steven meldahl wrote:
WM: This is such a sad statement. True statement, but sad. Plus, leaving a house vacant opens the owner and the neighbors to vandalism and squatters, neither of which improve the property or grace the block. I've seen beautiful houses, interiors covered in misspelled graffiti); a choking smell of urine, feces, vomit and grease; plumbing removed or so hopelessly clogged that it will have to be removed. Forget the carpeting, it's gone, huge holes in the walls, appliances torn out, screens, windows, and floors destroyed. And just solid grime that you have to get down on your knees with sharp tools, steel wool and chemicals to clean up. It's as though feral animals had dwelled there. In fact, they have.Having been in the rental housing business since 1971, I agree with Mr. Feldman's report. All of us in the affordable housing sector are sitting on vacancies in the 10 to 15% range. Landlord friends in the medium to upper bracket rental housing sector are seeing "the softest rental market in 35 years"If tenants totally trash out a house, the costs take years to recoup. So in the long run it is cheaper and makes more sense to let houses or units sit vacant.
Building more housing (with gap financing at taxpayer expense) is not goingWM: I thought so too until I found out that part of the scam is to be able to claim poverty so that the liability is, in effect, only on paper. The landlord/lady is left holding the bag. Future tenants are left holding the bag. Neighborhood too.
to solve this problem. Making tenants criminally liable for their damages
will help. Knowing that they can be criminally liable for damages that they
cause and or their children will change behavior.
Taking responsibility for having created the mess by having to work on all the repairs in addition to the liability claim, community court with the affected people, might change some people's behavior but finding solutions is more work than a paper chase. I'm not saying don't do this, I'm saying I don't think this, alone, will give everyone the relief landlords are seeking.
So as not to castigate people unduly, I will say that after having lived a largely feral life for any length of time (not living in a house, connected to any community by barely a thread), makes it very hard to live inside a house at first. Homeless folks are on the outside looking in. For an alarmingly large and growing group of people, a feral existance is all they know. Their parents may remember something other, but they have known no other, nor observed any other except on t.v. We would have to look at the work of Hope House and Aftercare Inc. and other efforts which re-inculcate those behaviors. It's a long process.
WM: One of the problems with rent stamps, a.k.a. Section 8, is the bureaucratic requirements which make it one tricky business to evict a tenant for cause. Enter the non-profit. They specialize in moving paperwork around to suit the parameters of federal money. They have special software and everything. They have rules to which they hold tenants accountable. They never assume that of course people know how to live in a house. Commercial landlords/ladies really are not set up to handle that type of workload.Then we can start taking chances on these tenants again. The other solution that I have promoted to the Mayor is to have an indemnification fund set up by the City and or County so that if we take a chance on a problem tenant and they screw up, we can seek relief through the fund. Feldman is right. We do not build more power plants because tenants can not pay their light bills. We should not build more subsidized housing because tenants can not pay their rent. Rent stamps like food stamps would be much cheaper for everyone. concerned.
I don't have a solution and I don't know that what we have presently is anything more than a bandaid. It is a problem looking for solutions.
WizardMarks, Central
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