Category: Poverty & income gap
-
A PIPP of an Idea: Electricity Transfer Payments
By Steve Haner Green energy advocates never tire of telling us that accomplishing their zero-carbon electricity supply will lower our costs. If so, why does their dream bill include a new income transfer entitlement program for low-income customers? It is called the Percentage of Income Payment Program with a handy acronym PIPP. It first appeared…
-
Plundering the Middle Class
by James A. Bacon To get a handle on how progressive (to be clear, I use “progressive” as a synonym for “leftist”) Governor Ralph Northam’s proposed two-year budget is, consider the following. If Northam’s agenda is adopted, Virginia’s middle class will pay higher gas taxes, higher cigarette taxes, higher income taxes, and higher electric rates.…
-
Another Tool in the Search for Affordable Housing
by Dick Hall-Sizemore This is going to be an interesting session; probably a nightmare for Republicans. Much of the public attention has been on gun legislation, but there are other areas in which Democratic initiatives have been bottled up in the past and now will have a much better chance of being enacted. One of…
-
Samirah Bill Inspires Debate Over Residential Zoning
by James A. Bacon Suburban Virginians were the key swing voters who gave Democrats majorities in both houses of the General Assembly. It will be interesting to see if Democrats now manage to alienate them. Del. Ibraheem Samirah, D-Herndon, has submitted a bill, HB 152, that would require zoning ordinances in localities across the state…
-
At Last: Zoning Restrictions on “Middle Housing” Are Coming Under Scrutiny
by James A. Bacon Arlington County plans to study the “missing middle” in its housing market: homes that fall between apartment-sized units and single-family dwellings — in its housing market. Ninety percent of the county’s residential land is zoned for detached, single-family houses. The median housing price in the county falls between $530,000 and $640,000,…
-
How to Fix Virginia Schools: Mo’ Money vs. the Bristol Model
by James A. Bacon In thinking about what ails Virginia’s K-12 public schools, perhaps we should give some consideration to the state’s schools of education and what Virginian teachers are taught. To get a sense of the quality of scholarship and thought that comes out of our teaching academies, we might consider an op-ed penned…
-
Another Brain-Dead Housing Initiative
by James A. Bacon Broadly speaking, there are two ways to create a supply of affordable housing in Virginia. One is to loosen zoning restrictions so developers and home builders can build more houses and apartments, thus relieving scarcity and putting a downward pressure on prices across the board. The other is for the government…
-
Northam Proposes Another $145 Million Giveaway
by James A, Bacon The spending avalanche keeps building. Governor Ralph Northam now is proposing to spend $145 million in the next two-year budget to make tuition-free community college available to “low- and middle-income” students who pursue jobs in high-demand fields. The Governor’s “Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back” (G3) program would cover tuition,…
-
Two Medicaid Updates: Work Requirement, PBMs
By Steve Haner Medicaid Work – Training Requirement Dead Disappointing many, thrilling many, and surprising nobody, the Governor of Virginia has openly broken his 2018 promise to couple expanded Medicaid coverage with a work or job training requirement for able-bodied recipients. Moving people out of poverty is no longer the goal. Governor Ralph Northam was…
-
The Inherent Flaw in “Opportunity Zones”
by James A. Bacon The City of Norfolk is gearing up to take full advantage of tax breaks contained in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. City Council has designated the St. Paul area, home to three 50s-era housing projects, as an “opportunity zone.” Plans call for demolishing the three projects and replacing them…
-
A War-on-Poverty Success Story
by James A. Bacon Homelessness in the Richmond metro area has dropped by more than half since 2007, from about 1,158 homeless people to less than 500 this year. It is one of the great anti-poverty success stories — one of the few anti-poverty success stories — of our time. This dramatic improvement results from…
-
The Issue of Guardianship and the Contribution of a Newspaper
On Sunday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch ran a remarkable article. It was remarkable both in the amount of space the newspaper dedicated to it, 5½ whole pages, and its subject, guardianship, a subject about which little is known by the public, but that could affect anyone. The publishing of this series of articles illustrates the continuing…
-
RRHA Freezes Enforcement of Rent Collection
by James A. Bacon The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA) has announced an agency-wide freeze on the enforcing rent payments through the end of the year. No public housing family will be removed from their home for debt owed to RRHA during that period. “During this time,” the authority said, “RRHA will undertake an…
-
Richmond’s Food Desert a Tough Nut to Crack
by James A. Bacon It is part of the liberal/progressive catechism that inner city neighborhoods across the United States, including Virginia, are afflicted by “food deserts” — large swaths of territory lacking access to stores selling fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthy foods. This deprivation is typically seen as a failure of the free-market system…
-
How to Help Economically Disadvantaged Students
by James A. Bacon Over the past several days I have been highlighting how public schools in Southwest Virginia have bucked the statewide trend of declining standardized test scores. While the Northam administration has implemented a top-down “social justice” approach, a consortium of rural Southwest Virginia schools has embraced a totally different strategy: (1) identifying…