Street Roots • July 13-19, 2018
Conversation
Page 5
WATERS, from page 4
they’re going to have the Clippers moving in
as well. They will have not only the sports
arena but concerts, too.
Because of that economic growth, the
landlords can see that it is becoming a very
desirable place to live, and they’re
increasing the rent. And we have people on
fixed income who don’t have any additional
money to pay for rent, so they are basically
evicting folks. The eviction issue is
becoming a big issue in this country
because of gentrification.
R.B.: What hurdles do you see us
approaching as we invest more and try to
produce more permanent housing?
M.W.: We have been slow in really
producing the dollars that are needed to
deal with producing this permanent
housing. I introduced a piece of legislation
called “Ending Homelessness,” and it calls
for $13.8 billion. We did that knowing it
would be extremely difficult. But at some
point, you have to say what it’s going to cost
and what’s the amount of resources that it’s
going to take.
Will we get that done with Ben Carson in
HUD and this president in the White
House? That’s going to set us back. They’re
not really interested in helping poor people.
Ben Carson’s philosophy in general is that if
you’re poor, you’re responsible for it; it’s not
the government’s responsibility. So, one of
the main focuses that we must have is
changing this administration and fighting to
resist this president for all the reasons that
you know: He’s a liar. He’s a crook. H e’s a
con man. He’s not a friend to poor people.
He’s not a friend to the average person.
When you talk about homelessness and
what can be done, the first thing we have to
recognize is it’s going to cost money. And
the United States must be responsible for
allocating the dollars that are needed, not
only for the building of low-income housing,
but the supportive services and the
permanency that you’re talking about It’s
going to take a real commitment from
people who care about it I think what has
happened is, even with the Democrats, they
didn’t move fast enough or recognize this
problem in a way that made them really
dedicate more resources to i t
The Republicans have talked about
keeping down the cost of the budget, and
whenever you talk about helping poor
people and allocating money, they start to
talk about how the government should
reduce the amount of money that it spends
and that it shouldn’t cost thé taxpayers to
have to spend more money, and on and on
and on. But we hâve seen, just since
(Trump)’s been Itère, that the way they hâve
done the budget and the way that they have
done tax reform, they’ve created a bigger
deficit themselves’ So, when you go back to
look at what they have said and what they
have actually done, you can see that they
were just liars. When they got in charge,
they spent the money. Democrats should’ve
done it, too. We should’ve spent way more
money and pushed harder to get more
money for the resources that are needed for
poor people and for homelessness.
So, I do believe when we take back this
government - and we’re gonna do it - that
there will be a great emphasis on
homelessness and spending the money
that’s necessary to create more (housing)
P H O T O B Y R O D N E Y C H O IC E
Street Sense Media vendor Reginald Black interviews United States Representative Maxine
Waters.
units. We’ve got to do several things: We’ve
got to maintain public housing, and we’ve
got to invest the money in public housing to
fix it up and to make it safe, secure and
livable. We cannot let anybody turn that into
privatization. We’ve got to change the
policies that basically kick people out of
public housing simply because they think
you’ve been in violation with drugs or that
you have a background where you’ve been in
prison or jail. I think we’ve got to change
those policies^and w e’v e g o tT o b e m ore
understanding and m ore le n ie n t And w e’ve
got to have more counseling and supportive
services. The only way that we’re gonna get
this stuff done is if progressive-thinking
legislators, who redly care about people
having a decent and safe place to live, are
willing to step up to the plate, step outside
of the box, fight for the money and not be
ashamed to do it.
R.B.: What has gotten in the way of passing
your Ending Homelessness Act? Has any other
legislation taken ideas from your bill or piggy
backed on it?
M.W.: Not really, no. We were fortunate
that we didn’t get a reduction in the budget
this time. We were worried about that,
because this administration was so focused
on money for defense. This administration is
not gonna do anything to substantially
increase the resources that are needed in
order to create more (housing) units and to
have supportive services and permanency. I
think the best thing that we could do now is
try to make our shelters work a little bit
better.
If people are on the street in tents and
what have you, we’ve got to provide some
security. Women who are out there, who
can’t find a bed for the night, they must
have some protection. (Not like) what they
do in L.A., gathering up people’s things and
throwing them away and talking about
keeping the streets clean.
