SECTION 8 IN LAKEWOOD

Over the weekend CRIMEWOOD posted a diagram provided by CMHA that relates to the locations of all the Section 8 housing in Lakewood.

Here is that diagram;



It's interesting to note that the spread of Section 8 is how I expected. In fact in my recollections with voters in 2005, there was a lot of concern that the Section was spreading and that this diagram bears out that premise.

What is also interesting to me, is where the Section 8 housing is not, I had expected when I viewed this to see a fair amount of property along Lakewood Heights Blvd. bordering the south side of the City along I-90. But, except for a few locations in the East and West, there is hardly any at all.

Another item to look at is to see how its distributed between the wards, I have taken the diagram and have inserted the Ward boundaries to identify the splits:


Click on image to enlarge

In a first look at the Ward divisions, Ward 4 has the most Section 8 and is fairly spread between the Gold coast and Bird Town. That is an undeniable fact based on the amount of rental properties throughout the Ward.

In Wards 2 & 3 they too appear to have a good number of subsidized housing, with Ward 3 have what appears to be more. The spread in these two wards is somewhat even and they reach to the north side of the city.
With respect to Ward 1 it appears that everything is pocketed around Detroit and Madison, but also, along the Riverside Drive area.

It would be a fair assumption to say that if the housing market continues to de-value the residential properties in the retail sector that Lakewood could see an expansion of the subsidized housing because it maybe the only possibility for some homeowners to make the payments.

If an expansion would take place, I believe Wards 1,2 & 3 would see the greatest influx with increased creep north of the Detroit Rd.

Any increase will certainly garner the attention of the Police Department, but it should be a major focus (if not already) of the entire FitzGerald administration.