OT (sort of) ...About that 'meritocracy of ideas'...

...Al Gore speaks of...

I had this idea for JK. What makes it on topic :) is his passion to do what's right for our veterans. Here's the idea:

We all know that in crisis, opportunity arises, right? We have two crises that provide a GREAT opportunity for somelike JK. 1) We have many homeless veterans, according to John Edwards and others, sleeping under bridges. Horrible, and something our country should never tolerate. 2) We have a housing crisis...many abandoned houses because owners have just walked away, unable to pay mortgages. This is a situation that exists across the country, and it is worse than I can ever remember. On my block, there are at least eight such houses...vacant for over a year. These are 2500+ square foot, 4 year old homes.

The idea is that homeless vets should be in these and similar houses. It would benefit the veterans, it would benefit the lenders of these foreclosed homes, it would 'build community' as neighborhood adopt our returning vets, it would reinforce our country's values, and it would unite the divisions in our country (Dem vs. Rep) that are used to promote the idea that Democrats don't care about the troops.

Any thoughts on this idea, Kerrycrats??

...Luftmensch067. It's just that I drive by these houses every day, come home and turn on the TV to hear talk about our veterans... homeless and living under bridges...and I can't understand why somebody doesn't do something. I remember, as a kid, a similar neighborhood situation, and they actually used the empty houses as a temporary public school. Those kind of solutions solve two problems at the same time. And it seems it would be less expensive, since the housing already exists.

I wish I knew how one gets something like this started. I wonder if some of the CA congresspeople would be interested, too?

...oh, well. :7

I think your idea has a lot of merit to it.

But I doubt the banks are going to just 'give away' those houses. However a philanthropic organization could buy up a few of those houses and run them as bed and board and retraining centers.

I do however feel awful for the original owners. I've looked at those foreclosure lists and the prices are usually a 'steal'--for a reason! Because it does, to me anyways, feel like steeling. But once the banks have kicked out the residents, they get (I believe) two years to pay up and catch up even if the house has been sold.

...giving away houses. In some cases, there is doubt as to who owns the house after the 'occupants' walk away (original mortgages bundled and sold). I feel bad for them, too. And I hope solutions will be found to help these families, as well. But even as a temporary measure...until the foreclosure markets are more normal...it seems just having vacant houses sit there is a waste. There are seven houses that I am aware of (on just my block) that have been empty for a year or more. Every neighborhood around here is the same. This is a nationwide problem.

At the least, it would provide temporary housing for vets who qualify. A great program could do what you say...house, retrain, maybe put some to work, garner community involvement with returning veterans, etc. :)

...in the course of performing my various other duties as assigned (my all-time favorite job description line item, ahem -- it better be, because that seems to be what I spend all my time doing anyway). I'll keep bumping the idea up and over to other relevant folks I know in my line of work as well.

Here's one of the replies I've received so far, that might be of particular interest to Kerrycrats and Mass-souls:


"I spent five days in S. Dakota promoting exactly that last month. There were 130 empty single family homes, 2-3 years old, empty, on just one reservation. We have what is called a veterans construction team in MA that did $8 million of work just last year. It can be duplicated anywhere if we could get people to listen. Which is often very difficult. Thanks, I’ll look into it."

-- Chris Wyman, Senior Policy Advisor, John Kerry For Senate / Campaign for Our Country PAC

This is encouraging indeed!

...ralbertson! I can't tell you how happy I am that this is being discussed at higher levels than DU (as much as I love DU :7 ).

Tell them to check out Riverside County in California...it's only 50 or so miles from Camp Pendleton (Marine base). The faster this is duplicated the better. :patriot:

Edited to add: As to getting people to listen...maybe some Presidential candidates (or former ones) we know could appeal to the country's strong sense of patriotism...it's there in spades, where our veterans are concerned. ;)