Taking Turns

  Is there any  way that the thought of foreclosure on someone’s house can be a good one? I don’t think so, but apparently the government believes they have found one. A few days ago, my mother was talking to me in our car. She was going on about money and how bad the economy is – common topics for her – and then she mentioned an article she had read in the paper on a previous day. According to the article, the government plans on taking recently foreclosed homes, fixing them up, and giving them to needy families.

  Maybe it’s just me, but that sounds utterly pointless. Homes are taken from people who can’t afford their mortgages. When I hear that they want to use foreclosed homes to house needy families, its sounds to me like all they are doing is switching two families’ positions. You throw one into a house and the other out on the streets. How is that helping our community at all?

  I am not against letting people into our country or giving immigrants good jobs, good treatment, or nice places to live. I believe they deserve that just as much as anyone else in this country, but so often I see recently immigrated families getting special treatment while families that have been in this country for generations can barely afford to live. Many times, a family is considered “more needy” than another simply based on their race or how short a while they have lived here. If the government insists upon using these foreclosed homes to house needy families rather than assisting the poor families already living there, I simply hope that all people involved are treated the same and equally considered for the home, regardless of their background.

  However, I frankly think that there are plenty of houses in this community – empty houses that have been up for sale with no potential buyers for a while now. I believe the government should use those houses for needy families and instead of throwing more people out onto the streets, they should focus on assisting families who can no longer afford the cost of living. Shuffling people around won’t improve anything. We need to start supporting everyone who is suffering if we hope to make things better.