Some of that police power needs to be
used to help people be more secure so they
can sleep at least at night and not have fear
of rape or robbery. Too much of that goes
on in our homeless community because
there are people who do nothing but take
advantage. We have (drug dealers) in Los
Angeles who only want to know whether or
not people are on general welfare, so they
can get some of that money by peddling
drugs to them. And many of our people who
are on the streets will spend some of that
money to buy drugs because of
hopelessness.
If every community had (specialists)
assigned to help them get hooked up with
real health care, mental health care, jobs,
training, all of that - just dedicated to that
section - maybe a few hundred people - it’d
be w&ndeffulT B ut ev£n with soTrie of the
resources, elected officials a ren ’t always as
wise as you think they are. Sometimes th e
homeless people need to tell elected
officials what they think is needed in order
to not only help them in the situation that
they’re in, but to help them get out of that
situation.
R.B.: How can we, as a nation, reflect the
value of housing being a human right?
M.W.: We have to elect officials who care
about it. Voting is extremely important This
election in 2018 is very important to take
back the Congress of the United States, and
homeless people have got to get registered
to vote. As a matter of fact, the Democratic
Party should be putting some money into
homeless individuals getting registered to
vote.
R.B.: I hear a lot from public housing
residents that the agencies can’t conduct
quality repairs on public housing in a timely
manner. Some residents don’t even go to
complain because they think if their house is in
disrepair, then they’ll be put out. Do you think
there is a solution to the issues of repairs and
maintenance in public housing?
M.W.: That takes some community
action. We’ve been through this in Los
Angeles. When we got some money for
repairs and renovation, we got the young
people who wanted jobs and said, “If they
can’t work, nobody can work.” (Before that),
developers would bring in their own
(workers) from better-off counties. So we
said, “No more of that. Don’t come in here
bringing developers from far and wide to
make the money and take it back out of the
community.”
As a matter of fact, I have two guys in a
housing project called Nickerson Gardens.
It’s a big one in L.A., and they got hired that
way about 30 years ago. They’re now
retiring. They were gang members, and they .
got hired, and they did a good job! They
stayed with the job and they raised families.
I think both own houses, and they’re now
retiring, all because the people came
together to say “we have to have the jobs in
our community.” It’s an organizing effort,
and to tell you the truth, it works!
The Civil Rights Movement was about
struggle. Anything you could get you had to
fight for. But that’s changed. Increasingly,
the people in decision-making roles are just
looking for upward mobility and a career
that gives them money. They’re not going to
make any sacrifices. And until somebody is
willing to step outside of the box and draw
the people to them because they see what’s
going on, nothing is gonna change.
You’ve gotta take 100 people to city hall.
It’s not like you can convince them from afar
and say, “This is what you guys should do.”
You gotta make believers out of them. And if
they turn you away, you keep going back.
It’s that kind of organizing where elected
officials are made to pay attention. Going to
city hall is extremely powerful. Most city
halls have a little space on their agenda for
the public to speak. It’s not usually a lot of
time, but that’s OK. When you’re organizing
and you’re confronting, you don’t care
nothing about other people’s time frames. If
they say you got 10 minutes, you decide to
take 20. And then when they say they’re
gonna put you out, they can put you out.
I ’ve always thought th at in D.C., if people
w anted voting rights, they’d com e up on this
hill and they’d sit down in th e thousands and
not move. They can’t jail everybody, you
know what I’m saying? But it’s got to be that
kind of determination to fight and confront.
That’s the spirit of the Civil Rights
Movement, revisited for the times that
demand it now.
R.B: I have one more question just to have
some fun. Would you ever consider running
for president?
M.W.: No, I would not. Because I know
who I am, what I have done and how I’m
perceived. I’m perceived as a black woman
troublemaker who don’t know her place and
steps all outside of the protocols and the
policies. That does not a president make.
You’ve got to compromise a whole lot to
get to be president. And I’ve not lived my
life that way. So no, I would not consider it.
What I would consider is putting every inch
of time that I can into getting rid of this
president That’s it. That’s my focus right
now. Because I think that he will take us
backwards.
R.B.: So, you would actually go for articles
of impeachment on him soon?
M.W.: That’s my number one focus! I
want him impeached! Even to the chagrin of
some of my fellow Democrats. He’s a crook,
he’s a criminal and the White House is a
criminal enterprise. You see it unfolding
every day. But in the final analysis, it’s
gonna be Stormy that’s gonna get him.
Courtesy of Street Sense in Washington,
D.C. / INSP.ngo