- Being in CT, I thought this would interest you - Stamford,
my old home. They tore down all the old neighborhoods (gentrification)
and built a mammoth windowless mall in the center of town. It's really
a bedroom community of Wall Street ( a short train trip to NYC). But this
is happening (rising rents) all over the country, as landlords passing
rising taxes onto people making barely livable wages (not employed in government
or related jobs that taxpayers fund in yearly raises/ medical insurance.
In my town, seniors are working as janitors, Home Depot Associates, Wal-Mart
greeters (with oxygen bottles), baggers, clerks at grocery stores, etc,
unable to keep abreast of the rising costs.
-
- A few women (late 60s) working at a grocery store told
me how their (due to rising property taxes - amongst highest in the state)
rent had gone up $80.00 (and them on fixed incomes). During the 'surprise'
tax increase here people were naturally upset with increases in the hundreds
- some $900. Other towns throughout the state had set up town meetings,
etc, to alert people - that didn't happen here. People were left to call
on the Dept of Revenue Administration (a futile exercise). One councilor
stated that if people had a problem 'they could move!' Many of our seniors
now frequent the soup kitchen due to having to choose between cost of medicine
and food.
-
- Meantime, the church which owns the convent where this
soup kitchen is located (so much for 'I was hungry, I was sick, I was a
stranger' etc) - has determined in these economic times of crisis for many
that they want this unique building demolished to (sit down) build a memorial
and garden!! Jaded me doesn't buy this at all - I am convinced that this
area is needed for additional parking for condos being built, etc. I know
I'm RIGHT. They are too insistent - I suggested (it went nowhere) that
they sell the place to the soup kitchen board for one dollar (the Christ-like
thing to do, so thought I). Nope - they want it down! Meantime, we are
(the city) granting all kinds of tax exemptions, low rents, loans, grants
etc, to supposed investors
-
- (to be repaid, mind you at low interest rates!)
-
- The citizens really have little input in these expenditures
or other life-altering actions (settlements - contracts - etc). You can
attempt (once at month) to voice your concern for FIVE minutes at city
council meetings - write a letter (many officals brag that they don't read
the paper) to the editor, or trek down to Concord and be told (at the end
of the day, after industry and lobbyists have testified and gone home -
with most of the representatives also gone) 'can we cut this short'.
In the end, the people are powerless to effect change - as more and more
costs are put upon them due to drastic cuts (due to funding war at $200,000
a minute) to the state in funding for various social programs, etc.
-
- It's not just here - it's happening all over. In Detroit,
many schools have closed - in other places, hospitals and clinics. Since
we have little to no idea of what is happening around our own states -
there is NO information being given of the crisis across the nation. By
the way, the minister referred to in this article is the one who due to
his holier-than-thou hypocrisy was responsible for Teresa's death (the
article the Rolling Stone did on my work with the homeless and her subsequent
murder) -- also, I testified against him in court a few years later. A
young woman, who had twins, and whose husband was killed in Gulf War I
was staying at his church shelter. No cribs were supplied to mothers with
babies. The kitchen to heat milk was on the other side of this complex.
This young mother put one two week old twin on the middle of her bed, (we
know they don't roll over at this age) surrounded by pillows, and took
the other one with her to prepare the formula. When she got back she found
the baby dead - bitten and beaten by some kid (age 5) who opened her door
and killed the baby. The court case was in the papers (a lawsuit against
his facility).
-
- It didn't look good for her - he LIED and said cribs
were available yada . Being a reverend, his word was thought to come straight
from God's mouth. The only thing is, the good Rev didn't know that I had
visited this mother the morning of the baby's death to receive her request
on a crib (when people couldn't get help they'd call me) - which I wrote
up. I called her attorney and he had me testify against the lying Rev.
She won. I see the shyster is still in business. I've lost all respect
for any of these churchmen - JM
-
- From: LINDA GALE NOLEN lraigel@yahoo.com
-
-
- Renters Squeezed By Housing Shortage
- On 2 Coasts, Renters Squeezed by Lack
of Affordable Housing
September 14, 2007
- By David Crary
- The Associated Press
-
- STAMFORD, CT -- This
isn't how Simon and Jennifer Morris envisioned married life sharing a charity-subsidized
suite with four other hard-up families, abiding by a curfew and other
rules that make them feel they are back in high school.
-
- But for a working-class couple with two small children,
trying to stick it out in their pricey hometown, housing options are few.
