Christopher Shays: “we have to take the context of this bill compared to what exists, not the fantasy of what we think exists. We go into…”

“we have to take the context of this bill compared to what exists, not the fantasy of what we think exists. We go into public housing areas all around the country. They are in devastating shape. One of the things I find most troubling, the most troubling thing is that we have basically warehoused the poorest of the poor in one particular area. And all in the name of doing God's work, all in the name of good. I happen to believe that one of the most serious problems that we have in public housing is we do not have firemen and policemen living in public housing. We do not have the kind of role models that you used to have. And I just hope and pray that others realize there is another side to the Brooke amendment, at least the ones that I am most interested in. I want a family that truly wants to stay in public housing to stay in a little longer and not end up paying more than the market rent. Thirty percent of income can sometimes be more than what someone would logically pay for the kind of facility that they are living in. I want kids to be able to say that their next door neighbor may be a fireman or a polceman, may have a job, may be somebody that they really look up to and aspire to be like. And I just hope and pray that in terms of this debate that we do not talk about the fantasy world of what we think exists but what truly exists. I have spent 9 years now in this Chamber investigating the Department of HUD, both at the Federal level and on the local level.”