High rent and Homelessness

$1,500 for a studio apartment! In N.J. that would be considered good. In the infamous (rent wise) Bergen County and Jersey City (Hudson County), N.J., studios can start at $1,900 and go up to almost $3,000. It's sad that finding a decent place to live, especially in places like New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C and many metropolitan areas is out of reach for low income earners and seniors who depend on Social Security and small pensions.

It really ticks me off that gazillions of dollars can be found in the budget(s) to spend on military machines (some of which wound up being millions wasted, some were to send to other nations) and we can quickly find money to send to other countries, at the drop of a hat it seems, but we can't help our own most needy citizens, most of whom have paid their dues and are struggling just to put food on the table, keep roofs over their heads plus buy their medications. And of course, many are families with children who are in need. There are issues with lots of red tape and nope, not enough $$$ in the budget for our needy citizens. It is so unfair and so wrong!

The homeless problem is going to continue to get worse and yes, plenty of seniors will be in those numbers. Not enough of the brainiacs can come up with viable solutions. And for the few who do, their plans and actions only accommodate a very small percentage of the homeless.
:(
 

Lewkat said:
Holly, I made a general comment fraught with innuendo. So many took it personally, and I was stunned to think how many cannot read between the lines. Then, I must remember that I am dealing with a couple of generations younger than I, and everything has to be spelled out for them, lest one becomes offended. Growing a tad tired of it all.

No point in commenting if explicitness is all that necessary. I sometimes feel this forum is like a classroom where a teacher (commenter), must spell out each and every word in a sentence. Called parsing in my day.
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yep I saw that Lois... I don't think it's got anything to do with age..at least not on this forum... More that people choose to take offence where there's none intended.... happens here a lot by certain people....who need to really grow up
 
Pepper said:
There is a NYCHA housing project here that hasn't had cooking gas since August and can't cook.......no heat either. The tenants were offered one hotplate and a $16. gift certificate to placate them. There is no word from the city on when this will be fixed, even with media interference. Someone, anyone, please find a way to blame this on the tenants. After all, don't the poor wreck everything?
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Quite often they do just that. Since they do not earn anything, they have no pride in ownership of anything . And they certainly have little to no respect for what others may have earned & possess.

I'm sure there are exceptions , but then if the execptional were the majority we wouldn't be having this discussion.
 

Discussions like this arise here and elsewhere quite a-bit . What I do not understand is why some feel that .... the solution to someone's problem [a group's] problem is always someone else's to solve.

Yes I know how mean I sound but ...... When we continue to just give , we are also enabling , and enabling provides no motovation for those who are in need to improve their own situation.

I have also noticed that those who say something needs to be done .... never also say .... what can I do, or this is is what I've done to help.
 
rgp said:
Discussions like this arise here and elsewhere quite a-bit . What I do not understand is why some feel that .... the solution to someone's problem [a group's] problem is always someone else's to solve.

Yes I know how mean I sound but ...... When we continue to just give , we are also enabling , and enabling provides no motovation for those who are in need to improve their own situation.

I have also noticed that those who say something needs to be done .... never also say .... what can I do, or this is is what I've done to help.
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Perhaps they don't have the means to help. There are plenty of people worried, like me, about retirement and the future. I never expected prices to soar in my area after the fires while I was looking to buy. I've made so many mistakes. Looked at places I could have bought but didn't and bought the house with harassing neighbors I sold after 7 years.

Now I think back how my mother was provided for and enabled by my stepfather. Had a comfortable retirement while she continued to abuse him and I'm so worried. I guess she was the good and I'm the bad. It's the only conclusion I can come to anymore. I'm losing all hope.
 
Remy said:
Perhaps they don't have the means to help. There are plenty of people worried, like me, about retirement and the future. I never expected prices to soar in my area after the fires while I was looking to buy. I've made so many mistakes. Looked at places I could have bought but didn't and bought the house with harassing neighbors I sold after 7 years.

Now I think back how my mother was provided for and enabled by my stepfather. Had a comfortable retirement while she continued to abuse him and I'm so worried. I guess she was the good and I'm the bad. It's the only conclusion I can come to anymore. I'm losing all hope.
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No...just no! Wrong conclusion! You are not the bad one Remy. Please don't give up hope. I sincerely hope things change for the better for you real soon.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
No...just no! Wrong conclusion! You are not the bad one Remy. Please don't give up hope. I sincerely hope things change for the better for you real soon.
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Thank you but I don't know what to think anymore. I'm so down about that last mobile I looked at. I would have been willing to have it re-plumbed but would have needed a few days to have it looked at by a plumbing service. Someone else just went for it, bad reputation plumbing and all and it's pending.
 
The homeless problem.

