tavis: good evening, from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. we continue our conversation on party in america. our guest is kathleen sebelius. there is a push to protect programs like medicaid, temporary assistance for needy families. in tonight's edition, we will look at the housing projects in america and its impact on all citizens. we're glad you have joined us on 93 that we have devoted to party in america coming up right -- on night 3 that we have devoted to poverty in america coming up right now. >> it is not just street or a ut b a place where one stands together with your

community to make every day better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insuranceylao improve literacy, remove obstacles to economic empowerment. >> brought to you by the aarp foundation. ♪ >> w. k. kellogg foundation, engaging committees to improve the lives of vulnerable children. -- engaging communities to improve the lives of vulnerable children. ♪ >> the and the tk foundation,

helping to build their futures for kids and families. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ tavis: at the heart of somerset has gone wrong with our economy in the past few years is the problems in housing. we are looking at those caught up in the housing crisis in a piece called no room at the inn. >> where are we? >> you are here at my house. the average working person is getting foreclosed upon.

i went to the shelter first and there was "no one in the inn" per se. shelter recommended you out here. >> yes. >> olstein noncitizens, whatever -- old senior citizens, whatever. >> they even if people. housing is a human right that is why we stand and fight ♪ housing is a human right >> to start off with housing as a human right, we all agree that we have the right to live.

there is no way to live without housing. tavis: in the year 2010, and already decimated housing market suffered an additional 3.8 million foreclosures, a record rate. across thise to this crisis has been varied. we begin near a highway overpass .n ann arbor, michigan >> we are outside of an arbor near i-94. tavis: how many folks are living in this particular place?

>> about 48 people. we have been at this location for one year. we do not have permission to be here. we have been evicted from our six locations in we have been evicted from five shelter locations. >> i went to the shelter first. they referred me out here. tavis: the shelter referred you out here? " the shelter referred me out here. yes. they have problems, too. tavis: you live in your own home and you end up living in these conditions. it does what to your spirit? >> you get so frustrated. why could they not help me when i was out there? why did i have to be homeless to get help? >> ann arbor, michigan is

predominantly white, middle, and upper-class. we do have a predominantly white community. we do have some african- americans and some hispanics as well as other ethnic groups here. the age group tends to be people in their 40's, 50's, and 60's. a lot of times, it will be people who had done it physical job at one time for their livelihood and are no longer able to do that. >> i have found a part-time job -- at chalet, i had two part- time jobs, but i got laid off with one. tavis: with your part-time job, you live here because you have to or because you want to? >> because i have to. tavis: so your part-time job does not allow you to makens a monthly payment. >> no. >> it would bitake me a long tie to save with unemployment. >> this used to be a middle- class/upper-middle-class

neighborhood. we have been hit very hard with this recession. for sale signs, we have people who are abandoning their homes and people who are being foreclosed upon like me. i am with direct welfare group. we're doing the underground organizing of poor people in west virginia to creative movement to end party and the threat of party. you are at my house. i have been at this house all my life. this was my aunt and uncle's house. they wanted to sell it to family. my house was appraised at $120,000. i currently zero because notes on my house. by house is now valued at about $40,000. so now i owe -- currently zerooe

$80,000 on my house. my house is now valued at about $40,000. they are willing to sell it for $6,000. if they would let me buy it for $6,000, i could keep it. they say that i do not qualify. my mortgage has been sold like it is candy all over the place. i do not know who owns it now. i have contacted freddie mac to get a for beds because i was not paid for five months. we were waiting for grants to come in. you can get a forbearance that says i am not getting paid now but, when i do, i will pay you. they denied my forbearance. this has been going on since january that we have been fighting for the house. all of these other corporations are getting bailed out. the average working person is getting foreclosed on. >> i had my own apartment. i got evicted.

i did a lot of work the evicting families -- it does not matter what kind of families, old, senior citizens, whatever. there were evicted to the streets so they would be homeless just like we are. tavis: so the people that own these properties called in the police to evict them and they bring money to back up this stuff. [inaudible] >> you do not know how many houses [inaudible] tavis: how much money dealmaker house? >> $10. tavis: they are using -- how much money do you make her housper house?

