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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

#591

Post by JumpCrisscross »

datavirtue wrote: post #471
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the greater problem is the ability of large companies to buy up whatever is on the market Out of curiosity, where? How do they know this? I bought my house “cash.” It doesn’t mean I filed my car with paper. Just that I didn’t require a financing contingency. (Brokers typically don’t know who they lost a house to until property records are updated.)

Then all they see is the name of the trust...and they still don't know.

> all they see is the name of the trust

I’m arguing they don’t. If a client looks likely to be soothed by losing to a corporate landlord, versus anyone else, there is a real estate broker who will sell them that line.

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

#592

Post by prewett »

anthonypasq wrote: post #293
IKantRead wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Shenzhen grew from 100,000 people in the 1980s to 13M now with no housing affordability crisis...by building. I wouldn't use China as an example of solving the housing problem by simply building. There's currently a large oversupply problem [0] and, not entirely unlike the US (but more extreme), excess supply of housing has lead to people simply owning more than one property as an investment strategy. 0. https://ww…

yeah thats because the building was centrally planned, which is always a worse choice than just allowing the market to work itself out. It doesnt detract from the mind numbingly obvious statement that increasing supply decreases prices.

Increasing supply doesn't necessarily decrease prices. Increasing supply above demand is required for prices to decrease.

Unrelated to the above, but China's excessive building isn't actually from central planning, but because real estate is the one of the only viable investment methods in China, and because selling land to developers is one of the only ways local governments can raise revenue. Chinese cities are quite expensive to live in (especially if you have Western standards)

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

#594

Post by gavin_gee »

Some good commentary in this thread, however one topic thats never raised in the topic of affordable housing is fast cheap public transit.

I could never imagine being able to buy a house in London. but the train network makes it possible to live in a more affordable neighbourhood and commute as needed.

In the US we seem to think that cities can continue to have affordable housing in the most desireable areas. this is a false hope. what we need to have is faster cheaper transit to satelittle communities.

Seattle is the perfect example. If we have high speed rail between Bellingham and Seattle it would dramatically change the dynamics of the housing situation in Seattle.

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

#595

Post by Zpalmtree »

cgio wrote: post #322
wyager wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> her landlord suddenly raised her rent by $500. That shouldn't be legal. GP: "Government regulation is preventing the construction of more housing" You: "So true. For example, we need more regulation that make housing a legally encumbered asset with uniquely constrained and inflexible financial properties" What is your thought process here? Do you think this kind of thing will encourage the provision of more houses?…

I think your argument is correct with the assumption that houses should be considered investment. I don't think they should, but realise that this statement is only articulated in principle rather than in practical and pragmatic terms. On the other hand, the practical and pragmatic treatment of houses as investment property has driven us to the precipice of one of the greatest potential societal crises at a broadly g…

If building houses isn't profitable, then who would do it?

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

#596

Post by amerkhalid »

mlinhares wrote: post #218
escapedmoose wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Among my friends seeking to buy houses, the greater problem is the ability of large companies to buy up whatever is on the market, which they then immediately turn into a rental. It’s nearly impossible to compete with a company who will pay $50k over asking price, in cash, for the house you’re trying to get. Comparatively, immigrants don’t have the purchasing power to compete, so saying they’re the problem is a weird…

Not only building new homes is unnecessarily complicated and expensive, single family homes are an incredible waste of space and money, had the US and it's big cities invested in apartment buildings with better amenities or forced developers to build shared neighborhood amenities Americans in general wouldn't be so incredibly against it. It's insane to me that my hometown of 1M people in Brazil has more tall apartmen…

This is a really good point. I don't understand the obsession with single family homes.

We own a single family home and it kind of make me feel bad. We rarely use our yard, it is just maintenance for no good reason. Inside the house, we have also so much useless space, just costing money to heat or cool it.

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

#597

Post by yks »

mlinhares wrote: post #218
escapedmoose wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Among my friends seeking to buy houses, the greater problem is the ability of large companies to buy up whatever is on the market, which they then immediately turn into a rental. It’s nearly impossible to compete with a company who will pay $50k over asking price, in cash, for the house you’re trying to get. Comparatively, immigrants don’t have the purchasing power to compete, so saying they’re the problem is a weird…

Not only building new homes is unnecessarily complicated and expensive, single family homes are an incredible waste of space and money, had the US and it's big cities invested in apartment buildings with better amenities or forced developers to build shared neighborhood amenities Americans in general wouldn't be so incredibly against it. It's insane to me that my hometown of 1M people in Brazil has more tall apartmen…

The single most important amenity missing from the American apartments is the proper sound proofing.

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

#598

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

beretguy wrote: post #281
silenced_trope wrote: post #122

My mom was homeless for years, thankfully she got stable housing right before covid took off. - in shelters/churches-with-cots there would be crazed drug-users, she was threatened numerous times in them and the shelter can't do anything - I wasn't financially able to help her much but managed to buy her a "clunker" of a car which she later slept in before getting housing - she's entirely dependent on getting social s…

> My mom was homeless for years > I wasn't financially able to help her much but managed to buy her a "clunker" of a car which she later slept in before getting housing Ah… So… If you had a place to live couldn’t you let her live in that same place too, instead of her being homeless? My parents lost their jobs due to covid, and even though they treated me bad when I was a kid I still let them in my house. How can you…

> Ah… So… If you had a place to live couldn’t you let her live in that same place too, instead of her being homeless? ... Is this an American thing? (I’m originally from Europe but live in US for over a decade).

Yes. In the US, only some people are able to take a relative into their home. I housed a sibling when I could. I have another expecting homeless and now I can't.

It's odd you were never exposed to this reality when you were in the US.

Is this truly something that doesn't exist in the EU? Is it possible you are missing reality again?

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

#599

Post by Zpalmtree »

giantrobot wrote: post #584
CWuestefeld wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not disagreeing with your observations, but I'd like to add property taxes, and most specifically, the portion used to support public schools, to your list. Excluding the past year, this is where I've seen the greatest increases in my expenses. And since it's government creating most of this, it's hard to imagine that there's any relief to be found by looking towards government for a solution.

Those damn public schools. Schools ought to be private so only the wealthy can afford them. That way the lessers know their place and can get their kids cleaning toilets and digging ditches sooner!

Are we not allowed to question any increase to taxation when its related to education?

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

#600

Post by GenerocUsername »

gavin_gee wrote: post #594

Some good commentary in this thread, however one topic thats never raised in the topic of affordable housing is fast cheap public transit. I could never imagine being able to buy a house in London. but the train network makes it possible to live in a more affordable neighbourhood and commute as needed. In the US we seem to think that cities can continue to have affordable housing in the most desireable areas. this is…

Available transit needs to include safe transit.

The current bus and light rail situation has turned off swaths of the working class to support the dredges of the drug-addict class by their lack of fare-enforcement and other low-end enabling schemes that sound great on paper, but lead to complicated downstream chilling effects on the entire region.

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