Immigrant Homebuyers See Bias Against Relatives Sharing The Same Roof

Wall Street Journal | Jan 10, 2002 | Jonathan Kaufman

[Geezerette]

I live in the Southwest and I can see this happening, so five years ago I moved from an apartment in the downtown area to buying my own small patio home in the suburbs.

As I see the creeping third-world-ism coming this way, I have checked out the most popular active retirement communities. One percent minorities and an age limit, no one under 55 in some cases and 65 in others.

I thank God I have an alternative, but my plan won't work for younger FReepers, which is unfortunate. I would love to have a neighborhood full of FReepers (no matter what color or ethnicity) and live in a quiet and safe neighborhood!

g

[MizSterious]

"I don't care what race my neighbors are, but I want to live amongst people who share my work ethic, my values, and my standards of what a good neighbor is!"

This is also true of me. And lest someone decide I'm terribly bigoted against people of other races, I should mention that one of the battles our little town is fighting locally is against purely caucasian folks who are here legally. Since we're in the country, we have no city water or city sewage system--or trash pickup in many areas. We must rely on well systems, septic systems, and pay someone for trash removal.

The problem is that people are buying an acre or two of land, and hauling in trailers, just about wall to wall. Too many people for the septic systems to work, the danger of this waste water seeping into the well-water, trash burning even in dry seasons (wildfires are always a danger in windy Oklahoma) to get rid of the trash--all of these are glaring reasons for zoning laws and ordinances. To do otherwise would be almost criminally negligant. Our zoning laws say there must be a minimum of 2.5 acres per dwelling--not to keep the poor folks out, but for public health and safety. (If we had city water, sewer, and trash removal systems, it would be unnecesary.)

However, these people, like one_particular_harbour, think that since they own the land, they can do whatever they want. The town is actively gathering its legal resources to show them otherwise. Laws like these are simply common sense, not some kind of weapon to wield against immigrants.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Can you imagine this absurd behaviour after September 11?

It is often that these immigrations are fostered by upheaval. In my neighborhood, (across the street) the families are from El Salvador. (They came in after the trouble and received refugee status. They built a second house in the back and have 8 cars in the drive. They do all work (a plus) , and because the zoning laws in my city do not permit unrelated folk, they are all "cousins". They do keep the mess down and have the home painted because the city keeps after them for this too. But anyone can see this is too many people using too much of the infrastructure for what they are paying.

Note on taxes, the many, many kids get free lunches, free buses, medical, emergency service... and as it was pointed out, the IRS probably does not know about a lot of the "rent" since it is a room mate situation, not a true rental.

[FreePaul]

like all good Americans do.

So there is no problem. All they have to do is obey the laws, abide by any property use restrictions that they agreed to when they bought (like all good Americans do) and no one will bother them. Guess there is a problem since they seem to be bothered.

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

Yeah, Hunting Station is kind of a dump.

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

My own neighborhood has been flooded with illegals in recent years,

That's because they are being hired by your fellow citizens. Which to blame?

[patlaw_guy]

"Some people have this attitude, 'It's my house and I can do whatever I want,' " says Mrs. Trimble, who plans to go back to school and become an elementary-school teacher. "But when that happens, you no longer have a community -- you have a very unfriendly neighborhood."

(1) So you only have community when you can tell other people what to do in their home.

(2) This bozo is going to be a teacher. Ugh.

[lgllady]

Property values do not plummet! But the ordinary family will be priced completely out of the market. In Los Angeles, the low end market is driving the real estate market. Homes are selling for three times what they sold for just a few years ago. These are bona fide slum homes. As many families will pool as it takes to buy one of these homes and the prices keep going up and up. It's amusing to see a complaint about 14 people living in a small home when it is certainly not unusual here to have 50 or more. There will come a day when you look at only 14 as small. You however will not be able to buy a home. You will not be able to afford $300,000 for a two bedroom condo. Moreover, you probably won't want to live next door to what amounts to a petri dish. You'll want to get your kids out of that school, particularly when lice and disease starts to roll through. The reality and logistics of living in a neighborhood where 20 to 50 people live in each residence is truly disgusting. Consider 20 or more people living in a two bedroom one bath home. Consider the bathroom scheduling, and watch the streets as they fill with feces and urine. You think lack of parking is bad. These poor families and they are poor supplement their income with raising some of their own livestock. You'll have chickens and goats in what used to be flower gardens, with THEIR waste hosed into the gutters. Mexicans need to enjoy their sports too, no matter how illegal they might be. Cockfighting is wildly popular as well as dog-fights. You might enjoy it, at least until one of the dogs gets loose and eats a neighborhood child. You in the cities just now being invaded have NO IDEA what you are in for. You have no idea how bad it can get. I pity those who dismiss complaints as being racist and biased. I pity those who say "Well, this was the way it was 100 years ago". When fires would rage through overcrowded tenanments because there were no safety codes, or disease would ravage a neighborhood. The past should not be a goal of the future, we overcame hazards and instituted laws to protect us from those hazards. Out laws mean absolutely nothing to these immigrants. NOTHING. If you can possibly do so, save yourselves and your neighborhoods.

