What Governors Do

This, Children, is What Governors Do
Nicholas Johnson
The Gazette, August 15, 2023, p. A5
When very young my first introduction to the people, rivers, and ducks of China came from “The Story of Ping.” It became one of my favorites.

My dad used to say that children’s constant questions are their 400 little tugs each day, trying to get the world inside their heads. But some of his responses to my stream of questions was just, “That’s the way ducks do.”

I always associated his line with Ping. Though I looked, I can’t find it there now. But it’s still useful.

When a little older my definition of “president” was Franklin Roosevelt. “The way presidents do” was, for me, what FDR did.

For Iowa’s children in their early teens, their definition of “governor” is Governor Kim Reynolds. For them, whatever she says or does becomes, “That’s the way governors do.”

No, it’s not.

And her critics might be more successful showing Iowans what other governors can and are doing than focusing on what she shouldn’t be doing.

My exhibit: Washington State’s Governor Jay Inslee. [Photo from: https://www.jayinslee.com/top-priorities/health-care.]

His impressive experience includes an economics major, law degree and practice, city government (city prosecutor), Washington legislature (four years), U.S. House (13 years), national government (regional director, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), country’s longest serving governor (11 years), chair, Democratic Governors Association.

His latest “state of the state” address makes no mention of restrictions on how doctors can practice medicine, professional teachers can teach or the books librarians can provide. No efforts to make life more difficult for LGBTQ people. No increases in his executive power. No curtailing of access to public information for media and other Washingtonians. No refusal to hold press conferences. No cuts in support of the poor. No taxpayer-funded private and religious schools. [No headline-grabbing trip south for Washington’s law officers to stop immigrants.]

What has he accomplished or proposed? Some examples:

Human rights. “Housing is a Human Right” campaign (construction; zoning; $1 billion for homeless and affordable housing); public transportation. More access to healthcare; including immigrants’ and women’s rights. Reduced racial disparities. Marriage equality. Protection of LGBTQ rights. Paid family and medical leave.

Early childhood education and care. Schools provide students mental and educational support, and programs for those with special needs. Reformed criminal justice system. Suspension of executions. Marijuana single misdemeanor offenders pardoned.

Environment. Leading climate change action advocate. Conservation of wildlife habitat; protection for endangered species. Cleaner water and air. [Sustainable agriculture and forestry. Ban on fracking. One hundred percent clean energy goal.]

Economy. Need-related college financial aid (boosted state’s economy). Increased minimum wage. Record low unemployment; 500,000 new jobs. A “Working Families Tax Credit” – rather than tax cuts for Washington’s wealthiest.

The result?

Washington has been ranked the best state in the U.S., second best for business and third best for workers and teachers. Similar to what Iowa’s ranking sometimes was under both Republican and Democratic former governors.

And that, dear Iowa children, “Is the way governors do”!

Nicholas Johnson wonders what Governor Inslee will do next; it won’t be reelection. Contact: mailbox@nicholasjohnson.org

NOTE: Text [within brackets] was deleted by the editors for space reasons.

SOURCES
Jay Inslee, General. Note: Most of the assertions and items listed in the column are from the following general sources:

Wikipedia: Jay Inslee, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Inslee

“Washington Governor Jay Inslee,” https://governor.wa.gov/

“Jay Inslee Governor,” https://www.jayinslee.com/ (campaign website)

Jay Inslee, “Building a Washington That Works for Everyone,” https://www.facebook.com/WaStateGov

The Seattle Times, use The Times Search feature, enter: Jay Inslee, https://www.seattletimes.com/

Results from Google search for, “Governor Jay Inslee”

Inslee’s experience. See, Jay Inslee, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Inslee

Nation’s longest serving governor. “List of Current United States Governors, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_governors (“Currently, the longest serving incumbent U.S. governor is Jay Inslee of Washington, having served since January 2013 . . ..”)

State of the state. Jay Inslee, “2023 State of the State Address: Bold actions for building a stronger Washington,” Jan. 10, 2023, https://governor.wa.gov/news/speeches/2023-state-state-address-bold-actions-building-stronger-washington

Accomplishments. Gene Johnson and Ed Komenda, “Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee won’t seek 4th term,” Associated Press, May 1, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/inslee-democrat-2024-climate-450cb6ef6347f0ac04022f079c3c0e13 (“Among his accomplishments he lists a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions in the state and a trio of gun violence prevention measures that he signed into law last month, including a ban on semi-automatic assault rifles that is already being challenged in court by gun rights advocates.

Early this year the state Supreme Court upheld a capital gains tax Inslee promoted as a way to address what was considered the nation’s most regressive tax system.

He also vowed to protect gay rights and abortion access as conservative states constrained them, and he bought the state a three-year stockpile of a popular abortion drug in anticipation of court rulings that could limit its availability.

Inslee said he still has work to do before his exit, including collaborating with legislators and community leaders to address Washington’s homelessness crisis and speeding efforts to broaden behavioral health services.”)

Terra Sokol, “Gov. Jay Inslee Approves Salary Increases for Teachers,” News Radio, 560 KPQ, April 22, 2023, https://kpq.com/gov-jay-inslee-approves-salary-increases-for-teachers/ (“Program supervisors and instructors would make a minimum of $72,728 a year, administration $107,955 a year, and classified staff (paras, office staff, custodians) would receive $52,173 a year. . . . Salary increases total to approximately $1 billion and will go into effect in the 2024-25 school year.”)

Katherine Long, “Could you go to college tuition-free in Washington? Here’s how to find out,” Seattle Times, May 28, 2019, https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/could-you-go-to-college-tuition-free-in-washington-heres-how-to-find-out/ (“Last week, Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law a sweeping higher-education bill that will cut the cost of tuition, or make it free, for low- and median-income students. In a tweet, he described it as creating “a statewide #freecollege plan for eligible students.” Nationally, the bill has been hailed as a progressive approach to making college more affordable, and it’s expected to reach up to 110,000 students. . . . The Workforce Education Investment Act replaces the State Need Grant with a new program, the Washington College Grant (WCG), and makes the money an entitlement. Grants can cover up to 100% of tuition plus service and activity fees, and do not need to be paid back. It’s not a so-called “last-dollar” program — a student who qualifies for WCG could also receive a federal Pell grant, for example.

The legislation is built on the idea that Washington’s economy already employs a lot of college graduates, many of whom move here to chase opportunity — yet only about 31% of Washington’s own high-school graduates have earned a degree or credential by the age of 26, according to one study.

Being clear and upfront about who qualifies, and guaranteeing the money, removes the uncertainty surrounding financial aid. That, in turn, should make it easier for school districts and colleges to encourage kids to think about earning a certificate or a two- or four-year college degree, or becoming trained through a registered apprenticeship (also covered) . . ..[Chart indicates declining dollar support as family income increases above $69,000. $10,748 available up to incomes $46,000 or below. Declines to $5374 at $64,000 and $0 at $69,000 and above.]

