No Rent Control in Portland? (low income, section 8, renters)

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by PortlandRenter

Wages in Chicago are substantially higher than they are in Portland OR. When you make minimum wage, $720 for a 460 square foot apt to house a family of 4 is pretty rediculous. With the level of foreclosures rents have gone through the roof since occupancy levels are high there is no competition to offer anything. Most people do not know their rights and are afraid of being evicted so landlards are pretty lousey.

Minimum wage isn't. It's .25 less in Illinois than it is in Oregon.

I'm chortling over the the "landlards" mistyping. It's somehow more appropriate than "landlords."

[christiner81]

Originally Posted by Drover

Uhm... if you're paying $720/mo for a 460sqft apartment in Portland for a family of 4 while earning minimum wage, you've taken so many wrong turns in your life that it's hard to feel sorry for you. But I'm sure that's an extremely common scenario in Portland rather than an extreme outlier of a hypothetical example.

i agree with this. I've been looking at house prices and rental prices and they seem pretty appropriate, IMO.

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by Drover

Uhm... if you're paying $720/mo for a 460sqft apartment in Portland for a family of 4 while earning minimum wage, you've taken so many wrong turns in your life that it's hard to feel sorry for you. But I'm sure that's an extremely common scenario in Portland rather than an extreme outlier of a hypothetical example.

Drover -awesome quote!!
I remember your midwestern common sense and frankness from when I lived in Chicago. What you speak is true.

Here in Portlandia however, there is a definite sense of entitlement amongst the masses and a belief that the "man" is gonna stick it to you.

I am sure you will be lambasted, but what you write is truth!!

[khyron]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

Here in Portlandia however, there is a definite sense of entitlement amongst the masses and a belief that the "man" is gonna stick it to you.

I am sure you will be lambasted, but what you write is truth!!

Along the same lines, since we're reviving a dead four-years-stale thread for no apparent reason, I'll just add in...did it take anyone else a little off guard that anyone currently depending on rent control would just up and decide they wanted to move to another expensive place to live?

What the hell is wrong with Americans? I'm not a Wall Street banker, but I do understand the concept that if I want something, like to go live in a certain place (especially one with a lot of unemployment that a lot of other people want to move to) that it's up to me to figure it all out. You don't knock on the door and say "hey, just arriving, where's my discounted stuff, I don't want to figure out a way to pay what the market demands, I'm magically special!"

[JBPisgah]

Originally Posted by khyron

Along the same lines, since we're reviving a dead four-years-stale thread for no apparent reason, I'll just add in...did it take anyone else a little off guard that anyone currently depending on rent control would just up and decide they wanted to move to another expensive place to live?

What the hell is wrong with Americans? I'm not a Wall Street banker, but I do understand the concept that if I want something, like to go live in a certain place (especially one with a lot of unemployment that a lot of other people want to move to) that it's up to me to figure it all out. You don't knock on the door and say "hey, just arriving, where's my discounted stuff, I don't want to figure out a way to pay what the market demands, I'm magically special!"

Actually, you kind of sound like a Wall Street banker.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by khyron

Along the same lines, since we're reviving a dead four-years-stale thread for no apparent reason, I'll just add in...did it take anyone else a little off guard that anyone currently depending on rent control would just up and decide they wanted to move to another expensive place to live?

What the hell is wrong with Americans? I'm not a Wall Street banker, but I do understand the concept that if I want something, like to go live in a certain place (especially one with a lot of unemployment that a lot of other people want to move to) that it's up to me to figure it all out. You don't knock on the door and say "hey, just arriving, where's my discounted stuff, I don't want to figure out a way to pay what the market demands, I'm magically special!"

This is right on target. I never understood why people say they want to move from a place with a high COL and with high unemployment to another with just the same problems.

But when it comes to the things they do like or take for granted about the place in which they are currently living, they just assume those things will be there for them here as well.

Then there are those people who live in areas where the COL is much less than it is here and are surprised to find that Portland is so much more expensive. These are the potential transplants who say they are seeking a three bedroom house in a "great" neighbhorhood for $750 a month.

I wonder if Portland has gained such a mystique that it has become all things to all people. At least in their dreams.

[Nell Plotts]

I think these forums attract a lot of people who are magical thinkers, or who enjoy being provocative. We aren't closely moderated so, short of ignoring some, all we can do is tell them they won't find what they are seeking here and why. I get a sharp response now and again but my skin is thick and leathery.

[Blindtom]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

I think these forums attract a lot of people who are magical thinkers

I think there are a lot of people out there seeking nirvana. They gravitate to the area that they find most desirable. It is not just Portland. I am sure most cities have people from other areas longing to move and live there.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Blindtom

I think there are a lot of people out there seeking nirvana. They gravitate to the area that they find most desirable. It is not just Portland. I am sure most cities have people from other areas longing to move and live there.

I'd agree with this 100%. My wife wants to move to Hawaii or LA so she can be warm all the time and not deal with the rain.

But she doesn't think of the lack of jobs. The drastically increased cost of living. The odds of us actually selling our current house. The pollution, the dense population, the crime. Or.... how many days are well above the 75 degrees that she's comfortable in.

Our first camping trip to South Eastern Oregon around Hart Mountain during 100 degree weather, she was "Oh my God! I could just live here!" for the first two days. Days three through five she was saying "*#(@&)(!#^ this #&@!()*#^!@), I want to go home!"

She forgets how bored she was on day five of eight on our last trip to Hawaii. She forgets trying to get from Disneyland to Magic Mountain during rush hour in LA, because she didn't have to drive it. She didn't see the stares and even hostile looks we were getting as a white couple in certain Baltimore Neighborhoods, nor the number of abandoned and gutted row houses.

I feel a lot of people are in the same boat. They're so blinded by what they see as the positives, that they don't see the negatives. Or they willfully ignore them thinking that the positives will drastically out weigh the negatives. Humans have a great capability to delude themselves, "the Grass is always Greener on the other side" mentality.

But like learn from that fable, the grass maybe greener, but at what cost?

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by Blindtom

I think there are a lot of people out there seeking nirvana. They gravitate to the area that they find most desirable. It is not just Portland. I am sure most cities have people from other areas longing to move and live there.

I think it has something to do with Media hype and the times we are living in.

In the 60's it was San Francisco or surrounding areas. In the 70's I remember everyone I knew wanted to move to Denver. And Seattle was high on the list of places to which to transplant.

New York was always considered as a place of glamor and the mecca of all that is successful from theater to Wall Street. Chicago, was the place for those living down South who want big-city living and opportunities but for whom New York was a bit too much.

The grass did always seem greener. For some it was and some it wasn't. Just like always.