Posted on 12/30/2008 9:33:03 AM PST by mainestategop
This Christmas, many Americans did not get a chance to enjoy warm hot cocoa, presents and a good meal. Many were forced to sleep on the streets or in crowded shelters and missions. Throughout America many are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. But liberals, with their medeling and their compasion for those who are evil and degenerate are to blame for much of the homelessness on our streets. In the past several years, affordable housing units in particular, boarding houses have gone into decline.
These places, flop houses, boarding homes, rooming homes, some just call them slums were homes for those who were too poor to afford a decent place. The tenants came from different backgrounds, students who needed a cheap place, those who were unable to be gainfully employed due to disability or mental illness or some other reason and those who were elderly. Every large American city had these places. But thanks to government regulations and a sharp increase in crime, these and other places that were once affordable are now disapearing.
There are several reasons for the decline of affordable housing units such as rooming houses. One of the largest is a declining growth of new housing. Liberals don't want developers building affordable housing units on prestene woods and fields inhabited by animals and plants so the ones we have now fill up and with the demand growing higher than the supply, they either become too expensive or not available.
Another is taxation on property. Landlords can simply pass those costs on the tentants. Then there is the fact that land lords can't evict trouble makers and they in turn destroy neighborhoods. Then the locals prevent new housing from being created and the problem becomes more out of control.
There are 4 cities in particular where the problem is felt most. Boston, Omaha, Denver and Los Angeles.
In Boston, over 96% of rooming houses in the city as well as neighboring Worcester and Providence Rhode Island have been lost due largely to criminal activity. In the 1980s, they were being converted by tenents into Meth labs, crack houses, brothels and became the residence of many hardened criminals. Thanks to liberals, landlords could not evict them or prevent felons from renting. The problem grew and the buildings were later shut down by the police and new buildings were blocked by NIMBYS who did not want criminals next door to them. The result is an explosion of Homelessness in the region. Massachusettes spends more money trying to combat homelessness than any other state. Boston is one of the homeless capitals of the nation with over 6000. Rivaled only by Seattle, NYC, Phoenix, San Francisco and LA.
The city of Omaha Nebraska also once had several rooming houses and affordable housing. The city landlords tend to charge heavy leases to would be tenants and many rely on boarding houses. Although landlords have more power to evict trouble makers, taxation has taken a toll. The city of Omaha is currently constructing a new stadium and to pay for it, it has leveled a hotel tax. Some boarding houses are also among the unlucky ones who are getting it. Boarding houses throughout the region face closing or higher costs. Some have fled to neighboring Council Bluffs Iowa to escape. This will no doubt push the cost of living up there as well.
Denver and Los Angelese is another good example of how environmentalism contributes to poverty. The city of Denver is stradled between the rockies and the great plains while Los Angeles lies within mostly open desert. The problem? Liberal environmentalwhackos don't want that wide open prestine field to be taken up. The ecology and well being of bugs and animals and the few trees growing matter more than the homeless. Denver and in particular LA have an explosion of homeless.
Los Angeles is considered the largest 3rd world city in America. in the county alone there are 80,000 homeless! Most are congregated in the areas of East central LA, and Mac Arthur Park with large encampments in Redondo Beach. LA also has the problem with out of control taxation and regualtion as well as a large influx of immigrants both legal and illegal that take homes and jobs away from Americans.
Here in Maine where I live the problem has also grown. Maine has the largest government and 3rd largest tax burden as well as massive environmental regulation. Because of this, new housing has been difficult to come across and with increases in property tax, the problem has gotten worse. 10 years ago it was easy to rent a home for 350$ or 420$. Now the homes cost at least 500$ and the price is growing steadely.
This holiday season, if you are among the many experiencing unemployment, homelessness, scratching and surviving and higher bills, thank Barack Obama and his Democrat commrades.
Good post. The profitability of renting has been driven down, and the aggravation up, by a combination of tenants rights, oppressive regulation, and taxes. The net result is fewer rentals available at the lower end.
I forgot to mention another city, Gainsville Florida had a huge Homeless problem because they had to tear down low rent housing to make room for upscale housing. The reason? Its not profitable, its impossible, its enviornmentally unfriendly. All the reasons mentioned.
> prestene
> prestine
The word you’re looking for is “pristine”. SpellCheck is your FRiend.
Otherwise, an excellent post. And spot-on.
This, plus the closely related, but more important fact that you can't refuse to rent in the first place to someone who obviously WILL cause trouble, accounts for probably about 50% of the problem.