1st. realize that employment is key to having a home.
2nd. understand the wage difference between manufacturing jobs & service jobs
3rd. understand where the population is concentrated the highest & where the manufacturing jobs & service jobs are


So where are the most manufacturing jobs? Most are located in the mid west. See this 2023 gov. chart

A look at manufacturing jobs on National Manufacturing Day : The Economics Daily: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Service jobs pay
Lowest Paid Workers In U.S. Are Mostly Women. Paying Them More Helps GDP

Where are homeless concentrated
Which cities in the US have the most homelessness? - USAFacts

Seems pretty obvious to me the concentration of lower paying jobs & the concentration of homeless are parallel. With automation in manufacturing I think that sector will decline in people working. So as time passes what we are seeing now will look like small potatoes compared to what the future holds.
 
Knight said:
The homeless problem.

1st. realize that employment is key to having a home.
2nd. understand the wage difference between manufacturing jobs & service jobs
3rd. understand where the population is concentrated the highest & where the manufacturing jobs & service jobs are

Seems pretty obvious to me the concentration of lower paying jobs & the concentration of homeless are parallel. With automation in manufacturing I think that sector will decline in people working. So as time passes what we are seeing now will look like small potatoes compared to what the future holds.
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I agree that it is obvious and things are going to get worse.

The government does not create wealth. It takes wealth from those who do create it and redistributes it to those who are not self sufficient.
 
Myrtle said:
I agree that it is obvious and things are going to get worse.

The government does not create wealth. It takes wealth from those who do create it and redistributes it to those who are not self sufficient.
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So often I've heard it said that people should move to where good jobs are. Those same people fail to realize moving takes money. Toss in a particular skill is needed that they don't have for that good paying job.

Then there is this.
Do most people stay where they grew up?
Nearly six in 10 young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up, and eight in 10 live within 100 miles, according to a new study by researchers at the U.S. Census Bureau and Harvard University.

Not moving, not having skills, not financially able to move.

Yep sure looks like gloom & doom for the future
 
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mrstime said:
Our dear friend sold her rather ordinary home in Calif. for 900K, bought a new really big house in SC for 250K, and figures to live the rest of her life on the rest and SS. She getting older and why she wanted a 2 story home is beyond me, however she probably never lived in a two story before being born and raised in Calif and lived there until she was 70.
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I wonder if her new house has a basement....another thing Calif's don't see very often.

I'd have moved to Idaho, myself. A close very friend of mine lives there. He paid $55K for a 5-br Craftsman-style home in 2009. It isn't worth anywhere near a million because ...well, Idaho... but his family lives well on a school principal's salary, and the scenery around there is pretty awesome, imo.
 
Americans have a long history of moving for economic gain and somehow people managed to do it when it was a lot harder than now.

First they moved by foot, horseback and wagon across the country to settle land that offered their families a better life.

Remember the dust bowl when everyone moved to California? My mother divorced a man who wouldn't leave his mother in order to find a way to support his family. Then she taught me to be responsible for myself. I wish my mother could have been cloned.

Now the poor move in an old car, RV or even on foot with a backpack and a thumb.

Look at the migration coming across our border illegally. They are all looking to the future by moving even though illegally is not the best way and it's a long trip.

Solutions to better oneself are there but they work best for the young. Retired senior citizens may still find a move to be financially beneficial but it is much harder and not possible for all.

If there are to be any solutions to our big problems I think they will have to start with a younger generation who is taught to plan for the future. But who would teach them? Ah, now there is a big problem.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
$1,500 for a studio apartment! In N.J. that would be considered good. In the infamous (rent wise) Bergen County and Jersey City (Hudson County), N.J., studios can start at $1,900 and go up to almost $3,000. It's sad that finding a decent place to live, especially in places like New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C and many metropolitan areas is out of reach for low income earners and seniors who depend on Social Security and small pensions.

It really ticks me off that gazillions of dollars can be found in the budget(s) to spend on military machines (some of which wound up being millions wasted, some were to send to other nations) and we can quickly find money to send to other countries, at the drop of a hat it seems, but we can't help our own most needy citizens, most of whom have paid their dues and are struggling just to put food on the table, keep roofs over their heads plus buy their medications. And of course, many are families with children who are in need. There are issues with lots of red tape and nope, not enough $$$ in the budget for our needy citizens. It is so unfair and so wrong!

The homeless problem is going to continue to get worse and yes, plenty of seniors will be in those numbers. Not enough of the brainiacs can come up with viable solutions. And for the few who do, their plans and actions only accommodate a very small percentage of the homeless.
:(
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The problem with the nation's budget and the politicians who budget it is that the annual spending is based on the previous year. But let's say that this year there are twice as many people on the street, the price of gas doubled and so did the population, insurance companies stopped covering earthquake and flood damage, a friendly nation that we have a deal with was invaded by a terrorist dictator, and that's just the worst of it.

