Mike Bloomberg on Welfare & Poverty Mayor of New York City (Independent)

Greenwood Initiative: a million more homes in black hands

In 1921 there was a group of white thugs who came through in the middle of the night, burnt the town to the ground and killed 200 people. That's what happened there. I mean there's been terrible things going on in this country.

In Jackson, Mississippi, there is a memorial to the 4,000 African Americans who were lynched in this country. We've done some terrible things. Hopefully those will never happen again. I have a plan coming out of the Greenwood--called the Greenwood initia

More African-American home ownership; study reparations

BLOOMBERG: I've agreed to a study on reparations--I was asked to sign on to that. I said fine. My personal opinion is the first thing we have to do is focus on education, because you are never going to fix poverty unless you do something. And if you take a look, the average black family in America has only 1/10 the wealth of the average white family. Just think about that number, 90 percent less. We have to do something about that. And so I've focused on creating jobs and improving education. I have a plan coming out of the Greenwood--called the Greenwood initiative to--our objective is to have a million more homes in black hands over next 10 years to--yes, so it's a good idea. Thank you.

Put more bank branches in minority neighborhoods

I fought against red-lining in communities

Q: In addition, Senator Warren on Twitter called you a liar and a borderline racist because of what you said about red-lining.

BLOOMBERG: Unfortunately, she's misinformed on red-lining. You can go back and look at the record. I fought against it before the crisis in '08, during '08, and after that. Red-lining is not the problem with the mortgage market, but it was a problem for the communities where it was done, and we stopped that.

Q: Did it work in NYC?

BLOOMBERG: When you're talking about affordable housing, we created 175,000 units of affordable housing in New York City. You have to learn how to work with both sides of the aisle and then you can get stuff done.

Create 1 million new black homeowners

Mike will increase the supply of affordable housing units nationally--lowering costs for middle and low-income residents. He will expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and enhance its value. He will prioritize new transportation funding for areas that have undertaken progressive zoning reform and reward municipalities that support affordable housing development in neighborhoods with good schools, transportation, and economic opportunity.

Mike will make homelessness a national priority--and double federal spending on homelessness from under $3 billion to $6 billion annually.

Mayors Challenge: grants to cities for improving urban life

Created or preserved 175,000 affordable homes

Expand the earned income tax credit to raise real wages

The tax bill [passed by Congressional Republicans and signed by President Trump in December 2017] does nothing to address these challenges. In fact, it makes each of them worse.

INEQUALITY: If Congress wanted to raise real wages and reward work, there is a simple and proven way to do it: expand the earned income tax credit. Instead, it seems to believe that lower corporate tax rates will magically lead to higher wages, which fundamentally misunderstands how labor markets work.

Count poverty based on all costs, minus welfare assistance

NYC’s adoption of a new calculus, which skeptics predict is certain to conclude that there are more poor here than previously counted, could be met with opposition from other areas around the country, if the city uses the new measure to argue that it deserves more federal aid. But city officials say their efforts are driven by Mayor Bloomberg’s second-term pledge to reduce poverty.

Opportunity NYC: cash transfer to break cycle of poverty

Instituted $7.5B municipal affordable housing plan