Claire Withycombe, “Gov. Inslee signs bills to increase housing in WA,” Seattle Times, May 8, 2023, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/gov-inslee-signs-wa-affordable-housing-bills/ (“Many of the bills are aimed at boosting the supply of homes in a state where it’s expensive and sorely needed.

Washington will now allow multifamily housing in many more neighborhoods, encourage people to develop accessory dwelling units, and streamline development regulations, among other policies. The overarching effort to smooth regulatory barriers, like zoning and permits, to building housing garnered bipartisan support.

“We are attacking this problem at its root, which is the lack of housing in the state of Washington,” Inslee said.

The Washington Department of Commerce estimates the state will need about 1 million more homes in the next 20 years.

This year, lawmakers also passed a budget with a $400 million investment in the state’s Housing Trust Fund, which finances affordable housing projects. That money will pay for about 3,000 new rental homes, and help about 250 to 400 households with homeownership, according to the department. . . .

Inslee signed nine bills about 1 p.m. Monday in Seattle at SEIU 775, and signed a 10th bill in a separate ceremony later that afternoon at the Northwest African American Museum, in a nod to the lengthy and harmful legacy of racist policies that kept many Black people from buying homes in certain neighborhoods and from building generational wealth.

House Bill 1474, which sponsors say is the first statewide policy of its kind, will help people who were affected by racist housing covenants designed to keep ethnic and religious minorities out of certain neighborhoods, as well as their descendants, with down payments and closing costs. . . .

Inslee signed nine bills about 1 p.m. Monday in Seattle at SEIU 775, and signed a 10th bill in a separate ceremony later that afternoon at the Northwest African American Museum, in a nod to the lengthy and harmful legacy of racist policies that kept many Black people from buying homes in certain neighborhoods and from building generational wealth.”)

New York Times. Reid J. Epstein, “Jay Inslee Sees Greener Pastures Ahead; After nearly 30 years in elected office, Washington’s governor plans to shift his focus to climate solutions and clean energy, underscoring the need for ‘a sense of optimism and confidence,’” New York Times, May 2, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/02/us/politics/jay-inslee-climate.html (“. . . [O]ne of America’s leading climate hawks.

Mr. Inslee ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination by arguing that the country would have to radically reshape its relationship with fossil fuels and promote renewable energy. . . . [H]is goals later became the blueprint for the climate spending in the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden signed into law last year. . . .

In 2007, I [Inslee] said we’re going to be driving electric cars. People thought I was smoking the cheap stuff. Well, now we’re buying them so fast that production can’t even keep up.”]

Reid J. Epstein, “Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, Climate Champion, Won’t Seek Re-Election; Mr. Inslee, 72, a former presidential candidate and a leading Democratic proponent of policies to slow climate change, said he would not seek a fourth term,” New York Times, May 1, 2023, . https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/us/politics/jay-inslee-washington-governor.html (“Mr. Inslee and the Washington State attorney general, Bob Ferguson, filed a series of lawsuits against Mr. Trump’s administration, challenging policies on its ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries, its separation of migrant children from their parents and its unwinding of climate regulations.”)

David Wallace-Wells, “Gov. Jay Inslee Is Taking a Well-Earned Climate Victory Lap,” New York Times, Aug. 31, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/opinion/environment/jay-inslee-ira-climate-change.html (“[C]limate has become one of the issues that really holds the Democratic coalition together.

I think the reason for that is because it is such a powerful job creator — a good-paying-job creator. I mean, I can’t turn over a rock in my state where I can’t point to good jobs being created, in Moses Lake, where battery companies are coming in and Lind, Washington, where a solar plant went in and Arlington, where there’s electric planes that are in development. It’s just an explosion and it’s a welcome one. . . .

[In] 2009 or 2010, I brought a Chevy Volt, the prototype for the hybrid electric, to Capitol Hill because I wanted to show my colleagues, “Look what’s coming. Electric cars are coming.” . . . I was just being teased mercilessly by my friends . . .. Now people have a waiting list for the F-150, the Lightning, 10 miles long. . . .

I looked at the Alpine Meadows and thought about how they are at such risk right now. . . . [W]e’ve lost 45 percent of our glaciers — Olympic National Park, and the same thing’s happening on Rainier. It’s just great to see action today, knowing that Alpine Meadows might have a chance for my grandkids.”)

Best state and top priorities:

Best state. Levi Pulkkinen, "Education, Energy and Economy Lead Washington to Top Spot in Best States Ranking; The Evergreen State takes the top spot again in the U.S. News Best States ranking on the strength of its tech sector and other industries," U.S. News, March 9, 2021, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2021-03-09/why-washington-is-the-best-state-in-america ("For the second time, Washington has been named No. 1 in the U.S. News Best States ranking and is the first state to earn the top spot twice in a row.")

Economic Recovery. “Jay Inslee Governor, Top Priorities, Economic Recovery,” https://www.jayinslee.com/top-priorities/economic-recovery

(“During Jay’s tenure, Washington has made historic steps to improve the lives of Washingtonians. In his first term, Jay led Washington out of the Great Recession. By his second term, he brought Washington together to create what CNBC rated the top state for businesses and Oxfam declared the best state for workers.”

https://www.jayinslee.com/about - “Under his clear leadership, Washington helped build an economy that is ranked number one for both businesses and workers.”)

Healthcare. https://www.jayinslee.com/top-priorities/health-care

(“Jay has protected and expanded access to health care under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to nearly 800,000 additional Washingtonians, driving uninsured rates to record lows. . . . • Expanded the Affordable Care Act to nearly 800,000 Washingtonians
• Protected those with pre-existing conditions and women’s reproductive rights
• Signed first public health care option in the country
• Passed historic long-term care benefit program so seniors can receive the care they need
. . . Jay has made Washington state a leader in reproductive health care. He helped to pass and sign the Reproductive Parity Act, which requires health plans that include maternity care services to also cover abortion services and for all health plans to cover over the counter contraceptives without a prescription.

We must change how we take care of people who suffer from mental illness in Washington state. That’s why Jay championed and signed legislation to integrate physical services and behavioral health services by significantly transforming the state’s mental health system and reshaping how and where patients receive care.”)

Education. https://www.jayinslee.com/top-priorities/education

(“[He] invested billions in our education system.

These important investments have resulted in increased access to early learning, including all-day kindergarten so that children can start building a foundation at an early age for success. For children with the most need, he pushed to secure $130 million for direct special education services and expand Breakfast After the Bell program to ensure Washington’s kids are focused on learning, not hunger.

