Hamilton loves families, but what about singles?
Jesse Hamilton, currently a contender in the race to fill Yvette Clarke's seat, is reaching out to the blogs. That's all good.
What's vaguely troubling is the message he's sending. Take for example this from Room 8:
We should not seek to build housing which only benefits single people or childless couples. Giving tax breaks to developers who bring to market studios and one bedrooms as affordable housing units sends the wrong message about who we are trying to encourage to stay and prosper in NYC. Affordable, multiple bedroom housing should be the goal of any changes in the 421 A and also 421 B laws seeking to create new housing.
What, singles can move elsewhere?
It's worth pointing out that per the U.S. Census, in the 11th Congressional District, which wholly covers the 40th City Council District, only 34.1% of females and 44.0% of males are married (the U.S. average is 52.1% and 56.7% respectively). Concurrently, however, average household and family sizes in the 11th are slightly above the U.S. average, at 2.71 people per household and 3.38 per family. So there is most certainly room for debate about more multi-bedroom apartments; but that debate could be held positively, not by talking about right and wrong kinds of people, and should also include the question of cost. It's not a zero-sum game in any sense of the word.
Hamilton is certainly running a campaign focused on families: witness his signage. That shouldn't take the form, however, of pitting families against singles. Aside from being vaguely off-putting (not to mention reminiscent of republican verbiage), the numbers, see above, don't support it. And I'd argue that the community doesn't need further divisions; there's plenty of those already.
There's some room to refine this message, methinks.
On the web: Jesse Hamilton
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Blogs | Community | Demographics | Family | Housing | New York | Brooklyn | CD-11
Agree only in part
Submitted by Antid Oto on 15 January 2007 - 1:55am.
The underlying point is not that families have a greater need for affordable housing than singles, it's that there's a need for affordable housing for families of all types. If the program puts in place incentives to encourage developers to build apartments affordable to families earning X% of AMI but offers those benefits regardless of apartment size, of course all of them are going to be the smallest size possible. If developers can't charge as much as the market will bear, they're going to want to fit as many units as possible into the space they have.
What we certainly don't want is a system that creates affordable apartments only for those without children. That perpetuates the cycle we have now, where middle-class families are basically driven out of the city once they breed.
However, as you say, his valid point is couched in extremely annoying language ("sends the wrong message about who we are trying to encourage to stay and prosper in NYC"). I would like to assume that this is just the result of poor writing that reaches for a cliche ("sends the wrong message") in place of a thought. But of course I don't know that.
Which families?
Submitted by fg0004ijp (not verified) on 15 January 2007 - 3:50pm.
The problem with Jesse's statements is really the context. I've always wondered what he meant by focusing on "Family Values." Is this some way to coopt homophobic language, or is it homophobic? Well, his posting about 421s suggests an answer: his definition of "family" seems to man, woman and children, or something close to that. And defending that vision seems to be central to his campaign.
The Caribbean community often seems tone-deaf to the biases of their standard-bearers. The nail in the coffin of Nick Perry's congressional campaign was when he told LID that he "personally believed that marriage is between a man and a woman." He tried to get out of it by saying that would ignore his personal beliefs to better represent his voters (or in other words, to pander to the people he needed to assuage to win).
I think Jesse has some explaining to do. Why does he think that "family" values are more important campaign theme than, say, education or fighting corruption? He has chosen his commitment to "family" values as the central distinction from the other candidates. How are his views on this subject different from the other candidates? Other candidates have expressed support for gay marriage, so does this mean he is opposed?
Housing
Submitted by Anonymous Coward (not verified) on 15 January 2007 - 4:32pm.
Where do the other candidates stand on this issue? I read Mr. Hamilton's piece and I think his intent was to say we must encourage families to stay in NYC. How often do you see a one or 2 bedroom apartment with 2 kids not cramped? The size of units just encourage people to move further away.
Re: Housing
Submitted by fg0004ijp (not verified) on 16 January 2007 - 1:21am.
Hey 15:32-
I think all of the declared and undeclared candidates are in favor of housing. Housing is like crack for politicians.
Family Values
Good job on the numbers.
The Masterpiece
"More blue less red please"