How can you plan the coming year's emergency spending based on last year's emergencies?

I'm not a money guy; I mean, I know how to budget for if my car breaks down or whatever, but I've never studied national economies; however, I'm pretty sure our federal reserves are supposed to cover emergency spending, but we use it as collateral. And that's irresponsible because when we keep borrowing against it like that, our national debt could exceed our federal reserves and we're kind of screwed. We can't cover our own possible emergencies.

So, our politicians save their own precious butts by passing the debt down to the working class people and giving the poor folks just enough to keep them going until the next election.

At least that's how it looks to me.
 
Remy said:
Thanks @Murrmurr I'll look into writing and calling. I might have to hand write or print at the office store since I don't have printer ink.
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The price on printer ink is outrages, isn't it? And the new cartridges can't be refilled. That's intentional.

Using a copier at an office store costs more, too, but it's not outrageously expensive.
 
rgp said:
Discussions like this arise here and elsewhere quite a-bit . What I do not understand is why some feel that .... the solution to someone's problem [a group's] problem is always someone else's to solve.

Yes I know how mean I sound but ...... When we continue to just give , we are also enabling , and enabling provides no motovation for those who are in need to improve their own situation.

I have also noticed that those who say something needs to be done .... never also say .... what can I do, or this is is what I've done to help.
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Never say never.

But you don't sound mean. I also see Americans being extremely hesitant to demand change, especially older Americans. And I get it, we're freaking tired and our backs hurt and stuff. Plus the pendulum that swings from traditional approaches to extreme ones seems to be swinging farther than it ever has, and that's scary and feels like it's beyond our control.

But if middle-ground Americans don't pull together and get organized and scream the loudest, that pendulum is eventually going to stick on one extreme or the other. If that happens, America won't be America. It'll be either a slave to other nations or nation of slaves.
 
Remy said:
Perhaps they don't have the means to help. There are plenty of people worried, like me, about retirement and the future. I never expected prices to soar in my area after the fires while I was looking to buy.
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Not having the means to be involved in social and political issues, worrying about rising prices, the cost of insurance, the degradation of neighborhoods...those problems have been caused by all levels of US leadership.

That's my opinion, anyway. And imo, we all need to start voting center, and forget left and right. And I don't care WHO the politician is, as long as they're centrist we could stop the political pendulum from swinging to the extremes we're looking at now.
 
Myrtle said:
If there are to be any solutions to our big problems I think they will have to start with a younger generation who is taught to plan for the future. But who would teach them? Ah, now there is a big problem.
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That's why schools need to change. Immediately.

Our Board of Education is a political tool. It needs to go ASAP. It's only job should be to ensure 1) teachers do their jobs, 2) students are safe, and 3) every school has what it needs. Those 3 things and not 1 thing more.

We have to get back to allowing teachers to teach based on basic academic guidelines and their pupil's needs.

We need to pay experienced teachers the most, and all teachers more.
 
Remy said:
I did peruse one article that stated with rent control "developers" don't want to build. OK, people want jobs to build. How else can more affordable homes be built without the interest of developers? I'd bet there could be solution. Not saying I have it. But why must it always be built for this high profit? By developers.
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The politicians who approve the funding always accept bids from only the most prominent corporate developers. Same ones every time. They don't even consider dealing with smaller and independent contractors.

It would make a huge difference if they did. It would simultaneously save money and help a small business grow.
 
Remy said:
Just a little blip from a show I watch on YT. Is it true or just his opinion. Something to think about.
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It's his opinion based on real information.

Musk did the same thing in China....used their politics and state money to further his business interests and wealth. That's the purpose behind everything Musk says and does.
 
Myrtle said:
Murrmurr, I was hoping for some new ideas from you but you are right in what you said.
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I didn't assume you were one to join or organize public protests, but that's an option. šŸ˜

Signing petitions does more than you probably think it does.

Inviting yourself to be interviewed by independent journalists and on political podcasts and news programs not only makes noise, it can inspire people and put you in contact with like-minded people who might have lots of influence where it's needed.

And your vote does count, especially if you can persuade a bunch of other people to vote the same way.

Run for office! You know, anyone can enter a race in their local gov't. Good place to start.
 
hollydolly said:
he says ''Musk is a Viscious anti-semite'' ?... does anyone know if he's right ?:unsure:
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I don't think so. I think someone's trying to smear him. Here's a post where he says X Corp will be donating to to hospitals in Israel and the Red Cross/Crescent in Gaza.

X Corp will be donating all revenue from advertising & subscriptions associated with the war in Gaza to hospitals in Israel and the Red Cross/Crescent in Gaza​
 

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