Jay values our teachers and he’s worked to increase educator pay more than any other state and to lower class sizes so our educators can focus on giving our children the best possible education. He has also made a commitment to recruit and retain more diverse educators in our schools.”

• Enacted all-day kindergarten
• Raised teacher pay and lowered class sizes
• Funded full and partial college tuition assistance for working and middle-class Washingtonians
• Launched Career Connect to give 100,000 students career-ready apprenticeships and technical training


[The] Workforce Education Investment Act, which ensures full and partial college tuition scholarships are available to working and middle-class Washingtonians. . . . [And the] Career Connect Washington. This program connects 100,000 Washington students with career-ready education like apprenticeships and technical education.”)

Climate; Clean Energy. https://www.jayinslee.com/top-priorities/climate-and-clean-energy

(“Known as the “greenest governor in the country,” he has made Washington state a leader in both the fight against climate change and growing clean energy jobs — something he knows will be vital to our economic comeback post-COVID.

, , , Jay set the state on a pathway to a carbon neutral electrical grid by 2030 and to be powered by 100 percent clean electricity by 2045. We have built the cleanest energy grid in the nation and a $6 billion wind energy industry, while also increasing the use of solar energy and electric vehicles.

• Committed Washington to have a carbon neutral electrical grid by 2030 and 100% clean energy electricity by 2045
• Built cleanest energy grid in nation and helped build a $6 billion wind energy industry
• Signed orca and salmon protections

He led the passage of the greenest transportation package in our state’s history to create an estimated 200,000 jobs.”)

Justice and Safety. https://www.jayinslee.com/top-priorities/justice-and-safety

(“Jay wants to rethink public safety and eradicate systemic racism not just in law enforcement, but in education, healthcare, housing, and other areas of inequality. . . . He issued a moratorium on the death penalty . . .. offered pardons to individuals with misdemeanor marijuana convictions . . .. [and] helped pass bipartisan de-escalation and deadly force standards to ensure there is accountability for police violence.

Jay . . . is working to eliminate Washington’s rape kit backlog.

He has fought . . . gun violence, banning dangerous mass-killing tools like bump stocks, made sure guns are kept out of the hands of high-risk individuals, and supported the passage of voter-approved universal background checks.”)

# # #

Quality Housing for All

Quality Housing for All is Possible
Nicholas Johnson
The Gazette, August 1, 2023, p. A 6
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for [their] health and well-being . . . including . . . housing . . .” declares the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If you find the Bible more persuasive, many versions include in Matthew 25, “I was homeless and you gave me a room.”

The Iowa Code provides equivalent rights for farm animals. And yet 1.6 billion people not only don’t have the housing Jesus called for and the U.N. considers a human right, they’re lacking the housing rights of Iowa’s animals.

Two million U.S. housing units were judged to be “extremely inadequate.” There are around 500,000 homeless people each evening.

U.S. agencies and organizations also measure “housing insecurity” (e.g., high costs, poor quality, unstable neighborhoods or overcrowding). For renters the percentages with housing insecurity range from 30 percent (Florida) to 17 percent (Wyoming). In Iowa it’s 23 percent.

It’s not like Iowa’s doing nothing. The state, county and city governments have programs. Vouchers, affordable housing in new developments (mixed income, inclusionary zoning), rezoning, housing trust funds, government owned and operated and “housing first” for the homeless.

But a conflict of goals is bound to occur when housing programs look to profit-maximizing capitalist landlords to provide housing for all at prices that leave everyone with enough left over for nutrition, healthcare, transportation and other basic needs.

Where might we look for alternatives?

When I served on the Iowa City School Board, we wanted new ideas. With 16,000 U.S. school districts, we set aside meeting time to discuss what Education Week was reporting and other countries were doing.

Iowa’s governmental units could do the same, researching others’ housing solutions. Take Vienna for example.

The focus of Vienna’s “social housing” is not on giving money to the poor, passed through to landlords. It’s on construction of a livable, lovable city and society – connected with cheap, frequent, fast public transportation. The Viennese believe such a city requires upscale, architecturally attractive cheap housing for everyone. Housing that mixes middle class with the poor. Housing conveniently located in neighborhoods with a range of facilities and services, such as a community center, swimming pool, dental clinic, library, post office, restaurant. [Photo credit: wikimedia.org/commons]

Anyone earning under about $80,000 (U.S.) can apply if they’ve had a single Vienna address for two years. The financial requirements are such that 80 percent of Vienna’s residents choose to rent. The U.S. defines “affordable” as 30 percent of before-tax income. (Landlords extract more from nearly half of all renters.) Vienna defines “affordable” as closer to 20 percent of after-tax income. No one’s excluded, and no one’s evicted if their income increases. The homeless are provided “housing first” facilities.

When people pay less, but get quality, inclusive housing they have less finance-related stress – and more money left over to live life and boost the local economy.

We could do it here. In fact, we’ve tried in California, Maryland and Washington.

Why not Iowa?

Nicholas Johnson believes the U.N. and Jesus would like Vienna’s housing. Contact: mailbox@nicholasjohnson.org

SOURCES Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations, Dec. 10, 1948, Article 25, https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights (“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”)

Matthew 25. Numerous sources from Google search: “Which versions of the Bible include ‘I was homeless and you gave me a room’ in Matthew 25?” For example, “Matthew 25:35-40,” You Version, Bible.com, https://www.bible.com/bible/97/MAT.25.34,35,36 (“I was homeless and you gave me a room”)

Animal rights. Code of Iowa, Sec. 717B.3(1)(d), https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/ico/chapter/717B.pdf (“1. A person commits animal neglect when the person owns or has custody of an animal, confines that animal, and fails to provide the animal with any of the following conditions for the animal’s welfare: . . .

d. Ventilated shelter reasonably sufficient to provide adequate protection from the elements and weather conditions suitable for the . . . animal so as to maintain the animal in a state of good health . . . . The shelter must protect the animal from wind, rain, snow, or sun and have adequate bedding to provide reasonable protection against cold and dampness. . ..”)

1.6 billion without adequate housing. “First-ever United Nations Resolution on Homelessness,” Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, March 9, 2020, https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/2020/03/resolution-homelessness/ (“A serious violation of human dignity, homelessness has become a global problem. It is affecting people of all ages from all walks of life, in both developed and developing countries.

Globally, 1.6 billion people worldwide live in inadequate housing conditions, with about 15 million forcefully evicted every year, according to UN-Habitat, which has noted an alarming rise in homelessness in the last 10 years. Young people are the age group with the highest risk of becoming homeless.”)

