rgambs said:

prism said:

riley540 said:

I have lived in Bellingham for the past two years now, and just bought a condo with my fiancé with an FHA loan, which is something that many HOAs in Bellingham have so that you can more easily afford to purchase a place. 
We also rent our master bedroom and bathroom toba couple that goes to the community college. They signed a contract to live in our place. We are pretty relaxed people, but as property owners we reserve the right to ask them to leave at any time. 
I know it’s shitty that you were asked to leave your place, but ultimately you don’t own it. 
Bellingham is growing rapidly. There is a demand for housing, so the prices are going to rise. We listed our room for rent and we got offered $200 more for it than we were asking. 
There are rumors that amazon wants to have a location near Bellingham which would give the community job growth. Something I learned a while back from an Econ teacher that I had is that the economy is its own breathing organism and we cant screw with it. 
There are many charitable organizations and many good people who offer help to those less fortunate, but I you can’t afford to live in a city, maybe it isn’t the right city. 
Stuff costs what people are willing to pay. 

Justvmy opinion on things. We bought a condo as a long term rental investment, because real estate seems to be the thing over here in Bellingham. Going to school for my home inspection license next week! 

Dont take this as me as me not wanting to help people, because I am a huge advocate for that

Please drop the myth there's help available from numerous charitable organizations for the homeless/displaced people,
While one or two may offer some limited help, their funding runs out a few months into each year. This myth also implies they're just too strung out, crazy or lazy to seek help. It's become a privileged way of covering up & dismissing the issues of homelessness. 

Going by what I've learned in conversations with homeless advocates in B'ham; In order to be considered "homeless" a person must sleeping outside or in their car. They're given directions to a shelter(the horror stories are awful) which are typically full and where they can go get a free meal. Then those who meet certain criteria can have their name put on a list for locally subsidized housing...the wait to get into toa place is 18 months - 2 years.
Dont get me started on how federal funding for emergency housing has been cut by the Greedy Old Perverts in Congress

Even if the silly rumor was true, if Amazon were to put a facility up here (which they won't) there's literally no room within Bellingham or Whatcom Co to build such a structure. Sit in on a city council or county council meeting sometime and look at some of the zoning maps...poof! there goes that rumor... lol

There's alot with the mindset that real estate has become "the thing" in Bellingham, and a by-product of "the thing" is that people have become NOTHING.

For 28 years, I worked, volunteered  (until becoming disabled) and raised 2 kids as a single parent in Bellingham. I don't live there anymore. To find an apartment & landlord (with a conscious) who was willing to consider my character, good credit and rental history before price gouging me onto the street, I now live out in the county 17 miles away from all my friends and family. Other than rent, everything else is more expensive out here. Still I'm luckier than most that have been displaced.

 

It's great you had money in able to buy a condo in Bellingham. Did your condescending, NIMBY attitude come with it, or was that extra? Sorry I just don't understand where you expect long-time Bellingham residents to go when they get priced out of their homes?

17 miles??? 
That's nothing!  I don't even have a gas station within 17 miles of my house!
17 miles is a single day's walk.

tempo_n_groove said:

rgambs said:

prism said:

riley540 said:

I have lived in Bellingham for the past two years now, and just bought a condo with my fiancé with an FHA loan, which is something that many HOAs in Bellingham have so that you can more easily afford to purchase a place. 
We also rent our master bedroom and bathroom toba couple that goes to the community college. They signed a contract to live in our place. We are pretty relaxed people, but as property owners we reserve the right to ask them to leave at any time. 
I know it’s shitty that you were asked to leave your place, but ultimately you don’t own it. 
Bellingham is growing rapidly. There is a demand for housing, so the prices are going to rise. We listed our room for rent and we got offered $200 more for it than we were asking. 
There are rumors that amazon wants to have a location near Bellingham which would give the community job growth. Something I learned a while back from an Econ teacher that I had is that the economy is its own breathing organism and we cant screw with it. 
There are many charitable organizations and many good people who offer help to those less fortunate, but I you can’t afford to live in a city, maybe it isn’t the right city. 
Stuff costs what people are willing to pay. 

Justvmy opinion on things. We bought a condo as a long term rental investment, because real estate seems to be the thing over here in Bellingham. Going to school for my home inspection license next week! 

Dont take this as me as me not wanting to help people, because I am a huge advocate for that

Please drop the myth there's help available from numerous charitable organizations for the homeless/displaced people,
While one or two may offer some limited help, their funding runs out a few months into each year. This myth also implies they're just too strung out, crazy or lazy to seek help. It's become a privileged way of covering up & dismissing the issues of homelessness. 