[truthkeeper]

Fine, OPH. I can only hope a third world family buys a house next to yours and proceeds to move all thirty of their relatives--aunts, uncles, cousins, and shirt tail relatives, so you can experience first-hand the joys of watching your property values plummet.

Boy, you said it. The 6-bedroom house two doors over from me, which was overbuilt for this neighborhood, finally got sold to a Cambodian "family." Criminy, there must be 30 of them in there...aunts, uncles, kids, friends. They have so many cars they have to park them on the once-immaculate front lawn. Plus they can't seem to drive so they are always bashing into the front of their garage and there is now a big hole there where stucco used to be. (No thought given to repairing and repainting it, apparently.)

I just walk or drive past with my eyes shut now. The only upside is that, if you can believe this, they are much quieter than the loony widow and her slutty, big-mouthed brat who live right next door. Go figure.

[KfromMich]

Another thing to consider is public schools which are usually funded primarily by property taxes. People cramming 15 kids into a three bedroom house are paying the same property tax that a family with two or three kids pay. Some may consider this a minor point, but it's still another way your average citizen is getting ripped off.

And one person living alone can pay the same amount in property taxes as a family with several kids, and the single homeowner is receiving no direct benefit from the schools. This issue is more a result of the tax system than of the overcrowding problem.

[Dakmar]

I know, I'm a single homeowner. I don't really mind paying the property taxes so all kids can go to school, but when you've got five or six families sharing the same single family residence it really throws things out of whack and rather than enforce zoning laws they will just raise the tax on everyone.

[Cleburne]

So then, do regulations concerning, say, "scenic corridors" meet your approval? Or perhaps any environenmantal regualtions, many of which, if enforced, would certainly, and do, bolster certain landowner's property values, though at the same time they restrict other landowners. For example, say I wish to log my property, but the other property owners in the area have passed environmental regulation forbidding it. I would assume you would be in favor? Technically, you still own the property, and can do many things on it, of course they must be reasonable, but hey, it's a fairly free country. But with regulations, zoning, etc, you are steadily limited and limited in what you can do with your own property, and I don't see it as a good thing.

[Shanawanikki]

Student ghetto may result from new zoning codes Just how important are zoning codes in Oxford¹s original square mile? I own a house on Woodruff Court, a small cul-de-sac off North Poplar Street. During the past couple of years, two of the five houses on my block have been sold to entrepreneurs who rented their property to Miami students. What was once a quiet residential neighborhood has become another noisy staging ground for all-night student beer blasts. Ear plugs and our capable police department notwithstanding, it¹s impossible to get a good night¹s sleep on my street, especially on weekends! The other day, the owner of the house next door stopped by to ask me to support his efforts to change our local zoning codes. As an out-of-town landlord, he has recently purchased my neighbor¹s large house, and was determined to fill it with more than the four students currently permitted under our local ordinances. Whether I supported him or not, he pointed out that several of my other neighbors are planning to move and sell their houses to realtors, who will rent to students. Eventually, my neck of the woods will be exclusively an enclave of student rentals, and zoning restrictions will be relaxed to allow more students to fill every house in the vicinity. Nobody wants to see Oxford turn into a student ghetto. Yet apparently nobody will want to stand in the way of landlords greedy for more tenants and heftier revenues. I call upon my fellow citizens, as well as the good people on our town council: we must resist pressure from realtors and wheeler-dealers to ease up on our zoning codes. If two¹s company and three¹s a crowd, any more than four students per house will spell the end of Oxford¹s original square mile as a viable residential neighborhood for all of us in years to come. James Reiss Professor of English and Editor, Miami University Press