Is It Really Low Income Housing?

I live in a small town called Dos Palos about forty minutes south of Merced. I live in a low income government two story apartment. The apartments are from Merced County Housing Authority. This government housing has locations in Los Banos, Merced, Atwater, Livingston, and South Dos Palos. The rent is based on income, however to be able to live there a person has to apply and it usually is a long process. The apartments are usually located in poor neighborhoods where there is a lot of crime. In my neighborhood there has been a lot of shootings related to gangs that I myself consider it a dangerous place.

 In these apartments there is a lot of segregation in the units which relates to the inequality in housing we have learned about in chapter 10. African Americans and Hispanics tend to live in these housing. 54.9% are Hispanics in Merced County and about 35.5% of them live in poverty which means that the majority of them live in government housing. 3.4% are African Americans and since it is such a small percentage there is no information about how many live in poverty or government housing. Since the rent is based on family income everyone pays different amounts however some families pay too much because according to the managers they exceed the income limit. A few years back my dad had a year round job at a dairy and according to the office he was making too much money so we were paying around $700 a month for a 3 bedroom apartment when some families were paying half or less than that. These housing have a lot regulations and strict rules that we have to follow as well. If we have pets we have to pay for them, we cannot have reptiles and we have constant inspections. With all of these regulations our privacy is taken away but the apartment office feels like they have the right to keep checking us constantly because we are minorities. My neighborhood is not very safe and there is nothing to do because it’s located outside of town and since it’s a poor neighborhood there is a close liquor store which most of the time is the reason for crime.    

We have learned about housing inequality in chapter 10 and how there is a lot of segregation in public housing. “Black and Latino families of all economic statuses are more likely to live in neighborhoods with high poverty rates. Even affluent blacks and Latinos in neighborhoods with fewer resources than those inhabited by poor whites” (Golash-Boza). This usually happens because of white privilege, which gives whites an advantage in everything. There are a lot of whites that also live in poverty but they tend to live in better neighborhoods than Blacks and Latinos and they have access to better resources. I am already used to living in my neighborhood and living here is the main reason why am studying sociology. One day I want to be able to help low income families especially minorities in obtaining better resources especially in housing. Even though the apartment’s mission is to provide cheap affordable housing many times that doesn’t happen and many families end up paying too much for an apartment that is located in a dangerous and poor area.  

The idea of race persist even though the law no longer permits it because of all the stereotypes people have created about others through out history. There will continue to be racism in government housing because the government will still do illegal and unfair treatment to minorities but they will do in a way that looks legal but they will still be hurting us like they have been doing all this years.