WE USED TO CALL THESE PEOPLE SLUMLORDS…
WHO IS VALERIE JARRETT?
The media report Valerie Jarrett is the Obamas’ closest friend and White House advisor and they don’t make a move without consulting her.
For many years, Valerie managed the Grove Parc apartment complex in south Chicago. It consists of 504 apartments. Ninety-nine are vacant and uninhabitable. Mice are rampant. Roofs have collapsed. Sewage seeps into kitchen sinks. It is a dangerous place. It is located in the legislative district which Obama represented for eight years in the Illinois Senate.
Grove Parc tenants feel their senator could have done more for them. Their efforts are to keep Grove Parc from being demolished, as the locale is convenient, and to obtain a new management company to rehabilitate the apartments.
The complex is managed by The Habitat Executive Services, Inc. of which Valerie was the Vice President, President and then CEO for 12 years preceding her ascent to the White House. During her tenure Federal inspectors in 2003 rated Grove Parc 82 positive points out of 100; in 2005 only 56 of a 100; and in 2006 a scant 11 of a hundred. She also co-managed an even larger subsidized complex which was seized by the federal government in 2006 after city inspectors found widespread problems.
In a 2009 report Valerie’s previous year’s management income was $300,000 and $550,000 in deferred compensation from The Habitat Executive Services, Inc. (The Wall Street Journal also reported she disclosed payments of more then $346,000 for service on boards of directors that reflect her political ties, and work in Chicago real estate and community development. She was paid $76,000 for service as a director of a Chicago-based global consulting group with governmental clients. She received $146,600 from thre United States Government and $58,000 to serve on the board of Rreef American REIT II, a real estate investment trust based in San Francisco. The Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc., paid her $34,444.)
In explanation of her management record at The Habitat Executive Services, Inc. Valerie explained it’s difficult to manage something you don’t own.
As an Illinois Senator in alignment with Chicago Mayor Daly and now as President, Obama does not favor public housing but public-private housing development. The government gives money to developers, to build public housing. Obama’s close friends and political supporters profited greatly as they became developers. Included among them is Allison Davis, a law associate, Antoin “Tony†Rezko, et. al. The latter, Rezko, renovated 1,000 apartments, refused management, and the apartments are uninhabitable.
When the construction is completed, the apartments are managed by a private management company, such as Valerie’s The Habitat Executive Services, and not a government entity. The government pays for construction as well as the management company. As the government pays the rent and the inhabitants have no other place to go, there is no incentive for the management company to make repairs or to attract new renters. In the end the properties become uninhabitable and are abandoned.
The newspaper, The Boston Globe, found thousands of abandoned, uninhabitable apartments across Chicago which were built with government subsidies. Several hundred found in (Senator) Obama’s district deteriorated to the point they were no longer habitable.
In some cases where the buildings become uninhabitable, new government money is provided to rehabilitate the buildings and the cycle repeats.
President Obama touts The National Affordable Trust Fund Act (HR 2895) passed by the both houses in ’07 and ’08 which Maxine Waters and Barney Frank state $800 million to $1 billion will be spent annually: (Waters) without increasing government spending or the deficit and (Frank) paid for in ways that do not draw on federal tax revenues. HR 2895 does not state where the money will come from.
The Boston Globe reports the money will come from the income profits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at $500 million annually and as in Illinois the money will be paid to private developers. This follows through with Obama’s campaign promises. Critics say the sapping of such large amounts of income imperils the financial levels of both institutions.
The above information was taken from the Boston Globe which published a series of articles on Chicago housing. None of it was picked up and reported on by ABC, NBC or CBS.
A number of States have Trust Funds for low cost housing but construction and management are by government entities, not as in Chicago by developers and private management companies.
Robert Chapman
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