Adequate housing in U.S. Housing insecurity in the United States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_insecurity_in_the_United_States (Chart: “Rented households facing housing insecurity (%)” High: Florida (30%), low: Wyoming (17%). Iowa (23%). “The American Housing Survey, using a standard of “extremely inadequate” housing, found (averaging numbers from 2005, 2007 and 2009) 2 million units to be “extremely inadequate” (1,896,890 units).”

U.S. Homelessness. “How many homeless people are in the US? What does the data miss?” USA Facts, May 23, 2023, https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-homeless-people-are-in-the-us-what-does-the-data-miss/ (“More than half a million people experienced homelessness in America last year. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) counted around 582,000 Americans experiencing homelessness in 2022. That’s about 18 per 10,000 people in the US, up about 2,000 people from 2020.”)

U.S. school districts. Imed Bouchrika, “101 American School Statistics: 2023; Data, Trends & Predictions,” https://research.com/education/american-school-statistics (“The U.S. is currently home to 16,800 school districts.”)

Vienna. Homelessness. “Homelessness in Austria,” Policies & Strategies, Feantsa Country Fiche, 2017, https://www.feantsa.org/download/austria-20178599194934673684360.pdf (“Vienna and Upper Austria have adopted an integrated program on homelessness, covering prevention, accommodation and reintegration. The program in Vienna is known as the Vienna Integration Program for Homeless People (Vienna Multi-Stage Scheme). Housing First approaches are being implemented.”)

Viennese incomes. "Average Salary in Vienna, Austria," SalaryExpert, undated, https://www.salaryexpert.com/salary/area/austria/vienna ("51,823" -- $57,347 US)

"The average salary and minimum wage in Austria," Expatica, March 4, 2023, https://www.expatica.com/at/working/employment-law/minimum-wage-austria-89338/ ("The median salary in Austria is about €2,182 per month. However, the median income for full-time employees working all year round in 2020 was €40,415 [$44,723 U.S.] for women and €46,292 [$51,227 U.S.] for men. Normally, this includes the basic salary, bonuses, annual leave payments, and sick pay.")

"Cost of Living in Vienna," Numbeo, 2023, https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Vienna • ("A family of four estimated monthly costs are 3,483.6$ (3,153.1€) without rent (using our estimator). • A single person estimated monthly costs are 1,008.7$ (913.0€) without rent. • Vienna is 33.7% less expensive than New York (without rent, see our cost of living index). • Rent in Vienna is, on average, 75.1% lower than in New York.")

Transportation. “The Public Transport System,” Visiting Vienna, https://www.visitingvienna.com/transport/public/ (“The public transport system is definitely one of Vienna’s good points. Cheap, frequent, fast, clean, efficient, and rarely overcrowded.”)

Vienna; Excerpts from Francesca Mari, “It Might Look Like Vienna; Soaring real estate markets have created a worldwide housing crisis. What can we learn from a city that has largely avoided it?” Magazine, New York Times, May 26, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/magazine/vienna-social-housing.html

Note: I found this to be one of the best sources regarding the Vienna social housing program. Rather than trying to link each of these excerpts to the precise language in two of the column’s paragraphs they are simply listed in the order in which they appear in this New York Times Magazine article – thereby making them easier to find.

Questions the reader may have about any of my assertions should be answered by one or more of them.

Conversion from Austria Euros to U.S. dollars with ExchangeRate.com, https://www.exchangerate.com/currency-exchange-rate-cities/vienna.html

Viennese law dictates that rents in public housing can increase only with inflation, and only when the year’s inflation exceeds 5 percent. By the time she retired in 2007, Eva’s rent was only 8 percent of her income. Because her husband was earning 4,000 euros a month, their rent amounted to 3.6 percent of their incomes combined.

# # #

In Vienna, a whopping 80 percent of residents qualify for public housing, and once you have a contract, it never expires, even if you get richer. Housing experts believe that this approach leads to greater economic diversity within public housing — and better outcomes for the people living in it.

# # #

49 percent of American renters — 21.6 million people — are cost-burdened, paying landlords more than 30 percent of their pretax income, and the percentage can be even higher in expensive cities. In New York City, the median renter household spends a staggering 36 percent of its pretax income on rent.

# # #

In Vienna, 43 percent of all housing is insulated from the market, meaning the rental prices reflect costs or rates set by law — not “what the market will bear” or what a person with no other options will pay.

# # #

The mean gross household income in Vienna is 57,700 euros [$63,151 US] a year, but any person who makes under 70,000 euros [$77,462 US] qualifies for a [social housing] unit. Once in, you never have to leave. It doesn’t matter if you start earning more.

# # #

80 percent of all households in Vienna choose to rent.

# # #

Vienna prioritizes subsidizing construction, while the United States prioritizes subsidizing people, with things like housing vouchers. One model focuses on supply, the other on demand. Vienna’s choice illustrates a fundamental economic reality, which is that a large-enough supply of social housing offers a market alternative that improves housing for all.

# # #

[T]he average waiting time to get a [social housing unit] is about two years (at any given moment there are 12,000 or so people on the waiting list, and each year about 10,000 or more people are housed). Vienna residents — anyone who has had a fixed address for two years, whether they are a citizen or not — may apply, and applications are evaluated based on need.

# # #

City housing officials point out that having wealthier tenants in ["social housing"] helps thwart the problems that accompany concentrated poverty, creating a more stable, healthier environment for everyone. Unlike in the United States, where public housing is only for the poorest . . . the relative integration of ["social housing"] means that they are not stigmatized.

# # #

[One social housing project] housed 5,000 people in 1,400 apartments. These apartments were coveted. “It had two central laundries, two communal bathing facilities with tubs and showers, a dental clinic, maternity clinic, a health-insurance office, library, youth hostel, post office, and a pharmacy and 25 other commercial premises, including a restaurant and the offices and showroom of the BEST, the city-run furnishing and interior-design advice center,” Blau writes. Now fewer than 3,000 tenants live [there] — not because it’s undesirable but because living standards have improved and, in response, Vienna has allotted tenants more space . . . [combining] some of the units to create larger ones.

# # #

Vienna has succeeded in curbing the craving to own. It has done it by driving down the price of land through rezoning and rent control.

# # #

Living in Alt-Erlaa, Willie enjoyed access to seven rooftop swimming pools, seven indoor swimming pools, tennis courts, gyms and acclaimed art. When the rest of the delegation joined us, he led us toward one of his favorite aspects of the buildings: two murals in the lobby of the second building meditating on the role of the news media and labor in society.

# # #

The spiral of overvaluation in housing, which makes the housing-haves rich and the have-nots desperately poor, has brought us to a point where only something radical can solve it. The problem with housing in the United States is that it has been locked in as a means of building wealth, and building wealth is irreconcilable with affordability. The housing crisis in the United States is proof. Even in 2017, before the pandemic, around 113 million Americans — some 35 percent of the nation’s population — were living with a serious housing problem, such as physically deficient housing, burdensome costs or no housing at all, notes Alex F. Schwartz, an urban-studies professor at the New School.

