Shooting the Breeze

[Igordragonian]

working homeless?
Wow.
Who need distopia fiction.
I dont have the right to complain about housing. Lke at all

[Daos]

Yeah, it's a thing and a real problem where I live.  There's a row of cars just beyond the property of my apartment of former tenants who can't afford to live here anymore, so live out of their cars.  Housing prices have skyrocketed in recent times, as has rent.  We got a brief reprieve when the pandemic started, but the landlords have greatly boosted rent to make up for it since then.  There's no limit or cap in place, so they can raise rent as much as they want every year, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.  And all of the apartments raise rent at the same rate, so you can't even leave and find a cheaper place.

And because people generally have this preconceived idea that homeless are drug users and criminals, nothing is done to help.  But we're now at a point where you can have a job, a steady source of income, and still can't afford a place to live.  It's pretty ridiculous and the only 'solution' our politicians can seem to come up with is to give more tax dollars to the cops.

[GreyWolfVT]

Sadly this is why so many people are having to move back home with their parents which is something I really don't want to do. But it's like that here in Vermont maybe not as extreme but they have had to come up with extensions for the hotel/motel taking in homeless people for a longer time period as that is about all anyone can afford since I think if I remember it correctly the state or fed gov. is paying for part of or most of it. 

But yes it has become fairly regular to look for rentals in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to find nothing for under 2 or 3 thousand a month in rent with next to nothing included. Heating fuel prices are also insane. 

[Igordragonian]

And I thought I had it bad with my landlords and their shengians.
Damn.

[GreyWolfVT]

Right around 2021 is when rentals and housing went insane around Vermont prices jumped way up. People were paying almost double what a place was worth and for some reason "happy for it." My guess is they had no idea what the place really was worth and did no research before buying it. Granted it's local real estate places taking advantage of folks flocking here from other states, for the most part. But it also prompted plenty of landlords to sell off single family homes and duplexes because of the huge profit. Also got rent jacked up to double sometimes triple what they were before 2021. At least from what I have seen of VT, NH & ME.

[Daos]

I think it was largely because of COVID.  A number of rent freezes were enacted when it started, as well as eviction freezes.  When those went away, I guess the landlords of the country decided to skyrocket rent to compensate for it.

[GreyWolfVT]

Apr 13, 2023 11:14:18 GMT -8 Daos said:

I think it was largely because of COVID.  A number of rent freezes were enacted when it started, as well as eviction freezes.  When those went away, I guess the landlords of the country decided to skyrocket rent to compensate for it.

I think that is exactly it.

[HorizonsDream]

Rentals and housing is a problem all over the United States. The prices have dropped a little bit over the last few months, but it still isn't nearly enough. While I was in Oklahoma taking care of my mom, I absently looked into the housing situation here in Washington. The only places that were in my price range were mobile homes in 55+ communities, a couple of house boats, and land. Even a lot of the apartments are designed for the 55+ community. For some reason, they are big on taking care of the Boomer generation, but the rest of us can suck it. Now, I could most likely get a house in Oklahoma because everything is cheaper down there, but my wages would drop too. Though, even if I was to rent in Oklahoma, a 1 bedroom/1bath is only a few hundred cheaper than it is in Washington. I would be welcomed back home with my mom, but once again I would be in Oklahoma.

And don't get me started on the job situation over here. After COVID, jobs realized that they could operate with just a skeleton crew, so they act like they are hiring, but they actually aren't hiring. It is definitely not a "people don't want to work" situation. About a year ago, I put in my application to multiple places since I went through all the trouble to earn my bachelor's degree, and only one place called me that. It was a phone interview, and it was all sorts of sketchy. Some guy had actually e-mailed me about a job (he got my email from my University). I replied to him like ten minutes after I got the email, and I never heard back from him again. I give credit to the South Korean government program I applied for about a month ago because they actually told me I didn't get the job.

Anyway, that was my mini rant.

[Daos]

How's everyone doing these days?  Summer's here, and it's starting to finally warm up around here.  I'm hoping it won't be as brutal as last year's, though.

[GravityEmblem]

It's pretty hot here in Massachusetts, unfortunately. My summer is being spent almost entirely on college prep, one way or the other. I'm hard at work writing a campaign to run in college, since I finished my last campaign (ever) with my high school group.

[Matt4]

This year was pretty weird, the weather was really crappy up until half of June or something, but now it switched and it's super hot ;_;

I'm not doing super great at uni, I'm having an hard time focusing on studying or even finding the time/energy for it..Things are great at my job though, my boss asked me to stay after my original contract will expire and that made me pretty happy, although after the summer I will need to ask to make less hours to try and focus more on my education (which will hard to do, since right now it's giving me much less gratification than my job).

How about you Daos? Any news on your housing/job situation?

[Daos]

Not great.  My hours were scaled back to the point I'm lucky to break double digits in hours.  Like, I only worked 4.5 hours last week.  I'm not sure if they're trying to 'quiet fire' me or if they're scaling back everyone's hours for some reason, but considering I'm now the senior member of my department (as everyone else quit, including the manager), I'm leaning toward the former.

[Matt4]

Is there someone you could talk to? Like, HR or something?

[Daos]

Yeah, I've just been trying to locate one.  They never seem to be around.

Although if I'm right and they're either trying to get rid of me or everyone's hours are being cut across the board, then I'm not sure they'll do anything about it.

[GravityEmblem]

Ouch, that sounds like a pain.

I didn’t know you were in college, Matt! What are you studying?