Thursday, April 09, 2009
Another reason for my 'Modest Proposal'
I don't live in Seattle, but for a brief time I did, and rents there ar freeekiing OUTRAGEOUS, essentially anyone of an income/class level lower t han upper middle class cannot afford that city...
Yesterday's Seattle Times had an article about the large numbers of elderly people living in their cars, camper trucks etc, and going from one large parking lot to the next or living in rest areas because t heir Social Security will not cover rents in that town. Remember my post 'A Modest Proposal'? O.K. rents are going UP in the Yakima Gulag as well. I think the reason is that the recession hasn't hit as hard here and locals are in competition with laborers from Mexico and points south for housing. Upping the rent is one way of assuring that your futur tenants probably do speak English.
I think that re-settleing Americans with lower incomes in areas with extreme foreclosure problems would be a way of keeping property in decent repair, helping low income, unemployed or elderly Americans have a place to live and getting people who need to be off the roads off the roads. it's just not right that some 80 year old guy is living in his car in a Wal*Mart parking lot!
I did want to comment on the man who was focused on primarily in the article. . .
Apparently his marriage broke up because his wife was not a church goer and he subscribed to a fairly strict form of Christianity.... He came later to the realization that his extremism was harmful to his marriage. Yes it really was and if his marriage had survived, he might between his wife and himself have had enough money to afford something better than his car! Now I guess he's not so strict, he dances with ladies in t he Karaoke bars and sings Karaoke. it doesn't mention whether he has an occasional beer... If he'd loosened up younger, he'd be in better shape now though. His former wife and he would have Social Security together and his social network generally would be better.
This brings me to something else.. Not every part of the U.S. is so expensive as Seattle or San Francisco. There are lots of smaller towns and in small towns, my experience was that people really DO help each other! I found this very much the case in Yakima that people are VERY kind and very helpful. If your circumstances stink you can do worse than to move someplace smaller. For myself and my now grown children it was a BLESSING!
Yesterday's Seattle Times had an article about the large numbers of elderly people living in their cars, camper trucks etc, and going from one large parking lot to the next or living in rest areas because t heir Social Security will not cover rents in that town. Remember my post 'A Modest Proposal'? O.K. rents are going UP in the Yakima Gulag as well. I think the reason is that the recession hasn't hit as hard here and locals are in competition with laborers from Mexico and points south for housing. Upping the rent is one way of assuring that your futur tenants probably do speak English.
I think that re-settleing Americans with lower incomes in areas with extreme foreclosure problems would be a way of keeping property in decent repair, helping low income, unemployed or elderly Americans have a place to live and getting people who need to be off the roads off the roads. it's just not right that some 80 year old guy is living in his car in a Wal*Mart parking lot!
I did want to comment on the man who was focused on primarily in the article. . .
Apparently his marriage broke up because his wife was not a church goer and he subscribed to a fairly strict form of Christianity.... He came later to the realization that his extremism was harmful to his marriage. Yes it really was and if his marriage had survived, he might between his wife and himself have had enough money to afford something better than his car! Now I guess he's not so strict, he dances with ladies in t he Karaoke bars and sings Karaoke. it doesn't mention whether he has an occasional beer... If he'd loosened up younger, he'd be in better shape now though. His former wife and he would have Social Security together and his social network generally would be better.
This brings me to something else.. Not every part of the U.S. is so expensive as Seattle or San Francisco. There are lots of smaller towns and in small towns, my experience was that people really DO help each other! I found this very much the case in Yakima that people are VERY kind and very helpful. If your circumstances stink you can do worse than to move someplace smaller. For myself and my now grown children it was a BLESSING!
# posted by Katja R. @ 10:10 AM 
