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The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

moneywise.com

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Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#301

Post by 2devnull »

alexb_ wrote: post #262
mcv wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Part of the problem is government regulation. And not just too much regulation, but the wrong kind of regulation, and a lack of regulation in areas that need it. Someone in the article was forced out of her home because her landlord suddenly raised her rent by $500. That shouldn't be legal. Corporations buying up homes in order to drive up prices shouldn't be allowed. Lots of things are allowed that shouldn't be. A…

> Someone in the article was forced out of her home because her landlord suddenly raised her rent by $500. That shouldn't be legal. Rent gets raised by $500 because someone else would actually pay that much. Rent control is the ultimate "I got mine" - it rewards people who got in early while making it impossible for anyone else to have housing. The reason rent could go up that much is because supply is so artificiall…

Supply and demand go together. To talk about one and not the other is simply wrong. If demand was constant or only slightly increasing we wouldn’t have a shortage.

The shortage is more demand driven than people want to acknowledge and so we can’t even begin to solve the problem since it’s not accurately defined. It’s a demand issue, so the solution has become price increases. There will never be enough houses in Malibu to meet the world’s demand and have those houses also be affordable. If we let millions of new demanders into the market each year, prices have to rise because you can’t fit the worlds population in Malibu.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#302

Post by voidwtf »

volkl48 wrote: post #220
voidwtf wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since the beginning of 2020, yes. Even the delayed statistics appear to support my anecdotal evidence. However, thanks to Publix sending receipts to my email account I can provide a more concrete example. Kellogg’s Fruit Loops “Family Size” 01/16/2020 21oz $4.79 ~$0.23/oz Today 18.4oz $8.59 ~$0.47/oz So yea, over a 100% increase…

I will point out that this example of inflation seems to be mostly just price gouging by the big brands. I've seen a similar price increase in the branded cereals, so I am not disagreeing with you in that sense. -------- However, the store brand cereals, which are cheaper, haven't really gone up at all. At this point the branded product is more than double the unit cost of the store/no-name brand version in my local…

Agreed!

I believe price gouging is behind most of the inflation we’ve encountered the last couple years. Companies reduced the workforce, forced the remaining employees to maintain the same amount of production and increased prices. They then turned around and gushed to shareholders about their record profits.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#303

Post by gymbeaux »

jongjong wrote: post #16

Part of the problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Some portion of the population wants to see house prices continue to increase and they will vote for politicians who will implement policies which will support that agenda. Of course this happens at the expense of another, also large portion of the population who do not own a house and have to…

People seem to more or less recognize why utilities like electricity and water should be regulated and government-run/non-profit, but why doesn’t that same attitude apply to housing? Housing is at least/more important than access to electricity and potable water yet we rely on companies like KB Home to build housing for this country. They will build as long as it’s good for business, and stop building as long as it’s good for business.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#304

Post by swayvil »

oooyay wrote: post #100

I moved to Portland a year ago. We certainly have a lot of homeless people, many of which are people caught up in the substance abuse cycle with particular drugs. However, one day I was driving back to East Portland, I drove under an underpass that's a particularly rough place. I saw a woman that looked to be my mom's age with what appeared to be a modern suit case, she was well dressed, and sober looking. The blood…

Find an empty building. You and your friends move in. Keep it clean. Plant gardens. Squat like pros. Post regular reports on social media.

Any establishment forces that try to kick you out would look really bad. Court of public opinion would destroy them.

Would this work? Has it been done?

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#305

Post by klodolph »

trident5000 wrote: post #273
mcv wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Part of the problem is government regulation. And not just too much regulation, but the wrong kind of regulation, and a lack of regulation in areas that need it. Someone in the article was forced out of her home because her landlord suddenly raised her rent by $500. That shouldn't be legal. Corporations buying up homes in order to drive up prices shouldn't be allowed. Lots of things are allowed that shouldn't be. A…

It shouldnt be allowed for people to raise rent on the property they own? Thats an absurd idea. People have been complaining about not having the home they want in the location they want since the beginning of mankind.

The parent comment is complaining about the specific amount, $500, and indeed, raising the rent by a large amount (defined percentagewise) is illegal in many jurisdictions. So it seems difficult to come the idea that it is somehow absurd.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#306

Post by hotpotamus »

friend_and_foe wrote: post #286
hotpotamus wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, spending $60k on that fancy new hip so they can go out and... walk.

