Some Things are Worth Fighting For

The Housing Alliance doesn't have a position on the size of government. In our experience, quality matters more than size.

What we do have is a strong, clear position that smart, strategic investment of our precious tax dollars in the housing market is absolutely essential to the health and well-being of the local economy, our communities and all of us.

Public investment in the housing market increases the supply of homes that are affordable and available to people who don't have a lot of money. This includes senior citizens living on social security alone, people with disabilities living on disability, veterans returning from abroad workers who serve all of us in the stores, day care centers, nursing homes and restaurants, but don't get paid very much.

The private market simply does not, cannot and will not create and sustain an adequate supply of low-priced homes without incentives or capital to make it profitable. That is why we have a system of public investment that has evolved over the past 80 years - to help balance the residential real market, enabling people to participate at a price point they can afford.

This is the purpose - and result - of the "alphabet soup" of state and federal programs that we are fighting for: Housing Choice Vouchers, CDBG, Public Housing, HOME, Sections 811 and 202, HRA, HSDF, HEMAP, EHLP, Rural Housing, and so on.

Some of these investments help people stay in their homes, like foreclosure prevention or accessibility modifications like ramps and grab bars.

We support the successful local partnerships that use these government dollars to make smart local investments from which we all benefit - in jobs created and sustained, in demand for materials and supplies manufactured in the state and for a more robust tax base.

And, people end up with a place to live. We all need a place to live.

When people don't have safe, secure homes bad things happen that not only harm them, but hurt us all. Kids don't learn in school and don't get the education they need to contribute as adults. Prisons, hospitals, emergency response systems are taxed. We end up spending more than if we just invested a little up front to make sure that everyone has what they basically need.

Should these programs be held to high standards of accountability? Of course. Should there be less bureaucracy so that more money gets onto the street? Of course, but reform that is different from elimination. And a scalpel is different than a hatchet.

Budgets reflect our values. Each of us chooses to spend money on the things that are most important. That's why this debate is so heated - and so critical. It's about differing views of what matters most.

So yes, we have a big stake in the budget battle waging in Harrisburg and DC. A home within reach of every Pennsylvanian - this is worth fighting for.