I finally finished reading the 227 page Report (DOC: Affordable_Housing_Needs_Assessment_2016). I encourage others to do the same.
I will be breaking down some of the more interesting STATS I pulled from the report.
My initial analysis is that Sioux Falls is going down a GRIM path when it comes to Affordable Housing, unless we take action NOW. This is what the report is encouraging.
The Report Points out;
Poor or No coordination and inefficiency between affordable housing organizations
Household incomes at or below $25K are increasing at a drastic rate and the divide between rich and poor is growing while middle income stays stagnant.
Extreme population growth has contributed to problem.
The task force recommends starting with the most vunerable, children living in poverty.
This table shows the gap between rich and poor and really how the poor are getting poorer and the rich increasing at a faster pace.
This table shows the projected enormous growth in the Healthcare industry in SF.
This shows the poverty that exists within our school system.
37% of SF workers make under $25K
We need to end the wage collusion in this town, if any of the issues identified by Thrive are going to be seriously addressed.
Businesses in this town use to mention their wages in employment ads, but now…. Not so much….. Why not?
Maybe because they fear a wage war and they probably like the idea of having the social safety net help subsidize their employees’ monetary needs at no direct expense to the business community at hand…. And is it not convenient also, that the Thrive study makes mention of a greater need to coordinate the social safety net to deal with the issue of affordable housing in this town… Wow, how convenient it is for the business community to step up that one. They certainly do not want to increase wages to a living wage in this town with their wage collusion, do they?…. (Hey, I got an idea, that us just make the social safety net more accessible… Yah, that’s the ticket…..Problem solved…. wink, wink……)
I also cannot believe that the Chamber helped fund the Thrive study. I am sorry, that reality is laughable at best and actually quite tragic. When has the Chamber ever been for higher wages, bargaining rights for workers, or even a mere increase in the minimum wage – a minimum wage that even at its best is not enough to live off of, yet the Chamber thinks such wages are too high for unskilled adult workers, who just so happen to be the prime candidates looking for affordable housing in this town…..
What this study did is that it identified an already obvious problem. And its solvency, a greater enhancement of the social safety net in this town, only allows for the status quo to continue with a greater burden being placed on government and charity organizations, while made for profit organizations, which under pay their employees, get to laugh all the way to the bank….. And the sad irony is, that those for profit organizations or companies get the credit for funding this study, too, with crocodile tears at best…..
“What this study did is that it identified an already obvious problem. ”
My exact thoughts. I have known these things have been going on for a very long time in SF. Then someone puts it on paper . . .
It’s not reported by Huether so I believe it. He says we have jobs. True, but we have long welfare lines and bring cardboard boxes to live in. What’s especially sad is how many children need public assistance. Only the county offers public assistance. Their budget is a fourth that of the city. Welfare from the city is half a million for private indoor tennis for Huether’s wife and Olympic indoor swimming for elite upperclass swim clubs. Mike Huether is a cruel cruel man that wears thousand dollar suits.
I can’t be proud of a city with children that go hungry.
Chamber What ARE YOUSMOKING .THEY WANT LOW WAGES .PERIOD.