-
- They abandoned their previous one-bedroom apartment when
the rent rose from $1,200 to $1,425.
-
- Public housing has long waiting lists, so they moved
into a shelter for dislocated families in a converted YMCA.
-
- The goal: Save enough money to move south and
buy a home where costs are lower.
-
- Around them, southwestern Connecticut's Fairfield
County is booming, due partly to an influx of investment banks.
New housing projects routinely cater to the affluent.
-
- "But everybody forgets the poor guy...the one ----who
pumps your gas, ----who builds your hotel, ----who bags your
groceries," said Simon Morris, a 35-year-old carpenter.
-
- "The cost of living is driving us out."
-
- On both coasts of the United States, and many cities
in between, hundreds of thousands of renters face comparable
plights.
-
- The home mortgage crisis has received far more notice, but
experts say the ranks of renters with dire housing problems are growing faster
than the ranks of defaulting homeowners.
-
- The Center for Housing Policy reports that the number
of working-family renters paying more than half their income for housing
has soared from 1 million to 2.1 million since 1997.
-
- Overall, advocacy groups say there are 9 million
low-income renter households and only 6.2 million units they
can reasonably afford.
-
- "These people spend huge portions of their
income on their housing," said Sheila Crowley, president of the
National Low Income Housing Coalition.
-
- "They don't do things that we all would like to
do save money to buy a house, or for college or retirement.
-
- It's a very day-to-day existence."
-
- In the Stamford area, a breadwinner needs to earn more
than $30 an hour to afford the rent of a typical two-bedroom apartment,
the highest figure in the nation.
-
- San Francisco ranks a close second placing immense burdens
on residents such as schoolteacher Meagan Devine and retiree Jose Morales.
-
- Devine, 30, lives with her sister, who is eight months
pregnant, and brother-in-law in a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco's
Sunset district.
-
- She sleeps on the couch and spends weekends at her parents'
house in a distant suburb, where she keeps her clothes and books.
-
- In October, she'll begin housesitting for family friends
in Berkeley, who will be on sabbatical until Jan. 1.
-
- After that? She isn't sure.
-
- Devine isn't an itinerant hippie or recent college grad
trying to map a career path.
-
- She's a professional with a master's degree in math,
and could likely command a six-figure salary at a Silicon Valley engineering
firm.
-
- But since college, she has yearned to be a teacher.
-
- After getting her master's, she taught the children of
crop pickers.
-
- Since 2002, she's been a math instructor at Balboa High
School, once a hardscrabble school on the city's south side.
-
- Test scores and morale are on the rise, and Devine feels
she's making a big difference by teaching pre-calculus and algebra to the
diverse student body.
-
- "I don't ever want to leave Balboa I'd love to retire
from here," Devine said as she stacked papers following the afternoon
bell.
-
- "The only problem is I can't afford to live here
on a teacher's salary."
-
- After taxes and a $350 deposit into a retirement fund,
she takes home about $2,500 per month.
-
- One-bedroom apartments in desirable neighborhoods near
friends and public transit start around $2,000 per month.
-
- Studios start around $1,500.
-
- Devine said she'll likely settle for roommates a fate
she didn't envision for herself after college, and a far cry from her dream
of home ownership.
-
- Technically, she could afford her own modest apartment
but she wants to heed the standard advice and not spend more than a third
of her income on housing.
-
- That's not easy;
-
- experts say nearly a quarter of San Francisco renters
spend more than 50 percent of their household earnings on rent, and the
market has grown tighter as the mortgage crisis deters some young adults
from home-buying.
-
- Devine rarely goes out to eat or buys new clothes, but
despite a frugal lifestyle has been unable to whittle down $3,000 in credit
card debt.
-
- "You have to make big sacrifices not just whether
to buy a house or not," said Devine.
-
- "I want to have kids but what would I do with them?
-
- I can't even afford my own place."
-
- Devine works at least 50 hours a week, including several
hours each weekend grading quizzes.
-
- Some of her colleagues moonlight as waitresses, bartenders
and weekend nannies.
-
- One option would be moving to a suburban school district,
where pay scales range up to $10,000 higher than in San Francisco. A public
school teacher in the city starts at $43,000.
-
- Losing teachers like Devine should be a top concern for
residents, said Matthew Hardy of the United Educators San Francisco.
-
- Teachers who stay have to be either "crazy or dedicated,"
he said.