Going by what I've learned in conversations with homeless advocates in B'ham; In order to be considered "homeless" a person must sleeping outside or in their car. They're given directions to a shelter(the horror stories are awful) which are typically full and where they can go get a free meal. Then those who meet certain criteria can have their name put on a list for locally subsidized housing...the wait to get into toa place is 18 months - 2 years.
Dont get me started on how federal funding for emergency housing has been cut by the Greedy Old Perverts in Congress

Even if the silly rumor was true, if Amazon were to put a facility up here (which they won't) there's literally no room within Bellingham or Whatcom Co to build such a structure. Sit in on a city council or county council meeting sometime and look at some of the zoning maps...poof! there goes that rumor... lol

There's alot with the mindset that real estate has become "the thing" in Bellingham, and a by-product of "the thing" is that people have become NOTHING.

For 28 years, I worked, volunteered  (until becoming disabled) and raised 2 kids as a single parent in Bellingham. I don't live there anymore. To find an apartment & landlord (with a conscious) who was willing to consider my character, good credit and rental history before price gouging me onto the street, I now live out in the county 17 miles away from all my friends and family. Other than rent, everything else is more expensive out here. Still I'm luckier than most that have been displaced.

 

It's great you had money in able to buy a condo in Bellingham. Did your condescending, NIMBY attitude come with it, or was that extra? Sorry I just don't understand where you expect long-time Bellingham residents to go when they get priced out of their homes?

17 miles??? 
That's nothing!  I don't even have a gas station within 17 miles of my house!
17 miles is a single day's walk.

Walk?  Maybe you missed the "disabled part"?

New survey of Seattle’s homeless ‘dispels some commonly held myths’: 35% had some college or college degree

In addition, about 20% of respondents listed housing affordability issues as the primary event/condition that led to their homelessness.

The department contracted with Applied Survey Research (ASR) to talk with 1,050 homeless individuals and held multiple focus groups with 80 attendees in 2016. The survey was released Friday.

“Seattle had not completed an assessment of this kind in nearly a decade, and responses from people experiencing homelessness confirmed other information that City has received: that affordable housing availability, substance abuse and mental health issues are key contributors to addressing homelessness. Additionally, the survey shows that homelessness affects Black/African Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, Native Americans and the LGBTQ community disproportionately,” a department news release said.

According to the department, the research served to dispel several commonly-held myths about the City’s homelessness crisis.:

— “Seattle’s homeless population is local, with nearly 70% living in Seattle/King County when they became homeless. Over 50% of people experiencing homelessness have lived in Seattle five years or more. Those not originally from Seattle frequently came for the support of family and friends or for a job opportunity. When people were asked about the primary event that led to their homelessness, 25% said losing their job.

— “The primary cause of an individual’s homelessness is not always clear and often the result of multiple and compounding causes. One quarter (25%) of respondents self-reported job loss as the primary cause of their homelessness. Thirteen percent (13%) reported alcohol or drug use, 11% reported an inability to afford rent increase, and 9% reported a divorce, separation, or breakup as the primary cause of their homelessness.

— “Additionally, when asked if they would move into safe and affordable housing if it were offered, 93% of the respondents said “yes.” This dispels another myth that people who are homeless don’t want to come inside. However, rental assistance (68%) and housing affordability (65%) were the top two answers given by respondents when asked what they needed to obtain housing. It should also be noted that 41% of those living outdoors owned their own home or rented housing immediately preceding their experience of homelessness.

— “Perhaps surprising, 41% of the people surveyed are currently working in some capacity (full-time, part-time, temporarily, or seasonally), and 35% had some college or a college degree.

— “35% reported using hard drugs (meth, heroin, crack); 13% percent of respondents reported drug or alcohol abuse was the primary cause of their homelessness; 45% of survey respondents self-reported they did not use drugs; 29% reported using alcohol.

— “Assistance with mental health issues and accessing healthcare overall were identified as great needs by homeless individuals. Depression (42.2%), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (30.9%), and Bi-polar Disorder (23.6%) were cited as the top three health conditions affecting those who are homeless.”

Read the full 2016 Homeless Needs Assessment.


http://q13fox.com/2017/03/03/new-survey-of-seattles-homeless-population-dispels-some-commonly-held-myths/

STREET HELP SEEKS HELP FOR 88-YEAR-OLD HOMELESS MAN

http://www.iheartradio.ca/am800/news/street-help-seeks-help-for-88-year-old-homeless-man-1.3691652

Meltdown99 said:

That's a great program they got going.  I don't see why more communicates don't get creative like this...

tempo_n_groove said:

Meltdown99 said:

That's a great program they got going.  I don't see why more communicates don't get creative like this...

They did all over the US in the 60's and 70's.  We call them "the projects"  It was a failed social experiment that the government tried.