Post by High Priestess on Jan 15, 2017 17:51:48 GMT
I live in an area where each year there is more demand and less supply of "affordable housing."
It used to be, that if you wanted to find housing, you'd just look on Craigslist for ads for housing. It used to be, that people living on disability, or social security income, could find a room to rent within their budget. Now it seems that isn't working for folks -- in the past 10 years, rents have doubled, and people living on disability or social security income not only can't afford an apartment, they can't afford to rent a room in a house. The waiting list for Section 8 housing is years long. Common sense would dictate that if your income level isn't sufficient to pay for housing in one of the areas of the nation with the most expensive housing and the highest cost of living, you'd move to a part of the nation where housing costs much less -- often, over 50% or 75% less. But, instead of doing that, people remain in place, banging their heads against walls.
We also live in times when an entitlement attitude prevails-- people assuming that they have a right to something that they can't afford -- and many people aren't using common sense. Another example of this is a group of homeless protesters in Berkeley, who for the last 4 months have continually set up large encampments in very inappropriate spots - -such as street medians, literally in the middle of a street -- demanding that the city give them free permanent housing. They are essentially engaging in extortion -- saying that they will continue to create illegal encampments, which cost the city tens of thousands of dollars to clear out each time -- until the city accedes to their demands for either free permanent housing (they want "tiny houses" to be given to them) or gives them free land to set up a tent city that they can run without government interference. www.berkeleyemergencyshelter.org/ and www.facebook.com/firsttheycameforthehomeless/?fref=ts
THe city of Berkeley has provided them shelter beds, sufficient for everyone in the camp, but they are refusing this shelter space, saying it's not acceptable to them, and that they want something else. This is really new -- very much a phenomenon of a modern entitlement culture. In the past, for instance in the early 20th century, anyone who was homeless would have been enormously grateful for any shelter, food, health care that they were given for free, since government was not obligated to help them. But now, people increasingly feel not only that government is obligated to help them, but that the government has to help them in exactly the way they want, and give them free permanent housing of exactly the type that they want.
People seeking housing in general are now posting on neighborhood online groups, saying they need housing and asking if anyone knows of a place for rent. A few days ago, in my mailbox I found a xeroxed copy of a letter someone apparently distributed through the whole neighborhood, which begins, "Would you have a place for rent for a responsible, flexible and conscientious tenant....that I can inexpensively occupy for a long term rental?" Add to that an annoyingly intrusive tenant.
If I had a longterm place for rent, I'd post it online, and I'd want people to go through the standard process of inquiring and then applying...I wouldn't want to receive pushy inquiries in my mailbox.
It so happens that I recognize the name of this person, as well as her comments about herself -- she has responded to a Craigslist ad for short term rentals I've had up periodically over the last 2 years. She has, quite inappropriately, been replying to that ad on and off again for those 2 years -- inappropriate because she's never been seeking a short term rental, but a long term, permanent residence. If she's responded to my ads many times, she must have responded to dozens, hundreds of other ads, with no results. Yet she plods onward, going from knocking on doors to banging on them. Next I expect her to start ringing doorbells in my area each day, demanding that folks rent to her. She doesn't seem to get it that if she's really such an upstanding and desirable tenant, it would not take her over 2 years to find a place to rent. The more desperate she grows, the more she indicates that she's definitely not someone anyone wants to touch with a 10 foot pole.
This week I also heard again from another woman who contacted me some months ago in response to an ad for a short term rental -- she said that since she didn't hear back from me, she thought she'd contact me again. So she emailed me again, not once but twice. I screened her out the first time, and she's still screened out, so banging on the door again isn't going to change things.
It used to be, that if you wanted to find housing, you'd just look on Craigslist for ads for housing. It used to be, that people living on disability, or social security income, could find a room to rent within their budget. Now it seems that isn't working for folks -- in the past 10 years, rents have doubled, and people living on disability or social security income not only can't afford an apartment, they can't afford to rent a room in a house. The waiting list for Section 8 housing is years long. Common sense would dictate that if your income level isn't sufficient to pay for housing in one of the areas of the nation with the most expensive housing and the highest cost of living, you'd move to a part of the nation where housing costs much less -- often, over 50% or 75% less. But, instead of doing that, people remain in place, banging their heads against walls.
We also live in times when an entitlement attitude prevails-- people assuming that they have a right to something that they can't afford -- and many people aren't using common sense. Another example of this is a group of homeless protesters in Berkeley, who for the last 4 months have continually set up large encampments in very inappropriate spots - -such as street medians, literally in the middle of a street -- demanding that the city give them free permanent housing. They are essentially engaging in extortion -- saying that they will continue to create illegal encampments, which cost the city tens of thousands of dollars to clear out each time -- until the city accedes to their demands for either free permanent housing (they want "tiny houses" to be given to them) or gives them free land to set up a tent city that they can run without government interference. www.berkeleyemergencyshelter.org/ and www.facebook.com/firsttheycameforthehomeless/?fref=ts
THe city of Berkeley has provided them shelter beds, sufficient for everyone in the camp, but they are refusing this shelter space, saying it's not acceptable to them, and that they want something else. This is really new -- very much a phenomenon of a modern entitlement culture. In the past, for instance in the early 20th century, anyone who was homeless would have been enormously grateful for any shelter, food, health care that they were given for free, since government was not obligated to help them. But now, people increasingly feel not only that government is obligated to help them, but that the government has to help them in exactly the way they want, and give them free permanent housing of exactly the type that they want.
People seeking housing in general are now posting on neighborhood online groups, saying they need housing and asking if anyone knows of a place for rent. A few days ago, in my mailbox I found a xeroxed copy of a letter someone apparently distributed through the whole neighborhood, which begins, "Would you have a place for rent for a responsible, flexible and conscientious tenant....that I can inexpensively occupy for a long term rental?" Add to that an annoyingly intrusive tenant.
If I had a longterm place for rent, I'd post it online, and I'd want people to go through the standard process of inquiring and then applying...I wouldn't want to receive pushy inquiries in my mailbox.
It so happens that I recognize the name of this person, as well as her comments about herself -- she has responded to a Craigslist ad for short term rentals I've had up periodically over the last 2 years. She has, quite inappropriately, been replying to that ad on and off again for those 2 years -- inappropriate because she's never been seeking a short term rental, but a long term, permanent residence. If she's responded to my ads many times, she must have responded to dozens, hundreds of other ads, with no results. Yet she plods onward, going from knocking on doors to banging on them. Next I expect her to start ringing doorbells in my area each day, demanding that folks rent to her. She doesn't seem to get it that if she's really such an upstanding and desirable tenant, it would not take her over 2 years to find a place to rent. The more desperate she grows, the more she indicates that she's definitely not someone anyone wants to touch with a 10 foot pole.
This week I also heard again from another woman who contacted me some months ago in response to an ad for a short term rental -- she said that since she didn't hear back from me, she thought she'd contact me again. So she emailed me again, not once but twice. I screened her out the first time, and she's still screened out, so banging on the door again isn't going to change things.
