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Marco Rubio on Welfare & Poverty
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Communities & churches once took care of neighbors
Rubio presented an idealized view of times gone by. In another era, he told the audience, "If someone was sick in your family, you took care of them. If a neighbor met misfortune, you took care of them. You saved for your retirement and your future
because you had to. We took these things upon ourselves and our communities and our families and our homes and our churches and our synagogues. But all that changed when the government began to assume those responsibilities.
All of a sudden, for an increasing number of people in our nation, it was no longer necessary to worry about saving for security because that was the government's job. And as government crowded out the institutions in our society that did these things
traditionally, it weakened our people in a way that undermined our ability to maintain our prosperity."That final observation that entitlement programs had weakened Americans was the point he clearly wanted to hammer home.
Source: The Rise of Marco Rubio, by Manuel Rogi-Franzia, p. 8
, Jun 19, 2012
Incentives to actually construct affordable housing
Floridians need affordable housing. However, due to dramatic increases in housing costs, many low- and middle-income Florida families can no longer afford safe and decent housing. Florida's affordable housing shortage is exacerbated by developers' failur
to build affordable housing beyond what is legally required. This partly stems from a lack of incentives for builders to ACTUALLY CONSTRUCT affordable housing.Solution: Increase incentives for developers to construct affordable housing. The 2006
Legislature encouraged the provision of affordable housing for essential service personnel, extending housing assistance to those with extremely low incomes, and providing other financial and regulatory incentives to encourage affordable housing.
The legislation included density bonus incentives for land donations for affordable housing purposes. Florida should increase incentives for developers to not only provide the land for affordable housing, but also construct the housing units themselves.
Source: 100 Innovative Ideas, by Marco Rubio, p. 96
, Nov 1, 2006
Redesign child welfare to outsource foster care
In 1996, the Florida Legislature launched a pilot program to redesign the child welfare system by outsourcing foster care services to qualified service agencies led by community leaders. The development of the community-based care initiative revealed the
natural tension between central accountability and local control. The early days of community-based care relied heavily on the department's central control and community-based care groups (CBCs). As CBCs have gained experience, they have sought greater
independence and a broader span of control.The 2005 Legislature authorized a pilot program to create a block-grant structure that establishes a fixed price contrast with an independent, outcome-based evaluation. Significant progress has been made, but
greater opportunities exist in the movement toward block-grant, outcome-driven operations. These programs should be modified as necessary and expanded as soon as feasible.Florida should enhance independence and flexibility in community-based care.
Source: 100 Innovative Ideas, by Marco Rubio, p.101-103
, Nov 1, 2006
Institute tax-free zones in downtrodden inner-city areas
During the 1990s, Republicans in the US House of Representatives, seeking an alternative to the failed 1960s-era anti-poverty orthodoxy, approved welfare reform measures that overhauled thirty years of government entitlement programs.
Today, notwithstanding these anti-poverty measures, Miami is one of America's poorest cities--an unacceptable designation.
Fostering growth in downtrodden regions requires a bold, dramatic, and innovative approach to economic development and urban revitalization. The Legislature should institute a pilot program that creates a tax-free zone in the
most economically depressed areas of our state. Florida must resolve to break down the economic obstacles that exist in many urban centers today with the same vigilance and zeal used to assail racial and gender barriers over the past forty years.
Source: 100 Innovative Ideas, by Marco Rubio, p.165-166
, Nov 1, 2006
Page last updated: Apr 22, 2013