>> $10. tavis: so they are using home as people to leave it to other people. that is crazy. in wisconsin, take back the land madison seizes and rebuilds abandoned homes. ♪ housing is a human rights ♪ that is why we stand and fight >> this is a movement that started a few years ago. we're not coming down from on high. we're coming from the streets where things are happening, where the cuts are happening here in madison. >> the system is set up to

empoverish people. along with the poverty that these programs are causing, also the criminalization of poverty -- tavis: your action is not just immoral, but unethical and illegal, that you would just take over a home that is anti -- for those who think that your behavior is immoral and illegal, how do you respond? >> to start off, housing is a human right. we all agree that we have a right to live. why are we talking about housing -- but that is how you have to talk about it in a capitalistic society, i own this property. >> the nation depends on how it treats its poor. ok? this is not great. i was homeless for seven years.

it was a difficult thing to try to pull yourself up when you have no place to get your feet. no lafleur around. he had no place to lay his feet. -- like noah, he flew around. he had no placto h is his feet. what we're talking about is immoral. it should be immoral. tavis: our thank you to the wonderful work being done on the poverty series. we chose to partner with media mobilize on the poverty tore for their stated mission for giving voice those outside the mainstream media, including their staff that come from poor and working-class backgrounds. we are joined tonight by

kathleen sebelius, the former kansas governor who now serves as the secretary of health and human services. it is an honored to have you back on this program. >> it is good to be with you. tavis: i wanted to start by sharing with the nation the actual mandates -- the actual mission of what hhs is all about. these are your words, you're agencies words, that your the agency, the principal agency for protecting the health of all americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves. that is your mandate that is your mission at hhs. i am not asking mr. brown knows or because your on this program during poverty week -- i am not asking this just to brown-

nose or because you are on this program during party week. how often do you get asked about poverty and the poor in america? >> certainly not often enough. we certainly talk about poor people and get asked about what happens to people who do not have insurance in america. what about health disparities? how do our poorest kids fare with early childhood programs? what about their child care situations? what about the food they are eating and the neighborhoods they live in and the air they breathe? those are parts of the conversations that i have done a pretty regular basis. it is certainly part of the mission that we take pretty seriously and that the administration takes pretty seriously. what is happening to the most vulnerable, the least able to help themselves throughout our region say? it is health care, essential human services, help for poor

families, getting people back to work, a whole series of strategies and programs that hopefully keep people on the road to opportunities in america. >> i want to give you an opportunity -- tavis: as a representative of the obama administration, i want to give you free rein to lead us know what the administration has done best in these three years to help out poor persons. let me first ask about the media and how it is that you think we get the conversation going about eradication prop -- about eradicating poverty in this country. when they talk in washington, republican or democrat, on the talk in washington is always about the middle-class and never about poor people, never really about poverty, but always the middle class, how do we get a real conversation dying about poverty in america if we are always fixated on the middle-

class? >> i think there is no question that the tour that you did to highlight what some of the situations are in our inner cities and baroque communities is an important piece of that conversation. but most americans, what they want to be it is on the road to middle-class. they want to have their children be in better shape than they were. they want to have opportunities, have a good job, a good education, and health care that they can rely on. they want to know that they will not go bankrupt if somebody gets sick or gets a disease. they want to know that they will get excellent care. the strategies around how you put people on a pathway to the middle-class, support the middle class, make sure that we're paying attention to how people can support their families and take care of their kids is exactly what most people -- the poorest in america and others

want us to do. they do not want to be separated out and there are certain strategies engaging poor people. they want to be able to take care of themselves. that is what i hear from folks each and every day. and just want to take care of my kids. i want an opportunity to have a good job. i know my kids will have the same education and have the skills they will need. a lot of the programs we run at hhs and that the president has paid a lot of attentio to our -- pay a lot of attention to are those that a pathway. >tavis: let me give you a quick sense of what i heard. we took this tour and i heard a lot of concerns about what washington is not doing for poor and working people. there are a lot of complaints level that republicans. a lot of people disappointed because they thought things would be different under president obama. they bought into that notion of