The other 50% or so is due to a factor you completely missed in your analysis, and that is out-of-control building code regulations, affecting both new construction and any potential rental units. New construction is subject to all sorts of insane code requirements that massively increase the cost of building and also make it virtually impossible for anyone to build their own home (in part because the codes require everything to be certified by state-licensed electricians, plumbers, etc, and those people aren't interested in spending the time and taking on the liability to check out a do-it-yourselfer's work).
On top of that, housing units for which many of the newer code requirements are waived through "grandfather" clauses, still can't be rented without being brought up to current code, both because of local and state laws re licensing for rental units and because of insurer requirements. Stairs too steep? Well, it was fine for our grandparents, and the state will generously allow you to live in the house if you own it, but no way can you rent it out legally, and if you rent it illegally you risk all sorts of fines plus liability if someone gets hurt falling down the stairs (even if they were drunk/drugged at the time, and the steepness of the stairs had nothing to do with the fall). Sink has a S-trap drain instead of an P-trap drain? Oh no, can't have that -- it was just fine until a few years ago, but not now.
A lot of people who have been driven into the rental market, are people who could and would have built their own humble home a couple of generations ago. Some have even been forced to move out of homes they owned, because the homes were "condemned" by the local government, or deemed unfit for children by state social workers (there have been at least a few cases of self-sufficient people threatened with having their children taken away from them if they didn't move into public or Section 8 housing).
A friend asked me several years ago to go in partners on 4 rental houses that were for sale together at what seemed a bargain price, I turned him down, he bought them anyway and had nothing but head aches for years until he finally got rid of them.
The problems were, tenants destroying property, not paying rent and not “evictable”. No thanks.
NIMBYism = zoning
That is the crux of the problem.
Both Libs and Conservatives are big-time busybody NIMBYs. Hard to say which is moreso. I’d say it’s about even based on my experience in the construction/housing industry.
I was fascinated reading the 1910, 1920, and 1930 Census reports (while researching the family history) to see how many boarding houses there were in NYC in those years.
My own grandfather, and many single immigrant men like him, were able to find decent housing in boarding homes until they got on their feet and earned enough to get their own apartments.
Maybe it’s time to go back to this concept?
By whom? By mean capitalists? Of course, you meant "by circumstances." But an unfriendly reader could interpret your statement otherwise. It would be better to write: "Many had no other choice but to sleep..."
But liberals, with their medeling and their compasion for those who are evil and degenerate are to blame for much of the homelessness on our streets.
Do you mean "meddling" and "compassion?"
But thanks to government regulations and a sharp increase in crime, these and other places that were once affordable are now disapearing.
Do you mean "disappearing?"
Liberals don't want developers building affordable housing units on prestene woods and fields
"Pristine?"
Landlords can simply pass those costs on the tentants.
"Tenants?"
By the way, I agree with your basic thesis.
Regards,
It worked when people lived Judeo-Christian values and had some respect. No longer.
I stayed in boarding houses and in Single Occupancy rooms at times in my youth, I also slept under a couple of bridges.For more than a couple of nights the boarding house is superior. One was Ivory Rooms in Galveston for $10 a week in 1965. There was a big ceramic pitcher(refilled daily) and bowl on the undoubtedly antique dresser and clean threadbare sheets twice a week. $10 a week was a good deal with my $39 weekly paycheck from a genuine sleazy diner where I washed dishes.
And Gainesville Florida also seemed to go out of its way to attract homeless people. I lived there in the early 70s and remember the most “colorful” set of bums, probably in the country. UF attracted them because the student population was glad to hang out with them and support them. One fellow was a wino onetime black blues singer who carried around a box of clippings from his days as a self-supporting club singer and his album credits. Students would bring him wine and food so he would sing and play his guitar in the park or in the Waffle Shop (a drab diner on University Avenue, not the chain).
Long ago we were responsible for renting out the house next door because it belonged to my father-in-law who lived far away. A female single-parent lawyer who worked for the local CPS came to look at the house. While she was inside her 5 year old daughter was running about in the street and the lady paid no attention. My own 6 year old daughter called to the child to ask if she wanted to play with her and then Mom paid attention and got hostile about the strange little kid “threatening” her daughter. She did not know the other kid was ours and said she looked malnourished and poorly taken care of. Lawyer-CPS-single mom with an attitude, we deemed her dangerous. We told the woman that we had already taken a deposit and crossed our fingers. She called back belligerently several times, suggesting that we were refusing her because she was black and we had to get some friends to move in for a week (they had a home of their own). That lawyer woman would not have to pay rent if she decided not to and would be unevictible due to her job and ability to threaten us with CPS and we deemed her dangerous. We leaned hard on Pop to sell that house and get out of the rental business.
The content is good; the writing is not.
This author should work on a piece a bit more before publishing.
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