# # #

The United States government intervenes heavily in the housing market. It’s just a two-tiered system, as Gail Radford, the historian, argues. There’s generous support for affluent homeowners and deliberately insufficient support for the lowest-income households. In 2017, the United States spent $155 billion on tax breaks to homeowners and investors in rental housing and mortgage-revenue bonds, more than three times the $50 billion spent on affordable housing.

# # #

Though “social housing” represented a large initial government outlay, Vienna’s social housing is now self-sustaining. Guess how much of the residents’ salary goes toward the program. One percent. Social housing drives down rents in the private market by as much as 5 percent. Vouchers may appear cheaper in the short term, but directly financing well-regulated public and limited-profit construction is the only way to mitigate speculation and hedge against ever-increasing housing costs. In 2020, New York and California spent $377 and $248 per capita, respectively, in housing development, while Vienna spent just $124 — and approximately half of Vienna’s spending is on low-interest financing that will be repaid and then re-lent.

# # #

Local social-housing programs, many of them inspired by Vienna, are underway in Montgomery County, Md.; Seattle; and California. And they have a long legacy in New York, which built 66,000 affordable apartments and 69,000 limited-profit co-op apartment units from 1955 to 1981.

# # #

Seattle. “A place to live, a place to grow; Providing housing and supportive services for people with low incomes,” Seattle Housing Authority, 2023, https://www.seattlehousing.org/

Montgomery County, Maryland. “Housing,” Montgomery Planning, July 19, 2023, https://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/housing/

California. “Five More Jurisdictions Designated Prohousing,” California Department of Housing and Development, 2023, https://www.hcd.ca.gov/

# # #

Acceptable, Available, Affordable Housing

Note: An edited excerpt from this blog post (primarily the "Is there a right to housing?" section) was published by The Gazette on August 1, 2017 ("Health Care, Housing Rights?") and reproduced below.

And see, Addendum: "Why Do So Many Christians Believe Lack of Effort is Cause of Poverty, or Jesus Would Oppose Government Social Programs?"

And, for a little good news on this subject, Lee Hermiston, "Shelter House Gets $2.7 Million for 'Housing First' Project in Iowa City; Construction Could Begin in October," The Gazette, August 4, 2017, p. A1.

Excellent and data-loaded: Editorial, "Locked Out: All Counties in Creative Corridor Lack Affordable Homes," The Gazette, August 6, 2017, p. D1 (not yet available online; link will be added when available; excellent data for 7 Iowa counties: population, persons in poverty, percentage who earn less than 30% of median income, number of affordable units for that population, percentages spending more than 30% of income on housing, increase since 2007 in rent for two-bedroom unit compared with percentage increase in median household income, number in 2016 who were homeless and sought emergency services.)

Contents
Is there a right to housing?
Whom are we talking about?
What are their needs; what are the solutions?
Housing in context
What's "affordable"?
Capitalism
Data
Conclusion
____________________
Housing policy is, as President Trump once said of healthcare policy, "an unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew that [it] could be so complicated." [Michael A. Memoli, "Trump: 'Nobody Knew that Healthcare Could be so Complicated,'" Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2017.]

[For details on polling results and trends regarding the number of Americans who support universal single-payer health care, see Kristen Bialik, "More Americans Say Government Should Ensure Health Care Coverage," Pew Research Center, January 13, 2017 (e.g.: "Currently, 60% of Americans say the government should be responsible for ensuring health care coverage for all Americans, compared with 38% who say this should not be the government’s responsibility.").]

Is there a "right" to housing?

At the outset of discussions of any social program is the threshold issue of "rights": to what extent do we have (legally) or feel (morally) an obligation to care for those beyond our own family, community or "tribes" (variously defined)? To what extent do others have a "right" to expect such care from us?

Obviously, if a majority of us believe, and act as if, others have no "rights," and we have no "obligations," that's pretty much a conversation stopper. So let's first try to figure out what we believe about "rights" in general, by considering some comments from others before returning to the matter of "rights" to housing.

"Right. That which is consonant with equity or the light of nature; that which is morally just or due."
-- Oxford English Dictionary (Compact Ed., vol. II, 1971), p. 669, Right, 3.

"Health care is not a right. Housing is not a right. A job is not a right. College is not a right."
-- Joe Walsh, May 4, 2017 (syndicated radio host; former member of Congress)

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." . . .
"Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
-- Jesus, Matthew 22:39, 25:40 (KJ)

"[W]e can see the TRUTH of the true religion of God woven like a GOLDEN THREAD throughout all faiths whose origin is from Him in the form of the GOLDEN RULE."
-- Bahai, Universal House of Justice (with quotes and citations from 16 major religions; emphasis supplied)

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
-- Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for . . . health and well-being . . ., including food, clothing, housing and medical care . . .."
-- United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25, December 10, 1948

There remain differences among us as to whether our obligations to others should be fulfilled through governmental programs or non-governmental organizations' efforts. But as we see, virtually all the world's great religions, and nations (UN), are agreed that we do have at least some obligations to fellow members of our species. (Indeed, some would extend this to other animal (and even plant) species as well. Why? For answers see, Frans De Waal, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?" (W.W. Norton, 2016), and Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees (Greystone Books, 2016).)

And yet, among Americans, Joe Walsh (above, "Housing is not a right") speaks for the majority.

This is somewhere between ironic and inexplicable, given that over 50% of Americans say "religion is very important in their lives" (the highest of any wealthy nation). How can we square "I've got mine, Jack," shouts of "Get a job," and denying healthcare to tens of millions of Americans, with the Golden Rule and caring for "the least of these"? How can we explain that "57% of Americans disagreed with the statement 'Success in life is pretty much determined by forces outside our control,' a higher percentage than in any of the European nations polled. . . . [Or that] 73% said hard work is very important for getting ahead in life compared to a European median of 35%. . . . [And that] nearly six-in-ten in the U.S. (58%) believe allowing everyone to pursue their life’s goals without interference from the state is [most] important [, whereas] majorities in all European nations polled in 2011 said guaranteeing that nobody is in need is more important." [Richard Wike, "5 ways Americans and Europeans are Different," Pew Research Center, April 19, 2016.]

In a nation in which a majority holds such beliefs, a nation willing to trust its democracy to a political process fueled (and therefore largely controlled) by the largest campaign donors, it can't be shocking that many elected officials share some donors' belief that "my right to a tax cut trumps (so to speak) your right to come in out of the cold."

Thankfully, there are also thousands of knowledgeable, caring individuals in Iowa and throughout our nation who are trying to do something about insuring every American has decent housing. This blog post is dedicated to them, and addresses the challenges they face.

