“In reality, crime only follows Section 8 tenants to the suburbs, according to a large body of research, including a 2011 HUD-commissioned study. That’s precisely what happened in Ferguson, once a quiet, working-class St. Louis suburb.”
President Barack Obama celebrated the Civil Rights Movement in Selma on Saturday by saying “abuse and disregard of citizens” in Ferguson could potentially inspire a new movement [Selma civil rights milestone marked by first black president, by Jay Reeves and Darlene Superville, AP, March 7, 2015] He’s right—but not in the way he thinks. The current reality of Ferguson, Missouri is the result of deliberate government policy and the resulting destruction of social capital and property values. Nothing our federal government has ever done has arguably been so destructive to its own people than the imposing of “Section 8 housing”—the low-income housing subsidy program dating back to Lyndon B. Johnson’s catastrophic Great Society—on formerly prosperous and safe communities.
Protect property rights and ultimately property values is a fundamental obligation of government. Without secure private property, governments can’t raise tax revenue to pay for public services, not attract businesses and sustain stable families that have a stake in the success of the community. When property rights and property values are seen as insecure, any community will enter a death spiral.
This is precisely what happened in Ferguson. In his savage and dishonest attack on the Ferguson police force, Eric “My People” Holder actually said that the collapse of social capital in the city was what might be called the root cause of the political explosion:
“Of course, violence is never justified. But seen in this context — amid a highly toxic environment, defined by mistrust and resentment, stoked by years of bad feelings, and spurred by illegal and misguided practices — it is not difficult to imagine how a single tragic incident set off the city of Ferguson, like a powder keg.”
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