hope and change and changing the way things are done in washington. i want to pipe down and let you make the case for what you think the obama administration has done right, has done best on eradicating poverty or helping working-class americans. >> i do not think that anybody could make the case right now that we have eradicated poverty. what we have done is to keep a floor under some of the most honorable people. it really started with a series of initiatives. the first programs that the president focused on, the recovery act, the expansion of the children's insurance program were about making sure that more people did not fall through the >> to and we know in the recovery act, -- did not alter the cracks. we know in their recovery act, people were able to keep their medicaid benefits and open up those services, even at a time when states hit a financial

wall, and make them available to more americans than ever before, more money into early headstart and headstart-critical programs for kids, more money available for child care services that allowed working parents to go to work and take care of the kids, new food nutrition programs, new school lunch and breakfast programs, new housing starts that kept people -- john donovan, a secretary, he says that a million people were kept from becoming homeless. as you well know, we're talking about the worst recession since the great depression. we are talking about a financial catastrophe in this country. resources that really were directed to the most vulnerable folks, trying to make sure that they did not take a terrible brunt of the people who were losing 700,000 jobs a month -- there was an enormous effort that went on.

i spent a lot of time around the indian health service and ran a lot of programs around indian country. there has been the biggest investment in first american's resources ever in any administration and they are some of the most for americans. so we pay attention to where we had huge gaps in our programs and trying to get resources under some of the poorest people in this country. there is a lot more to be done, but i think that the list of what has been accomplished, which should include the affordable cataract, having on the horizon an additional 34 million people about to have reliable health insurance in this country, bringing the level of medicaid up to 133% of poverty -- no matter for you live -- your geography will not determine whether or not you get

health care. as dr. martin luther king used to say, the most injustices the disparities and health. the president believed that and put a lot of his support and energy into making sure he was the first president in the country to finally crossed that barrier. tavis: i wanted to give you an and interrupted opportunity and i am glad you did. what i hear you saying and what others say this quite frankly what the president has said himself, that it could have been worse. politically speaking, i am not sure that that is a winning strategy next november. but it does raise this question as to what you say to americans, almost 50 million now -- almost 15 million now who find themselves in poverty -- what do you say to folks that to do not want to hear that it could have been worse because it does not help this situation or they

believe that it would not have been as bad as it is now if they had focused more on jobs issues. >> again, i think it is important for people to understand what did go on and where those dollars were directed and how important those dollars were and what the president has proposed in its 2011 budget, what he has in his 2012 budget, what he has in the 2013 budget. where the resources are in the american jobs? , which are really aimed not only -- american jobs act, which are really aimed not only at the economy, but looking at some of the long-term unemployed, getting folks back to work. some of the most successful programs that we ran were in a tent affair, subsidized employment, working with states saying to put some of these low- income families in a job training program so that the

employer gives them job skills, they get a job, and then they get a pathway to keep that job and support their families. we have a couple hundred thousand people who successfully participated. almost 300,000 young people were hired. that was part of the american jobs act. many to move forward, not just keeping teachers in the classroom and police officers in the street. but the folks who needed pipeline to long term employment need training, need to be hired, have an opportunity to do that i think that is why he will keep pounding away that that is the most important thing that congress can do. last night, the senate decided not to allow the bill to go forward. but he will not put this on the side show. he will keep making the case to the american public that we need to get the economy started and that includes everyone. it is an issue where we need all

of our best talent to be educated, to be healthy, and to be employed. >> as always, york and to accept my invitation to come on this program. i thank you for sharing your insights on poverty in america. >> thank you. tavis: tomorrow night, night for, we will focus on jobs and the crisis in america. and we will also have geoffrey sax, the author of a new book. keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis pbs.org.t ♪ >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it is the cornerstone we all know. it is not just a street or

boulevard, but a street where wal-mart stands together with your community to make everyday better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley, with every question and every answer. nationwide to remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> brought to you by the aarp foundation. ♪ w. k. kellogg foundation, in gauging communities to improve the lives of vulnerable -- engaging communities to improve the lives of vulnerable children. ♪

>> the annie e kelley foundation. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> be more, pbs. >>