Whom are we talking about?

Many of us are relatively well housed. Of America's 135 million dwelling units, about 60% (in Iowa and the nation) are single family, detached houses. Others live in condo units or rented apartments. When it comes to housing, these are among the most fortunate, notwithstanding their occasional difficulty paying mortgages, rent, taxes, and utility bills. Thus, with rare exception, housing is not much of an issue for those in the top 20% (annual income $111,000 or more).

["Stats for Stories: American Housing Month," Housing, U.S. Census Bureau, June 2017 ("The 2015 American Community Survey counts almost 135 million housing units in the U.S.: 61.4% are detached single-family homes and 6.3% are mobile homes.") "Most Americans Make It To The Top 20 Percent (At Least For A While)," Planet Money, National Public Radio, May 5, 2014.]

It's a little different story for the homeless -- those roughly 500,000 Americans with no place to call home on any given day. Some have shelter, others are on the streets, or otherwise unsheltered. Some are individuals, including children on their own; some are part of homeless families. They may be chronically homeless or only temporarily so. [Photo credit: unknown.]

Of course, some of those "sheltered" may be couch surfing, or otherwise living in overcrowded conditions shared with other families or friends.

Others may be in a shelter considered unhealthy or otherwise dangerous substandard housing. ("About six million homes in the United States are substandard by American Housing Survey (AHS) standards, a statistic that has seen little change over the last two decades." Dwellings considered substandard have "interior and exterior leaks, signs of pests, and other factors collected by local public health and code enforcement agencies." ["Substandard Housing," National Center for Healthy Housing.

And see, "What Is Substandard Housing?", HomeGuides.sfgate.com ("Substandard housing . . . , often in severe disrepair, [is] housing that poses a risk to the health, safety or physical well-being of its occupants . . . associated with increased risk of disease, crime, social isolation and decreased mental health. . . . Some cases of substandard housing are not so visible. Outdated or dangerous electrical systems, rusting or loose pipes and gas leaks . . . might go unnoticed until an accident happens.")]

Housing can be unsafe for other reasons, such as spousal abuse, or neighborhoods with relatively high levels of violent crime.

The remnants of Americans' prejudice can make it more difficult for some to find housing -- those of a given race, religion, country of origin, new immigrants, or former convicts who've served their time and are trying to reenter society -- regardless of their ability to pay.

But some of those most at risk for becoming homeless are living in "poverty" (defined as an individual with $12,060 annual income or less; $24,600 for a family of four). [Kimberly Amadeo, "Federal Poverty Level: Definition, Guidelines, Chart,"The Balance, February 2, 2017.] Note that "poverty" can result not only from steady employment at a low wage, but also from unsteady, seasonal, or otherwise occasional income (regardless of hourly rate) that doesn't reach an annual total in excess of poverty levels.

The unemployed are an at risk group for housing. "The share of prime-age [American] men (ages 25-54) who are neither working nor looking for work has doubled since the 1970s. . . . [One] in six prime-age men in America are either unemployed or out of the workforce altogether -- about 10 million men" -- one of the highest rates in the world. [Derek Thompson, "The Missing Men," The Atlantic, June 27, 2017.]

Another category are those paying over 50 percent of their income for housing. "When more than 50 percent of a poor household’s income goes to paying rent, that household is experiencing what is known as severe housing cost burden. [These are] households . . . more likely to have an unexpected event -- such as loss of employment or unexpected medical costs -- result in . . . homelessness." [The State of Homelessness in America (2016), pp. 48-49, endhomelessness.org.]

[For one of the best collections of data regarding the financial challenges confronting nearly all Americans regardless of income and net worth, presented in 24 pages of graphics and very readable text, see "On Track or Left Behind? Findings from the 2017 Prosperity Now Scorecard, July 2017 Prosperity Now.org, released July 25, 2017.]

What are their needs; what are the solutions?

Although "categories" are listed above, most of those with housing needs have stories that are somewhat unique -- as are the solutions, to the extent possible.

An abused spouse or children may not be lacking shelter; their problem is not a leaky roof, it's the violence to which they're subjected. They need an alternative shelter, or safe house -- along with some legal assistance -- until they can relocate (or the abuser is imprisoned). There may be other reasons why temporary, rather than permanent, housing is the solution.

For those with a "severe housing cost burden," or without the resources even if they used all their earnings for rent, there may be public housing, "affordable housing" required of landlords, or subsidies such as "Section 8." [Housing Act of 1937, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §1437f.]

Housing in context

As with medical specialists who are less aware of a patient's related conditions, so it is with housing. By contrast, some doctors actually make "house calls" -- not to see the patient, but to see the house, and how it might be contributing to the patient's condition.

For example, in addition to the occasional relationship between housing and healthcare, there is often a relationship between housing, educational level and unemployment.

There can be a relationship between housing, poverty and public transportation (or access to a reliable vehicle). If businesses would build housing close enough to their stores or factories that their employees could walk or bike to work -- with rent they could afford on the hourly wages they were paid -- it would solve both the housing challenge and eliminate employees' costs of commuting from the distances necessary to find affordable housing (as well as improving workers' health and the environment). Public buses or trains that run every 10 or 15 minutes (rather than half-hour or hour), and don't require two or three changes from home to work, would help.

Child care, on the job site or nearby, could sometimes make the difference.

Of course, social workers and others are aware of these interrelated needs and solutions -- as they are aware of not having the necessary resources to do what they know needs to be done. Just as there are IEP's (individual education plans) for K-12 students with disabilities, it would help when addressing individuals' "housing in context" challenges to create a plan for every individual who comes into the system that addresses housing, healthcare, nutrition, transportation, training, childcare and whatever other needs and services are relevant.

What's "affordable"?

There is much reference in discussions of housing to so-called "affordable housing," defined as housing that one can obtain for 30% or less of one's income.

"Families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care. An estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households now pay more than 50 percent of their annual incomes for housing. A family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States." ["Affordable Housing," Department of Housing and Urban Development.]

"Affordability" is not a very precise concept at best, and is certainly subject to, among other things, almost unlimited potential multiple variables.

Income. Thirty percent of what? What do we count? What do we deduct? Is it what's left after taxes? Which taxes (i.e., federal and state income tax; FICA; sales tax)? What about essential fixed expenses?

Fixed expenses. The minimal, essential expenses for a family of four (or more) will be both different, and far exceed, those for a young, childless single person. Childcare expenses can be significant if there's no grandmother to volunteer. A family paying for grandparents' nursing home costs, or services for a person with a disability, or a mortgage, will have far less for food and other expenses than someone who does not.

