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Rent control is needed. It's time to stop home owners from getting away with this robbery. They don't live in that home. They live in another county, another state, yet rent out a 3 bedroom home to college students and ask for 500 bucks PER HEAD. They stack bunkbeds in each bedroom. Total that up and see what rents they pull in. How can regular working folk compete with that? And the money they get for that home does not go into the community. It goes to another county or another state.
RENT CONTROL. Period. It's needed.
My grandgirl is spending her 3rd year in college in an apt with 5 other girls and they are each paying $1K per month, that's $6K for this apt in apt row at UCLA. Obsence what they people can command and get. She couldn't do this IF her now deceased father hadn't left the 2 children funds to go to college.
My grandgirl is spending her 3rd year in college in an apt with 5 other girls and they are each paying $1K per month, that's $6K for this apt in apt row at UCLA. Obsence what they people can command and get. She couldn't do this IF her now deceased father hadn't left the 2 children funds to go to college.
Supply and demand, exacerbated by high fees and taxes in big California cities.
California's a nice place... to visit, and maybe to go to school.
But I would advise her to buy a house and start a family elsewhere.
Yeah ... because as we all know - very few of the homeless got themselves into trouble with drugs and alcohol. And most of them are hard workers who always did the right thing.
Nope
Most are living paycheck to paycheck in America so one bad illness or lose your job and there you have it.
So much for the propaganda I see all the time how the poor have free cell phones, housing and food galore
Someone forgot to tell them I guess.
There are tent cities everywhere across this nation
California rocks when it comes to healthcare. Problem is...housing is skyrocketing as usual, roofs are hard to come by, and the homeless become more homeless. Probably due to the unwed single mothers with children who get the low income housing that happen to be illegal as well, but have a drivers licence and their kids get free schooling and food and healthcare.
Meanwhile, our veterans and seniors are living in cars or in alleys.
Wealthy Americans Are Giving Less Of Their Incomes To Charity, While Poor Are Donating More
The shift has likely meant less money flowing into universities, hospitals and cultural institutions, which the wealthy tend to patronize. Lower- and middle-income donors often give to social service organizations, Palmer says.
It seems it's everywhere in America and just as many reasons why; job loss, mental illness, and substance abuse. It's really frightening and I have no clue as to how or if it can be remedied.
The dwellings of Chicago's "homeless" reflect just how much effort and creativity people put into making "homes," whether they're tucked beneath viaducts, sheltered under trees, obscured behind electric boxes, or hidden in plain sight in downtown alleyways.
There are trade-offs between convenience and comfort. Countless leafy vacant lots and abandoned buildings are available on the south and west sides, but many choose to live on Lower Wacker Drive or sidewalks and nooks in the Loop to be close to prime panhandling turf and social services.
I doubt highly that someone being homeless was due to their decision making skills. Circumstances outside their control play a key factor. Companies fold..and the person is left to use up any funds..all the while seeking a new source of income.
I spent about a year and a half homeless on the streets, and many years in desperate poverty. I finally graduated from college in my late 30s, and by my early 40s, was earning a decent income.
The main mistake I see homeless and marginally employed people making is they waste their money.
Unlike when I was homeless, there are lots of food banks. I know they aren't everywhere, but most people are not taking advantage of them. If you stick to a diet of whole grains and vegies, with occasional meat and eggs, you can eat very healthily for not much money.
Also, I see so many people who won't consider sharing an apartment with someone else. They should consider sharing a room, or renting a couch! Don't buy booze, cigarettes, drugs, or commercial crap.
If you're not working, be volunteering. Make connections, learn skills. That's how I finally managed to get into a comfortable life. It took a while (several decades!) but meanwhile, I was happy and healthy, had good friends and a rich social life. Every body's story is different, everyone's talents and challenges are different, and you will undoubtedly have to move out of your comfort zone and into unfamiliar territory. So be it.
That's where poor decision-making skills come in. I would be willing to bet that every single one of those people in a homeless encampment, at several times in their lives, turned down opportunities (Plural!) to better themselves, but due to laziness, fear, or stupidity, chose not to take advantage of them.
Some people have more room for mistakes, some have less room. But to say they never made mistakes is to enable them to stay in their victim mode, instead of having them look within to see what opportunities they are not taking advantage of now.
It took me awhile to react differently, more wisely, meeting up with people who don't have their feet on the ground. These people can navigate through our society providing they have an earthy partner to keep them from going airborne. I'm so grounded, filled with earth, I wish I could give some of it away to the ungrounded.
A co-worker of mine had a husband who kept her on a tight leash with her spending, and when he died, she lost the house, lost her car, maxed out her credit cards. She went airborne. And she used to tell me: I can't manage money no matter how hard I try!! She definitely qualifies for being homeless some day!
I actually pity these people. I worked in accounting for 10 years, and I know where every penny is spent, always watching out for the best bargains, and always having a bank cushion.
My next door neighbors, neither have their feet on the ground, and he's a teacher. They lost their house, and Daddy came to the rescue and is letting them live in their 2nd house in town, and they have no money whatsoever for the smallest of emergencies, and they're both in their 40's. Knocking on my door to borrow $7 for a pack of cig's until payday! Sheesh!
So we need to have some compassion for some of these people. We're all not cut out of the same cloth!
This is what disturbs me in some discussions, how it will be thought of by some that everyone is exactly the same and capable of the same things, that it is just as simple as "black or white". No. There are so many variables beginning with how someone is raised, the development of personality, mental issues, the differences in attitude and abilities, having opportunities and experiencing situations beyond one's control and yes, making choices - but that isn't all there is to it.
Sometimes I think that maybe lives are destined to be a certain way, whether it has to do with Reincarnation or whatever (for a soul to learn life lessons). Why are some handed everything monetarily when young and live the high life from that time, not ever aware what others may experience while many will have worked hard during their lives, yet have unexpected situations erupt, setbacks. Though I believe that no one's life ultimately goes unscathed, some appear to have an easier time of it, when others suffer, not all to do with their own doing.
Here in So. Cal and Ca in general, housing has always been higher than the rest of the country. In recent years more technology companies have moved here, Silicon Beach, now in So. Cal. vs Silicon Valley in No. Cal and this industry has caused housing to go up even more and more. It's truly outrageous and people are losing their apts, and those have NEVER owned houses.
So technology has NOT given us more jobs....and less services that people had forever before tech world explosion.
I don't think it is always realized how unaffordable rent is or what homes cost in CA. There is so much of a demand for Low-Income housing that availabilty is scarce, with long waiting lists for.
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Home sweet home for the homeless*
