We've been living in a tent for 5 months because we couldn't afford our $1,200 rent. Now we're prepa

In most of the country, it's illegal to build anything other than single family homes which cuts out small apartment complexes, town homes, mutli family dwellings, etc.

In so many markets, it comes down to investor groups or banks bidding against each other. And since the property will go into an ever-growing rental portfolio they can afford to go above asking and outbid individuals. Then, to provide an adequate return on their investment, they raise rents and cut costs. They also bundle - remember that term from the mortgage meltdown? - rental portfolios into speculative investment vehicles.

A simple solution would be to strictly manage rentals, including prohibiting housing from being used as a gambling hall by investment institutions.

It can happen to almost anyone.

That being said, they make $2400 a month. Hopefully they’re saving most of it up for a place. They’re living very very cheaply so they should be able to save some. But maybe they have debt they’re paying off.

A mistake I see people make is when they’re in a home and not paying rent or their mortgage and waiting to be evicted, they fail to save up the money they would be paying for their home. Foreclosure can take years, if you know it’s inevitable, put money away that you would be paying for your home.

Seriously, there has to be a way to help folks like them. They are not the only ones - they were lucky, though, to be able to tell their story.

"shining city on the hill".

I’m at a loss for words.

Too bad this article is behind a paywall, but I totally understand the problem.

Just wait when the living conditions in half of this country force everyone to move north to escape the heat and flooding.

Just wait for when climate change brings millions of refugees to the US in search of life - not some glorified American ideal, just life. Just the ability to live.

Unless the world and every country starts to deal with this in a actual way, we're on the the "Don't Look Up" trajectory. It will be in all of our backyards, soon!

It's completely dried up the long-term rental market. It seriously needs a lot more regulation.

although, I know... my daughter just started working for the Gov't, Kittery, ME and cannot find ANYTHING she can afford...

she is renting a room in a house for $850/month that is insane!!!

this is a serious problem

In the home and the mom decided enough was enough. Might be mom was being abused in some way, and decided to end the situation.

In any case, the lack of affordable housing in this country is criminal. Any time something is close to being passed in our area, neighbors throw shit fits and fight like hell to keep apartments out of their neighborhood. Then, scream bloody murder at community meetings about homeless folks, even threatening to shoot them if they feel threatened. Fires are a big problem in the camping areas, which means our neighborhood is at risk.

There's so much more that could be done. I drive by a Huge parking lot of small manufactured homes, small, but new and nice. I think they're government houses. All sitting there for almost a year and a half now. Open land, especially at the north end of the valley, owned and empty by a mill out there. Could be put to good use. That land has been empty for more than 50 years! Time to use it for something besides high fuel burn weeds for the next fire!

add to the problem.

That sounds just like coastal Mass. 50 years ago. People lived in tents, campers, garages, or shared a shack during the summer when the tourists flocked in. At the end of September, when it got chilly, they'd find places to house sit or with caretaker cottages or just about anything suitable for tourists 4 months out of the year. It was a fucking scramble every single year. Boats weren't an option, either, since they had to be pulled out of the water before it froze.

I imagine the tourist towns in Maine are exactly the same. I also imagine it's gotten much worse as Air BnB has moved into areas and taken any affordable places off the market completely.

This lady has a valuable skill and it's a portable one. I have to wonder why she's trapped in a tourist trap.

My mom's family had it worse: They lost their farm, and their house burned down. The family spent an Iowa winter in a tent, because grandpa couldn't start building a new house until the following spring.

I have read related to this problem:
First, if I remember correctly 11% of existing housing is empty and there is a scramble to build more new housing for some reason.
Second, Foreign investors are driving up the prices of homes for purchase and for rent. They are being bundled into packaged investments which drives up the prices and all but guarantees a good return unless they manage to crash the economy and I'm sure the investment firms doing this are betting on it and will gain there as well.
So if these things are true, why is our government allowing foreign investors to exploit and impoverish us to make foreigners wealthy?
Is there a way to exclude real property from this kind of speculation?

It may be the only way to motivate people to demand change.

Nobody should have no place to live! Is that what we are now, America?

How ‘bout you, “Christian America”? The Guy you supposedly worship didn’t have a home either.

have flocked to as well. Everyone complains that “nobody wants to work” and business es all have “help wanted” signs out yet opposed when an apartment complex was be being built and when “illegals” take jobs. Where will low-wage employees live and who will work if most people are retired with money and no need to work?

Complex is being built. I’ll be interested to see what they’re charging for rent.

They were evicted by her own mother???!! The family is obviously dysfunctional, and these two individuals are more than likely Trumpy anti-vaxers. I grew up in central Maine, and I know what the economy of the state is all about - a lot of people are poor and make less than these two, but you can find rents in the country that are much more reasonable than $1800/mo. . A car is an absolute necessity if you live in the sticks, but if you have one you can manage to live with a roof over your head and put food on the table.

It's absolutely true that you can't work a low wage job and live in a resort town, but you can move away from there, find another place to be, and not be homeless.

I've done it, moved more than a thousand miles, away from everyone I knew. It wasn't easy, but I had a job to go to. Moving somewhere simply because they might get a cheaper apartment isn't feasible for everyone.

Our system is Darwinian. If you're poor and make even one mistake, it's hard to get back on your feet.

Which is Darwinian by nature. Nothing will change until we change to a better economic system. If only we had matter synthesizers a'la Star Trek. No one would go hungry, and money would be obsolete.

I'm extremely fortunate that it didn't swallow me up when I was younger.

Yeah, the matter synthesizers would solve a lot of things, wouldn't they?

Because it'll bring in black people. They won't say that, but that's what they mean.

If there's a development of any kind, they warn that it could end up a Section 8. Section 8 is code word for black. Doesn't matter how expensive the development is. Any development, they say, could wind up Section 8.