Absolute dollars. No one can eat a percentage. Someone in the top 20%, earning $200,000 a year, has $140,000 left over after paying 30% ($60,000; $5,000 a month) for housing. Someone earning the minimum wage ($7.25 an hour) and lucky enough to work 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year ($14,500 a year) has $10,150 ($846 a month) left over after paying 30% ($4,350, or $362.50 a month -- if such apartments even exist) for housing.

Capitalism

Like a bull in a china shop, or a pig in the parlor, there's nothing inherently wrong with capitalism -- so long as it's kept in its proper place. To protect competitors, employees and consumers some government regulation is often necessary, but "free private enterprise" and "marketplace competition" can produce greater incentives for innovation, productivity and efficiency by business, along with greater choice and lower prices for consumers.

But just as there are some sectors of the economy in which government ownership and operation may not be the optimum approach, there are also other sectors of the economy that seem inappropriate for capitalism.

There are some who seemingly want to privatize everything. But there appears to be at least a significant minority, if not majority, of Americans who recognize the advantages of public ownership and operation of K-12 schools; libraries; national, state, and local parks; and the Interstate Highway system.

Profit-maximizing businesses can have conflicts of interest when providing public goods. Experiments with private ownership of prisons, for example, show that there is an inherent conflict of interest between public policy goals of shorter sentences and alternatives to incarceration and the prison owners' goals of profit maximization: the more people convicted and incarcerated, and the longer their sentences, the greater their profits.

There are doctors and dentists who volunteer in free clinics and elsewhere to provide healthcare to those who otherwise would have to do without. But for the most part healthcare is a private, profit-maximizing industry. As those urging a form of universal, single-payer healthcare say -- a form of healthcare available to citizens in most industrialized countries -- there is a big difference between "health insurance" and "health care." The statistics on such measures as years of life expectancy, or rates of infant mortality, suggest that we are paying more while getting less and serving fewer than those countries. We joke about medical students who want their specialty to be "diseases of the rich," but the fact is that in a capitalist healthcare system everyone from medical professionals, to Big Pharma, to hospitals, to insurance company shareholders and executives would like to be paid more.

Admittedly, there is no more agreement regarding public housing than there is about healthcare. The UN may say, as quoted above, that "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for . . . health and well-being" (including housing and healthcare), but there are still individuals who believe that even those without shoes should simply "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." [United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25, December 10, 1948.]

Home builders and realtors will, when necessary, build, remodel, sell, or rent homes and condos to those scarcely able to pay. But when their income is calculated as a percentage of the price of their sold homes, or the square footage of those they've built, large, expensive homes for the wealthy are clearly to be preferred over those for the poor. Segregation in our communities is largely perpetuated by housing policies, which are often driven in part by what the upper 20 percent believe to be "the best schools."

A builder of a city center high rise full of condos, who can sell them for a half-million to a million dollars or more, has zero economic incentive to include units that college students, or minimum wage workers, could afford. Of course, a city government that is gifting the builder a portion of construction costs (say, a TIF that reduces the owner's property taxes) has a lot of leverage -- if it will use it -- to insist on some cheaper units. But that's little more than a tiny one-off contribution to the community's housing needs for the poor and working poor.

Which brings us to "data."

Data

Schools don't just open their doors, let children wander in, and go to whatever room they please. Enrollment is limited by the numbers of classrooms, teachers, and desks. And there are precise records of each child, with information about parents or guardians, address, and perhaps special needs.

Successful businesses startups have business plans. The owners have at least some sense of traffic flow as well as revenue flow, the potential population from which they will draw, the competitors who will be offering the same or similar services.

It's not that those giving their lives to providing housing for the poor aren't aware of the value of comparable information about housing, or that they aren't making efforts to try to create it -- sometimes creative, impressive efforts. It's that they are simply not provided the resources they need to gather all the necessary data. They know, better than I, what they need. But here's how it looks from here.

Take Johnson County, Iowa, as an example. It's helpful to have another Habitat for Humanity house here, a shelter house there, a TIF requiring some below-market units in a condo project. But if we really want to get everyone housed, it's not enough to just "do something." We need some basic data about "supply" -- an inventory of what housing we have (whether occupied or not), such as, how many one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments there are, with their locations and rent.

The Census Bureau does a pretty good job of counting and reporting housing units. But apparently the landlords and developers are sometimes reluctant to reveal their rental rates and the number of vacancies.

Equally important, is information about "demand" -- especially regarding persons who can't afford any housing available in the county, and those who are suffering from "severe housing cost burden" (rent exceeding half of their income).

It is the demand side that is the most problematical. Ideally there would be enough social workers that every individual in the county in need of one or another form of assistance would be identified, regularly visited, and assisted in finding, or improving, their housing. Unfortunately, in today's political climate that's not likely to happen anytime soon.

However, gathering one county's housing supply and demand is not a "big data" project -- like the recent White House effort to create a database record of every person registered to vote in America, along with their personal data.

There are only 62,000 housing units in Johnson County, and 59 percent of them are owner-occupied -- presumably most of them by owners who are not in need of housing assistance. The remaining 40 percent would be a number that could fit in a single Excel spreadsheet on anyone's laptop computer.

Conclusion

Meanwhile, four things might help. (1) Think about a county's housing challenges as a whole, rather than one dwelling unit, and occupant, at a time. (2) Prioritize the need to gather as much detailed data as possible about the county's housing supply and demand. (3) Recognize that housing is but one of many interconnected challenges for those in need that can most effectively, and efficiently, be met by recognizing how they are connected. (4) Manage the undertaking with measurable goals, timelines, and public accountability in the form of management information reporting systems.

# # #
Here is The Gazette's edited excerpt from this blog post (primarily the "Is there a right to housing?" section):

"Health Care, Housing Rights?"
Nicholas Johnson
The Gazette, Insight Guest Opinion, August 1, 2017, p. A5
There’s been discussion recently about housing (locally) and healthcare policy (nationally). Unlike government-funded programs used by all, these are programs for those most in need.

Developing public policy for social programs seems to be, as President Trump famously said, “an unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew that [it] could be so complicated.”

That’s not precisely accurate. We are blessed with thousands of knowledgeable, caring individuals who do know how complicated it is.

Do you and I have (legally) or feel (morally) obligations to care for those beyond our family or community? To what extent do others have a "right" to expect such care?

Former Congressman Joe Walsh unambiguously put in his answer: "Health care is not a right. Housing is not a right. A job is not a right. College is not a right."

If healthcare is a product and housing is a privilege; if a majority believe, and act as if, the needy have no "rights," and we have no "obligations," that pretty much ends the discussion.

Where to find insight?

Religion? Jesus said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" and "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." The Bahai Universal House of Justice cites 16 major religions espousing the Golden Rule.

