What Poughkeepsie Needs 

Poughkeepsie’s #1 point of struggle — and everyone's source of stress — is housing.

The solutions we have in place such as Section 8 and HUD Housing, don’t serve the people who need them and, in turn, hurt the whole of Poughkeepsie through their neglected state. This damages everyone's quality of life - starting at renters and ending with our few owners. Only 30% of Poughkeepsie residents own the roof over their head.

Compounding pressures such as extreme increases in property and school tax – some report up to 20% property tax and 9% school tax increases – have been forcing our "lucky ones", the home owners, to leave in search of cheaper housing outside our city. 

What to do about it?

Realizing that "the market" is only a way for landlords to raise rent is important. The costs of maintenance and upkeep are not changing, just the landlords profit margin. 

Housing in cities such as Vienna, Austria have some paying 10% of their monthly expenses for rent! This is wild when compared to Poughkeepsie's common price of $1,500 for a one-bedroom and almost $3,000 for a family sized (3 bed-room)apartment — which can swallow an entire month's paychecks. Vienna houses ⅓ of Austria's population proving that the market doesn’t affect the cities prices. So how do they achieve this?

Introduce genuine public housing.

American solutions keep the people who hurt us in control. For example: Landlords of Section 8 units can charge an extra $200 a month for an A/C unit — even if the tenant DOESN'T HAVE ONE! Ceiling fans and other basic fixtures can come with extra fees, all paid for by the tenant — the same person or FAMILY who has been thoroughly vetted and shown to be in desperate need for subsidized housing. 

Genuine Public Housing eliminates the dirty profit motive from your rent. 

Having the rent be comprised of:

• Housing Insurance

• Property Tax

• School Tax

• Maintenance

• And maybe utility

Its time to stop pretending the current system works and start building one that actually does.

We can cut the rent of a 3 bedroom apartment in half — from upwards of $3,000 to $1,500.

Not everyone’s but some. And even that $1,500 still includes a significant portion of "profit" — to be directed where ever the community may decide. Ideally expansion and further development of our communities to make sure we all live on a clean, affordable, well-shaded street.

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While the unhoused population continues to be a growing problem in our city, one thing is certain: the way we approach it has to change. The constant change does not support the people in these positions–and instead further hardens not only their hearts but also their way forward- understanding this is up most important. Currently, we have been breaking up encampments and communities of people who happen to live in tents. With the entire world against them, they only have each other, and we are taking even that away. 

While we can go on about how we got to this position and the atrocities that our state, counties, and health industries have committed, we have to be the ones to stop the cycle. Poughkeepsie is dealing with this problem for a reason–and that reason is something that we cannot control at the moment. So how would removing people or incarcerating them help? It doesn’t. Because Poughkeepsie is the end of a purposeful funnel of our poor.

So what is the real solution?

The few good-faith solutions that our government has tried are homeless shelters. In Poughkeepsie, we have the PODS, which have been used since COVID. From testimony I have heard directly from people living in the PODS, it comprises 3 levels, with increasing levels of “safety.” But the building was only remade – originally built to store inmates – for two levels. What is the third level? “It’s the lobby floor,” one person told me. “We sleep on the floor, and once the guards leave everyone's up all night. I am surrounded by it [drugs].” The two quotes are from people whom I talked with, the last one was a woman who started crying because she can never get away from her biggest temptation, even when she seeks help. 

This is a failure of the little good our government does for us. And it is up to the people in the positions of power to scream at the rulers and restructure from the ground up. 

I believe if we implement my housing plan correctly–and in coordination with the community, if not spearheaded by the community–we can easily dedicate funds to not only our physical environment, such as planting more trees, but also to help house and uplift the ones who so desperately need our help. At the end of the day we will always be closer to them rather than the massive real estate firms who control us currently.