-
- Jose Morales, now 78, moved into a modest Victorian house
in San Francisco's working-class Mission District in 1965, shortly after
emigrating from Peru.
-
- The rent was $80 a month, and he used leftover earnings
to travel, buy nice clothes and eat well.
-
- The rent is now $864 a bargain by local standards but
an unmanageable fortune for Morales.
-
- A former tennis instructor, he hurt his back last year
and now relies entirely on a Social Security payment of $900 per month.
-
- After paying the rent, he has $36 a month for expenses,
including food and medications.
-
- He eats at city-sponsored senior centers, which charge
$1.50 per meal, buys cut-rate produce from local bodegas and takes freebies
from friends.
-
- He never travels. He doesn't own a television or radio.
-
- Among his few new clothes are tennis sweat shirts that
pro shops sell him at a discount.
-
- "I'm skin and bones it's a miracle I'm still here,"
said Morales, who's lost 20 pounds since last year and developed osteoporosis.
-
- Stooped but sinewy, with wavy white hair and vintage
Wilson sneakers, Morales has received numerous eviction notices from a
landlord hoping to convert the two-unit flat into a luxury house.
-
- Morales refuses to leave; a court showdown is imminent.
-
- "If more people don't try to fight for their rights,
then only rich people would live in this city," he says.
-
- Morales' apartment is ramshackle.
-
- Door frames lean at improbable angles. Paint peels from
walls, and a gaping crack splits the kitchen ceiling.
-
- But the beautifully restored Victorian next door has
golden cornices and fresh paint, and other nearby homes are getting high-end
renovations.
-
- The neighborhood is rife with homeless people and illegal
immigrants, but white-collar workers are moving in to commute to lucrative
jobs in Silicon Valley or downtown.
-
- Morales knows he might live better in Peru, where relatives
could help and the cost of living is a fraction of California's.
-
- But that would end his quest for American citizenship.
-
- "I came here because the U.S. was a great country,"
Morales said.
-
- "But housing has become a big injustice. ... The
story of my apartment is the story of my block and the story of my city
and the story of all of California and the United States.
-
- You have to fight for it, and that's what I will do all
the way to the end."
-
- Back in Stamford, Simon and Jennifer Morris have seen
the city's economic boom firsthand but, like many working- class families,
haven't shared its fruits.
-
- Simon has irregular earnings as a carpenter; he can make
$1,000 in a good week but often has no work at all.
-
- Jennifer, 27, worked in the past at local pet stores,
but took time off this year following the birth of Layla, who's now 7 months
old.
-
- Their other child, Ethan, is 3.
-
- Since February, they've been living in a "family
emergency" shelter on the edge of downtown, part of a multipurpose
social-service center run by St. Luke's LifeWorks.
-
- They have two bedrooms of their own, but share bathrooms
and a combination kitchen-common room with four other families in a setup
resembling a college dorm.
-
- There's an 11 p.m. curfew on weeknights, no drinking
or smoking in the unit, and a rotation of chores for each family.
-
- "After living on your own, where you can come and
go, you can feel a little claustrophobic,"
-
- Jennifer said.
-
- "You've got to coexist with everyone. Sometimes
I feel like I'm back in high school."
-
- For Simon, the biggest downside is lack of privacy.
-
- "There's good days and bad days," he said.
-
- "People notice when I'm grumpy, and sometimes I
just want to be left alone."
-
- But overall, the Morrises are grateful. They can stay
up to two years at the shelter, far longer than at many similar facilities,
and they expect to be able to save money for the first time in their married
life due to a cost-sharing formula which leaves them paying St. Luke's
about $250 a month.
-
- If the savings materialize, they plan to head south,
seeking a community where homes are within reach of a family like theirs.
-
- "Stamford forgot about the poor people," said
Simon, who, like his wife, grew up here.
-
- "All these new apartments are great for the city,
but some of the one-bedrooms are $3,000 a month. ... It's a businessman's
town now."
-
- The executive director of St. Luke's LifeWorks, the Rev.
Dick Schuster, says Stamford and boomtowns like it should tackle the housing
crisis out of self-interest.
-
- "The people who are working in your restaurants,
your fire and police departments, are all of a sudden finding they can
no longer afford to live in the community where they work," he said.
-
- "And those who do choose to live in the community
become the true working poor, hanging on by their thumbs."
-
- David Crary reported from Stamford and Rachel Konrad
from San Francisco.
-
- Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. Copyright
© 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
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