So our landlord has told us he plans to put our house on the market next spring/summer. It's been a great six years and I bloody love living in #fife but the hunt for the next house suitable for (now) three long term #disabled people begins.
If anyone knows of organisations in #scotland that can help our family find a house we can feel safe & settled in I'd really appreciate it. Boosts to escape my little bubble on here would also help. #housing#PrivateRent
I had an interesting conversation this morning with a homeless guy. Employed, but not enough to pay rent. Clean and well dressed. Talked with justifiable pride, I think, about the system he has set up. A gym membership to stay clean and healthy. A locker to store his tent and gear during the day.
Talked about how violent the shelter system is.
It’s a deep cruelty that in a land of such abundance we deny basic necessities to people.
This is literal doom, but I actually find it mildly encouraging that our security and government services are being told the truth about the current state of the nation, society, and world. This is the kind of report that every single politician needs to not only read but reallyunderstand.
Quotes below:
"The situation will probably deteriorate further in the next five years, as the early effects of climate change and a global recession add their weight to the ongoing crises"
"accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations"
"the difference between the extremes of wealth is greater now in developed countries than it has been at any time in several generations"
"Law enforcement should expect continuing social and political polarization fueled by misinformation campaigns and an increasing mistrust for all democratic institutions"
"Access to [big data] will allow private entities to develop the means to exercise undue influence over individuals and populations at an unprecedented level"
"In the wake of COVID-19, Canada's governments have normalized operating during a respiratory pandemic... the damage to the economy and to the social fabric of the nation is ongoing"
86% of #Indigenous people in America live outside reservations, often in cities like #Denver, #Seattle and #Portland, where they resettled following the Relocation Act (hi 👋 ).
Indigenous people comprise 2.6% of America’s population, but in 2023, they accounted for 3.9% of those experiencing homelessness. And the #housing inequity is worse in Western cities.
But building affordable housing for Natives is tricky.
When Families Need Housing, Georgia Will Pay for Foster Care Rather Than Provide Assistance
In more than 700 cases over five years, Georgia reported inadequate housing as the sole reason for taking a child into foster care, a WABE and ProPublica analysis found. Advocates say it would be cheaper to help families get housing.
#LosAngeles Orders More Residential Hotels to Stop Renting to Tourists
Twenty-one #hotels have been cited so far. If the citations are enforced and upheld in court, hundreds of rooms could be turned back into low-cost permanent #housing for the city’s poorest residents.
Someone needs to sit the Guardian editorial team down & explain to them:
Rising house prices are not 'growth' - this is asset price inflation driven by financial instruments & constrained supply... read my lips: IT IS INFLATION!
(just because its excluded from RPI/CPI measure doesn't make it growth!)
And most inflationary areas are not 'best performing' - they are areas of housing crisis!!!!
#Broke & in the USA? You've got until this Feb 7th to enroll in the Affordable Connectivity Program, which knocks 30$/month off of you #internet bill, and offers a 1x tech hardware purchase benefit.
There's a variety of ways you can qualify besides having HH income >200% of the Federal #Poverty Guidelines, including receiving
In Sacremento, they filed a complaint about "sweeps" (shouldn't we just call them removals?) endangering their lives during a heat wave. A US district judge ruled in their favor.
I’d heard rumors about massive money laundering operations happening via Canadian real estate and this seems to address some of it.
“I found out a huge mortgage fraud showing borrowers with exaggerated income from one specific country, China": The Bureau investigates whistleblower docs
"Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto Real Estate Bubble: HSBC Bank Leaks
“In #Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment and counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
Make sure everyone understands this — It’s costing us far too much to NOT provide housing and supports to those who are homeless.
“We Buy Ugly Houses” Company Overhauls Policies in the Wake of ProPublica Investigation
HomeVestors franchises will be required to provide prospective home sellers with a disclosure that includes a three-day window to terminate a sales contract.
You guys, this is terrifying. I’m freaked out that nobody seems to be talking about this except for people who are actually homeless.
“In April, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a major case that could reshape how cities manage homelessness. The legal issue is whether they can fine or arrest people for sleeping outside if there's no shelter available. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has deemed this cruel and unusual punishment, and this case is a pivotal challenge to that ruling.” https://www.nhpr.org/national/2024-02-20/how-far-can-cities-go-to-clear-homeless-camps-the-u-s-supreme-court-will-decide
I hope y’all realize that this could happen to anyone. I never thought I would end up homeless I started working at 14 & I worked multiple jobs at a time most years, I had careers, I went to college and got a degree, I had savings. Then I became disabled in an accident I didn’t cause. It kicked in MECFS too. I didn’t have three years worth of savings, which is how long it took for the SSA to approve disability for me. Three years. So of course I ended up homeless.
But even once I started getting disability payments, and even with a large lump sum from all the backpay they owed me, it was still a struggle to get housing because my disability check wasn’t 3 1/2 times any rent anywhere. I also had a part-time job so my averaging income was four dollars more than the minimum wage here but it still wasn’t enough to qualify to even apply for an $825 one bedroom apartment.
The only reason I’m not homeless anymore is because I finally got to the top of the section 8 waitlist, it took five years. I moved up quicker because I was homeless and because I had a job in the city I was applying in, but it still took five years. #housing#homeless#CriminalizingPoverty #WorkCampsAreComing
'[H]ousing should not be an easy way to make money. It needs to be less profitable. We are simply too obsessed as a nation at making money off property & this has fuelled an unimaginable crisis. A house is a home, not an asset & we deprive people every day of their ability to live fulfilling lives when we forget this'!
My spouse worked for a short-term rental company, an #AirBNB competitor, and wow did I hear an earful from them about the kinds of chaos these places can cause. One factor driving away the individual homeowner posting their extra 'crash space' online vs. the massive conglomerates is how little help the companies offer when something goes wrong (i.e. a renter sets off fireworks in your house while you're renting it out). Giant property owners can eat those kinds of losses and don't have sentimental attachment to their homes.
Platforms like #AirBNB & VRBO cause massive messes across #Texas (and the globe). In #Fredericksburg, 1,900+ short-term units now comprise nearly 25 percent of the housing inventory.
Britain's record on homelessness is world beating, just not in a good way.
We've the highest recorded levels of homelessness in the developed world; while other counties have seen (albeit slow) declines in homelessness, since 2010 the UK's rate has been accelerating away.
The housing crisis has many dimensions, but here there's a direct correlation between the arrival of the current Tory govt. & massive increases!
The party of landlords is working for them & doing nothing for us!
The image of #homelessness is usually of people sleeping in city/town doorways, but the problem of rural homelessness is often missed.
Driven by shifts to holiday & short-term lets in #tourist-friendly areas & cuts to council support for affordable #housing, as well as the compounding lack of social housing, homelessness in rural areas is a major problem across larger parts of #England.
It may nor be a new problem but the callousness of Govt. towards it, perhaps is!