A recent letter to the editor drew attention to a lawsuit filed by residents of Lugar Tower in downtown Indianapolis against the Indianapolis Housing Agency over their plans to remove security personnel from the property. Instead of focusing on the merits of the lawsuit and IHA’s track record of mismanagement – which IndyStar has extensively covered in the past year – the writer argues that residents “return their debt to society by working to fix (their living conditions) themselves.”
The writer proposes establishing a “resident work-trade option for able-bodied renters to alleviate the burden on the taxpayers subsidizing public housing.”
His logic is based on how he and his siblings overcame a low-income background by working their way through high school and college.
It demonstrates an inadequate understanding of the scope of issues that he believes residents should be responsible for, including elevators that are out of order for weeks, cooling systems that break down during the middle of summer and burst pipes that send water cascading into the tower lobby.
The writer demonstrates what has become all too common in our world today: the “otherization” of people who come from different walks of life than one’s own.
Instead of being interested in these residents’ lived experiences, the writer slips into the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality that animates so many who disfavor public support for social and human services.
His argument is more concerned with the abstract “taxpayer,” ignores IHA’s dereliction of responsibility to its tenants and fails to recognize public housing residents as members of our community worthy of safe and decent living conditions.
Brent Lee volunteers with a hunger relief organization that provides meals to residents at Lugar Tower.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis public housing tenants deserve safe living conditions | Letters
Reporting by Brent Lee / Indianapolis Star
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