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Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Baltimore Residents Losing Homes Amid Crippling Increases In Water Bills To Pay For Crumbling Infrastructure

With its surging violence and failing public schools, being a Baltimore resident these days doesn't seem to be that enticing a proposition. Unfortunately, crumbling water infrastructure is only adding to the agony of residents that occupy what increasingly looks like a failed city. As The Baltimore Sun notes today, a new study conducted by economist Roger Colton found that a series of water bill hikes, an effort designed to raise money to repair the city's crumbling water infrastructure, has left the poorest residents facing bills equal to 20% of their monthly income.

In 8 percent of the city’s census tracts, the poorest fifth of households face water bills costing more than 20 percent of their income, Colton estimated. In a quarter of the tracts, the poorest fifth face bills amounting to between 10 and 20 percent of their income.

By 2019, Colton concluded, water won’t be affordable for households making 150 percent of the federal poverty rate, which is $36,450 for a family of four. A third of city households make that much or less.

Colton defined affordability as a household paying less than 2 percent of it’s income for water. The federal Environmental Protection Agency uses a threshold of 4.5 percent.

“People just genuinely can't afford to pay ever-increasing water rates,” she said.

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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nothing is a right if you require someone else to pay for it... That's called slavery.

Anonymous said...

Wait what does this article say???? People losing their homes for a water bill???? But the stupid people of SBY says this can't happen, it doesn't happen and it won't happen and that when someone needs help, they don't really need it, that they just want to be lazy and suck off the tit of the american tax payers...

I guess those stupid SBY residents should read this 5 times over and over to get it through their dumb ass head... Maybe the should look at Michigan where people are losing their homes for not paying a water bill, becasue the water they are paying for is poisoned form all of the dumping going on in the lakes and rivers in Michigan... But remember SBY residents don't think this will or can or has happened just because it hasn't hit full swing in SBY yet, which it will sooner than later...

Anonymous said...

Sounds a lot like what is happening in Detroit. They cut off the water to residents who quit paying the water bills because they went up.
Interesting times we live in!

Anonymous said...

Human "rights": free phone, free water, free health care, free "education", free ____________________ ...

Anonymous said...

Everything is free all you have to do is give up your freedom.

Anonymous said...

12:04 You troll so much, you don't know who to be angry at! Sad.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an opportunity to cut off foreign aid and fix our problems. Just think if a few countries had their aid rescinded and that money was sent to Flint.

Anonymous said...

Sounds exactly what Jake Day is doing to us in Salisbury.

That clown made it sound like he was lowering taxes and the media was all over it like Jakey Boi was some sort of Savior. What they failed to tell you was Jakey Boi was increasing the Water and Sewer rates to make up the difference in his "tax break."

Anonymous said...

But we think everything should be free.

Anonymous said...

Create a dependent society to hold power. No jobs= no tax base. Socialism. But putting people in the street do you can get mor immigrants in to support you voter base????

Anonymous said...

They tie your water and tax bills together and take your home..city of crisfield does this you must pay water bill before your tax bill if you have an outstanding balance...not really right to do that, but that's how they get money paid up. The water bills are 65.ok a month in town.