate money to applicants. Given the complete lack of transparency, one can only speculate that the funds were either sitting somewhere unused or that they are not really available. Meanwhile, the CDC just put a Band-aid on the bleeding by extending the eviction moratorium through October. In other words, we are very likely to be right back where we started comes October, unless the government is forced to perform the simple task of moving applications along and awarding these funds to renters and property owners.
The following is a partial transcript of an interview with Representative Cori Bush from DemocracyNow.org
REP. CORI BUSH: This is the thing: We can’t take the glory if we’re not willing to go through the grind. There is grind happening right now. So go through the grind. Don’t just start snatching glory.
REP. CORI BUSH: Again, we have to use everything that we can. That was the route that she chose, was to say the CDC. We’re saying CDC, White House, House leadership. We’re even talking about the Senate. Come on. Like, we were all elected to serve the people. We didn’t sign up to say, “Oh, not people of low income. No, no, no, no. We’re not talking about you.” We didn’t — there was no document that I saw. And when I raised my hand, that was not a part of what I swore. So, my job is to make sure that I’m speaking up for the over 740,000 people in my district, to make sure that their basic needs are met, plus anything else that’s coming up that is within my wheelhouse to take care of. And the same thing for each and every one of the people that you just named, they have to do their work.
Let Congresswoman Cori Bush do the talking:
“…we have right now, this crisis that should not be a crisis when we have over $40 billion sitting right now that states and counties, other localities can use to help to make sure that some of this back rent is paid.” See more of the interview transcript here.
Representative Cori Bush: “Who removed the benches at the bust stop?”
This is the kind of politicians that we need. We do not need any more broken promises from politicians who want to govern in absentia or from 50,000 feet above all of us.
RESTORE AMERICA AND DEFEAT QANON LIES AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES WITH GOOD GOVERNANCE AND BROAD CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
