🏡 In YOUR Opinion, What Would Solve The Housing Crisis?

[Spring2023]

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EACH year there are more HOMELESS age 50+ ending up on the street! 😭

It could be anyone of us or folks we know and care about.

Nicole 🏡 (Housing Forum)

[njsherman]

Seniors now account for around one quarter of homeless in some big cities! The "silver tsunami" of retiring Boomers and the climbing cost of housing/low supply is expected to make those numbers increase even further. But HUD (who tracks the statistics on housing and homeless) doesn't recognize seniors & disabled (I would group them together) as a category separate from "Single (able-bodied, work-able) Adults", so the numbers are obscured. They only recognize three general categories: "YYA--Youth & Young Adults" (grouping 18-26 yr olds separately from other adults), Families, and "Single Adults" (27-100+); they also pay attention to veteran homeless, but not disabled or other vulnerable groups.

I have been a housing advocate for low income, seniors, disabled, women, and others for the last 18 yrs. The "affordable housing" "system" is Byzantine, even social workers don't fully understand it or know about all the options. Nonprofit housing providers are often poorly administered, patronizing and thoughtless toward clients/renters, and people often end up in housing that isn't appropriate with neighbors they don't want to be around &/or in unsafe or inconvenient areas (uphill from bus, no groceries nearby). It's a mess.

Learn your options, get on the rental wait lists even if you think you won't need them, do whatever it takes (including moving to a city/area far away with cheap rent) to avoid becoming homeless or stuck in a rental you don't want to be in.

[Spring2023]

Whether we rent or own OUR housing, WE need to feel SAFE! 👍

Nicole 🙃

[GailL1]

The CPI figures that came out yesterday for March still showed that shelter cost is rising at an 8%+ rate.  Food went down by 0.3% (Whoopee!)   Overall year over year a rise of 5% - better overall but energy prices are looking like they might increase again.  

People who are renting have some decisions to make - Landlords will not stop their escalation until they cannot rent out the places at the higher rate.  Plus their cost is rising also - especially in taxes and maintenance.  

[njsherman]

Renters with an income that is at or below 60% of their areas Median Income should look for subsidized or (below Market Rate, rent-capped) Tax Credit apartments. 

www.affordablehousing.com is the best resource for learning about affordable rentals in general (explore the website & read about the different housing programs the gov't runs) and they have Section 8 and other "low income housing" listings. You can sign up for email alerts for Sec 8 wait list openings in any city(s)/state(s) you wish.

(P.S. Think you're not "low income"? Google your city or county name, "2023", and "AMI" to find out the current Area Median Income. If you are in a large urban area, chances are your income is 80% of AMI or lower. Congrats--you are considered "Low Income" and will qualify for most "affordable housing" programs although you may have to wait years for it! If you are at or below 40% I think (easy if your only income is from Social Security), you are "Very Low Income" and will have priority on subsidized housing wait lists.)

[Tempest332]

Right now supply & demand, & costs fueled by inflation.

I just got a letter form my County Auditor, asking me to accurately describe my dwelling so they basically can increase my taxes by first half of 2025. All the houses in the neighborhood are basically cookie cutter, so everyone should have pretty much the same tax value, but they will price by your description, & I imagine there will be many different answers & definitions.  I always paid more than my neighbor, though her place has been updated, went to argue that fact the tax base should be the same on all the houses without turning in upgrades about 15 years ago & they ended up lowering both of our taxes slightly.  They just did a re-evaluation in '21, next one in '26 I believe.  

 Always trying to find a new way get their hand in your pocket, prosperity by taxation.  

[EricC227821]

Good topic @Spring2023 .  It is astounding that for all the talk about philanthropy, and after hundreds of thousands of generations living in what we call civil society, our culture values Competition and the hoarding of worldly assets (which is obviously a form of mental illness) above universial provision of the first 2 levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of human needs.

It's more duplicitous than anything else.  A person hoards old newspapers, they're mentally ill.  A person hoards worldy assets to the detriment of fellow human beings they are elevated to positions of influence so they have better access to hoard even more.  It seems a self respecting, sentient species would have evolved a culture that distributes the necessities far more equitably.  In fact, examples of such cultures (not political ideologies) exist today, but they are marginalized at best and demonized at worst by the psychopathic cultures of the hoarders.

Our so-called leaders need to emulate those of some of the cultures they dismiss as primitive.

[Tempest332]

So all hoarding is a bad thing?  I would rather refer to them as "collectors", & as long as it does not turn into rotting food, garbage, or many animals (dead or alive). 

Your statement implies becoming minimalists?

Many of us did have parents/grandparents that went through the depression, so some of these ideals have been instilled on us, such as using items till they are useless, repurposing, etc.  

[Spring2023]

(2 comments)Well, on a personal level, I need the rent on my cute Studio Apartment to stay the same. EVERY April we get slapped with INCREASES for a property built in the 70's and NOT being updated or maintained.

Nicole 🙃

[GailL1]

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@Spring2023 wrote:

Well, on a personal level, I need the rent on my cute Studio Apartment to stay the same. EVERY April we get slapped with INCREASES for a property built in the 70's and NOT being updated or maintained.

Nicole 🙃

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Landlord cost also increase - property taxes, insurance cost - these are a couple of the biggest ones as examples.

Rentals are also effected by the marketplace - supply and demand.

I have a friend with family who has always rented (homes) - they got tired of increases too.  She found a management company that were selling homes on a Contract For A Deed manner.  

Bankrate.com - What is A Contract For Deed?

There are pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages to this type of selling but for the [renter to become owner], it does keep the amount of money paid monthly on a very even basis during the process.

Their contract for the deed was for 15 years and will soon be paid off.  

As long as the [renter becoming an owner] is aware of how it works, and it is documented legally - and everybody is aware of how it works, it might solve the problem of escalating rent for some but on the other side of the coin, they are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep - not the holder of the Contract for a Deed.

[DirkB349973]

Between my home insurance and property taxes, something goes up every year. What are you gonna do? It's always something, eh @GailL1?