Founding documents? "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Virtually all the world's great religions, and nations, agree we have some obligations to fellow members of our species. And yet, Walsh speaks for many Americans.

That's somewhere between ironic and inexplicable, given more U.S. citizens say "religion is very important in their lives" than people elsewhere. How can we square denying healthcare with caring for "the least of these"?

Could it be our “representatives” have adopted their major donors’ belief that "my right to even bigger tax cuts trumps (so to speak) your right to come in out of the cold"?
_______________
Nicholas Johnson is a former FCC commissioner and law professor who maintains the blog, FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com. Contact: mailbox@nicholasjohnson.org

_______________
Addendum: "Why Do So Many Christians Believe Lack of Effort is Cause of Poverty, or Jesus Would Oppose Government Social Programs?"

Since the publication of this column in the Gazette two categories of responses to my genuine puzzlement (how can our country be both the world's most religious, and so many believe that social programs are "not a right") have come to my attention. One is the disparity between the religious and non-religious regarding the cause of poverty (circumstances vs. lack of effort): Julie Zauzmer, "Christians Are more Than Twice as Likely to Blame a Person's Poverty on Lack of Effort," Washington Post, August 4, 2017 ("53 percent of white evangelical Protestants blamed lack of effort while 41 percent blamed circumstances, . . .. In contrast, . . . Americans who are atheist, agnostic or have no particular affiliation [31 percent blamed lack of effort while 65 percent] said difficult circumstances are more to blame when a person is poor . . ..")

The other came in the form of emails insisting I had misinterpreted Jesus' teachings. Advocating from a WWJD ("what would Jesus do") position, they seemed to be arguing that, (1) were Jesus around to state his case today, he would oppose, or at a minimum not encourage, government programs to help the poor. (2) All Jesus ever said was that individuals should care for "the least of these" -- something that many individuals and churches are doing.

I view this difference of interpretation as analogous to the "original intent" arguments around the "meaning" of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution refers to an "army" and "navy" but makes no mention of an "air force." Yet no one I know of argues that the Air Force is unconstitutional. To the best of my memory the New Testament has little to say about governmental social programs for the needy -- the existence of such programs during Jesus' years, or even their proposal and rejection. If this was something beyond anyone's imagining at the time (even Jesus' imagining), one can't really fault him for a failure to advocate it.

Were Jesus around today he would probably be denied immigration status, and thus the issue would never arise. But if he was permitted to enter the U.S., it's not unreasonable to suspect -- given what he is credited with saying about caring for others, and the problems flowing from great wealth -- that he would adapt his role of activist to our culture, likely be a Bernie supporter, only be televised on Democracy Now!, and probably advocate for more (rather than less) taxpayer-funded programs for the poor.

# # #

Eastern Iowa's Declaration of Human Rights

Note: Each year around January 1 The Gazette calls upon its "Writers Circle" for brief pieces regarding the year to come. What follows was my contribution to "Writers Circle: Our Resolutions for 2017."

Focus on Our Common Values

Nicholas Johnson

The Gazette, January 1, 2017, p. D2
The prefix, “comm,” has been around for 700 years: “communication,” “the commons,” a “commune,” “communitarian,” “communal” – and “community.” My column in this space last year focused on the role of communications in defining and building a community.

This year’s focus is on our common values; the standards we want for all.

A couple weeks ago, in a play based on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, I played Mr. Fezziwig – a jolly employer with communal values, in stark contrast to their absence in Ebenezer Scrooge. It is a contrast, alas, that persists 170 years later.

Eastern Iowa, and this newspaper, are blessed with a good many Fezziwigs. My suggestion for 2017 is that we come together in the spirit of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights to draft our own (see especially Articles 25 and 26 – look it up).

What do we wish for all who live among us? We are all in need of something. Even the well-educated wealthy can suffer disabilities or addictions. But what can we do for those with less income, new immigrants, recently released prisoners, homeless veterans, or those with jobs but no reliable transportation?

A “community” should know, and implement, the answers.

# # #

Our Communities' Second Priority

[On February 7, 2016, The Gazette announced "The Gazette's Editorial Focus for 2016" -- the elements of quality cities: "Building Blocks; Working Together to Make Our Communities Great Places to Live," The Gazette, February 7, 2016, p. C1 (available online -->HERE<---). My first column for that new editorial focus was published that same day and is reproduced below.]
_______________
Design Communities to Support Communication, Interaction and Learning
Nicholas Johnson
The Gazette, February 7, 2016, p. C4
[online as Nicholas Johnson, "Design Eastern Iowa Communities to Support Communication, Interaction and Learning," The Gazette (online), February 8, 2016, 3:00 p.m.]
There were a lot of activists’ movements during the 1960s and ‘70s – anti-war, pro-environment, the rights of women and African Americans, among others – their individual first priorities.

As a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission during those years, the ways in which those movements were impacted by the role of the mainstream media, and the rules by which commercial media operated and was regulated, became very clear.

The media reform movement was born and grew out of that awareness. As I put it at the time, “Whatever is your first priority, your second priority has to be media reform” – which ultimately contributed the book title, Your Second Priority (2008).

It was a new way of thinking about reform of government, politics, and public policy.

This year, The Gazette intends to focus on our communities’ opportunities involving everything from affordable and integrated housing to healthcare, from parks and walkable cities to justice and police relations, economic growth to creative communities.

Just as activists can benefit by giving attention to the role of the media, so can those concerned about improving our communities benefit by considering the role of communications. Just as we have environmental impact statements, we might benefit from communications impact statements.

A 400-word column can’t begin to identify the hundreds of categories of cities’ communications opportunities, let alone explore them. But here are three illustrations.

Housing. Urban planning, the arrangement of suburban homes, or common space in apartment units, the availability of sidewalks and bike paths, can tend to increase, or decrease, chance meetings and conversation. Location of housing and schools can produce either the integration, or the segregation, of socio-economic classes, races and religions.

Analytics. The early Greeks spoke of analytics, and most city governments and residents have some access to data about their community and themselves. The movie “Money Ball” dramatized analytics’ relevance to baseball. But the City of Boston has pushed it to a whole new level.

Learning communities. Learning can be everywhere – not just museums (Iowa Hall), places (Devonian Gorge), structures (Plum Grove; Mormon handcart site). It can also come from watching a sushi chef, or reading a business building’s history on a plaque. There are thousands more words to be written about our communities’ second priority. And we haven’t even touched on more obvious features, such as public access cable channels, Web sites, blogs, meeting spaces, and libraries.

Think about it. We can do it.
_______________
Nicholas Johnson, a former FCC commissioner, advocates information architecture and visible cities. He maintains nicholasjohnson.org and FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com. Contact: mailbox@nicholasjohnson.org

# # #