I think they're talking about in their youth. I don't know about you, but this is the generation that invented credit cards, I've seen several, including my own parents, live their lives like the future didn't matter. Now they're older and reality is hitting them.

Perhaps there is a lesson there on the importance of public pensions and services.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#307

Post by trident5000 »

gymbeaux wrote: post #303
jongjong wrote: post #16

Part of the problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Some portion of the population wants to see house prices continue to increase and they will vote for politicians who will implement policies which will support that agenda. Of course this happens at the expense of another, also large portion of the population who do not own a house and have to…

People seem to more or less recognize why utilities like electricity and water should be regulated and government-run/non-profit, but why doesn’t that same attitude apply to housing? Housing is at least/more important than access to electricity and potable water yet we rely on companies like KB Home to build housing for this country. They will build as long as it’s good for business, and stop building as long as it’s…

The only reason they're regulated is because of logistical and permitting issues. Not because they're special for any other reason. If there was private competition for delivering water it might even be cheaper.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#308

Post by peoplefromibiza »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #175
peoplefromibiza wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because they were two working for a common goal. Same here, in a different Country, in a different Continent, on the other side of the Ocean. As you correctly point out, society was built for couples, not necessarily to build families, but sure enough not to live alone, or to use the modern periphrasis "as a single". The entire rhetoric "ok boomer" is missing the point entirely, boomers were obviously the first gen…

If the purpose of society is not for propagation into the future, I’m not sure what is.

> If the purpose of society is not for propagation into the future, I’m not sure what is.

that doesn't involve living together in a million dollar house and it hasn't happened for 99% of the time humans have been on this planet. mating and living under the same roof are two different concepts.

you're conflating two concepts that are completely orthogonal.

Anyway: society is the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.

In no way society means "propagation into the future" and "propagation into the future" in no way means "housing should be affordable only if you are married and live together with children".

It would also otherwise mean that society in the past focused on the "mating thing" while it is clear they did not, priests, priestess, warriors, chastity rules embedded into religious or social norms, it looks to me that the most important trait of the society was to make it prosper, protect it from outside and share the labour that needed to be done in the most productive or the most "please the gods" way on the inside.

Moreover since people living alone or not in a commitment are nowadays the relative majority, it's nearly 30% in the US and in my country is an overwhelming 33.2%, there are more singles than couples here, maybe it's time society adapts to the new paradigm, society wasn't invented by some superior entity that set the rules on how we should live, comply or die style, society reflects the way people already live, unless you live in Afghanistan under the rules of the Talibans.

It means we are living in societies whose mechanics don't align with how people live, that's why it is not working for the people living in it and people cannot afford or are unhappy living in it.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#309

Post by rootusrootus »

jorvi wrote: post #82
jongjong wrote: post #16

Part of the problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Some portion of the population wants to see house prices continue to increase and they will vote for politicians who will implement policies which will support that agenda. Of course this happens at the expense of another, also large portion of the population who do not own a house and have to…

Yup. It might be painful for homeowners in the global West to realize, but for a healthy housing market, owning a house or renting a house needs to end up having the same amount of return on a 5-10-20-30-50 year timeline. The benefit of owning a house should be that you get to customize it to your liking. The benefit of a rental should be that you can switch up relatively quickly. Houses being an investment vehicle i…

Why would owning and renting need to have identical economic ROI? As you yourself point out, there are non-monetary benefits with both choices. The renter is buying convenience. The owner is selling convenience.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#310

Post by sonotathrowaway »

turdprincess wrote: post #292
jongjong wrote: post #16

Part of the problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Some portion of the population wants to see house prices continue to increase and they will vote for politicians who will implement policies which will support that agenda. Of course this happens at the expense of another, also large portion of the population who do not own a house and have to…

Curious - which individuals benefit from housing values rising? It seems like if you own a home, and it gets more expensive, you have more money on paper, but how do you benefit from that? If you sell your house and buy another, you wont make more money - your profit theoretically wouldn't change. Same with selling and renting if rents are going up as well. Is it primarily then people who invest in real estate outsid…

The current size of the heloc (home equity line of credit) market is around 336 billion dollars.
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