Obama has promised to change the country

McCain wanted to change the government. There's a difference, you know. I've always considered McCain left of center, and I think most conservatives do. But that was our ticket, and he was certainly way to the right of Obama! As was Hillary. It's simple. Obama doesn't like us. How do I know? Have you ever had a friend/spouse/boss who said, "You're great, I love you, but you need to change who you are, and do everything I say, or else?"

So the election is history; what will Ohio bloggers do next? For your city and county, I suggest you look at the web site of the Ohio Department of Development. The CHIP, Community Housing Improvement Program, in my opinion is a tiny piece of the current meltdown facilitated by the CRA, banks and Congress. No, it's not exactly putting working class families in suburban bi-levels and ranches with balloon mortgages, it's more like rehabing houses for the poor and then putting them in mortgages (with a government funded down payment) they can't afford in struggling, older neighborhoods.

It has about $25 million (the 2008 awards come to over $30 million, so I don't know why the numbers don't match the web page). Ottawa Co. where we have a second home, got over $500,000 for Port Clinton. I can't figure out which pot Franklin County uses, because it's not on that list. Seems to have its own list. But with amounts this large, going to every state, snarled and tangled in obfuscating names, not only of the agencies, but the non-profits, it could be a life-time hobby or research project to sort it all out.

It's really slippery, the acronyms endless--HDAP, OHFA, ODD, OHTF, OHCP plus all the codes, RRS, IPMC, RCO, NEC, OPC, OMC, IECCC, IFGC . We have an alphabet soup of federal money and housing codes here. I think we really need to take a look at the whole "faith based initiatives" and other non-profits (like ACORN) the government is using to cover up some of these wasteful, ill conceived and failed programs. They are sprinkled everywhere--some housing programs are through USDA. You find pockets of housing money buried in almost every agency, from employment to health, because government is no longer about governing, but about changing lives through nutrition, housing, technology, medicine, etc. If a roof that doesn't leak or a window not broken or no trash in the yard were enough to stop crime, reduce obesity, or get junior to finish school, we'd never have someone from Worthington or Shaker Heights who was in jail, or fat, or taking a GED.

So Obama's a little late to the starting gate, it's been going on since FDR's day. But because the Republicans were so big on "faith-based" I think the churches have actually been weakened. They're flabby, singing happy praise songs and talking about being spirit filled while Obama has promised he will remove our right to evangelize or speak out from the pulpit (many don't do it any way). Rather than dismantle their programs and lay off their staff, many of whom are poor, they'll cave. I know churches. Every peace and justice verse will be brought out to trump life changing salvation.

So take a look around your neighborhood. The problem may be closer to home than Barney Frank. Yesterday I went from the New Deal to the CRA to my collapsing 403-b in just a few paragraphs. Check it out.

What happens to the other housing programs?

There are already programs in place to help distressed homeowners. What happens to those with the bailout? Are we only helping the CEOs of Fannie and Fred, or are we dumping good money after bad on an already failed plan? Are the old programs, worth billions, folded in? Replaced? Thrown out?

Port Clinton, Ohio has received $522,000 from CHIP, Community Housing Improvement Program. The limit, according to the website, is $500,000 but there's an extra $50,000 in there if you say please. According to The Beacon, Oct. 2, "The funds will be used to provide housing rehabilitation grants and loans to at least six homeowners and repairs for at least 9 owners . . ." plus some rental assistance, mortgage counseling, etc., and of course, it will pay the salaries of the folks managing this account--which is $25,000,000 just for Ohio. I wonder how you get to be one of the lucky six? If you can get this much under the mean old Republicans and that hateful President Bush, just imagine what the tooth tax fairy will bring under President Obama!! And you can get your unemployment benefits extended 2, 3 or 4 times under a Republican President, just imagine what it will be under Obama. You may never have to work again. Hope. Change. Just tax those top 5% more.

But I digress. We're talking housing. Look how many people are employed by Ohio CHIP, just by the state--think how this will spread around and help in your county! I see the Planner job is open (on the chart)--I use to be one of those on JTPA. Great job [the title is meaningless].

And what about the American Dream Downpayment Assistance Act--that was $200,000,000 a year under Bush. Will it flourish under the magic wand of Obama? And what about all those community partnerships we've been paying for?

. . .the purposes of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 (NAHA), as amended, are: (1) to promote partnerships between States, units of general local government and nonprofit organizations, and (2) to expand nonprofit organizations' capacity to develop and manage decent and affordable housing. To assist in achieving these purposes, participating jurisdictions (PJs) under the HOME Investment Partnership (HOME) Program must reserve not less than 15 percent of their HOME allocations for investment in housing to be developed, sponsored, or owned by Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs).

Yes, HOME got in the bailout document. Just glancing through this HUD report I see we the people already had about $20,000,000 in place just to protect low income people from predatory lenders in 2001! Well, guys, how well did that work? Do we get more of this program that didn't work in the bailout?

There are thousands of housing-help links to be tracked--there are a lot of different government agencies dabbling in this. That's why it is so critical to keep poor people poor. Thousands of government workers would be unemployed if this were ever successful! You'll have to do some of this research yourself. I have no horse in this race. But if you own distressed property in a bad neighborhood and you earn less than $60,000 a year, I'd say it would be worth checking the internet to see if you can find a way for me to pay for your repairs.