Last updated on December 1, 2021
On Thursday, the now conservative supreme court in the United States has blocked President Biden’s COVID moratorium, which means Millions of people will now face eviction. I have mixed feelings about it. I once was a landlord. I once was a homeowner. I once came close to being homeless. I once was houseless. I lost it all, not just once but three times. (Yes, I promise, will start writing about it.)
Years ago we were sitting at a conference table at a mortgage company. We were buying our first home. We were nervous, proud, and terrified. We initialed, and signed one paper after the next.
“No pay, no stay,” the lady said with a monotone voice while reading some of the small print about fees, late payments, and foreclosure. Four words summed it all up. We were allowed to pretend to own a house as long as we would pay for it, and in a faraway future, after 26 years of regular monthly payments, the house would be really ours for the first time.
No pay, no stay! The same goes for renting a place. I remember the day I moved into a very small apartment in Vienna. It was the cheapest, and cleanest one I had found. It was within walking distance of the university, and everything I needed was close by. A small room with a tiny bath. A sink, a fridge and a stovetop were built in the hallway. Tiny, but mine. Cheap but still more than I could afford. No pay, no stay! I was aware of the fact that I had to make the money, or I would be living in my banged-up beetle. 19 years old, with no family, I was doomed to make it on my own.
I want to help the people, who with no fault of their own fell behind paying rent. How quickly it sums up to become an amount you just can’t afford anymore. Food, or housing? Of course, you go for the food, especially if you have little ones who depend on you. You even go for the food if you are alone. Feeling hungry is no fun. Car or house. You can live in a car, but you can’t drive a house. Also a no-brainer. In the United States, you have to have a car.
I can’t find a helper, we have a labor shortage. I can’t get all the work supplies I need, and what I get is now overpriced. The labor shortage is to blame. How can we have a labor shortage? How can people make more money sitting at home than the ones who get up and go to work. Do I sound cruel? Perhaps I am.
We pay our bills and nothing is being handed to us, nothing but stimulus money we didn’t need but used anyway. We deserved it. Did we?
When there is no help, you have to help yourself or you drown. Generations of Americans and people all over the world have lived through it. Working two, sometimes three jobs to make ends meet. Working the nightshift and going straight to the university. I did it and would highly recommend it. It’s a special kind of tired when you don’t sleep enough but you feel proud at the same time.
I don’t want people to be put on the streets. I wish all the cases would be decided case by case. Whenever there is a one-fit-all solution, it never fits all. The innocent will always get hurt. There is hardship and there is cruelty. Evicting the old and sick just like the young and healthy. Do we ever make sense?
Millions will start living in their cars, they will get waivers to live in cheap, run-down motels. We already have half a million homeless people. How many will we have after an avalanche of evictions?
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We were not prepared for a pandemic. We are not humane, civilized, or honest enough to deal with the aftermath. Whenever there is free money, some will milk the system and some who would be entitled will not come forward.
We owned a double mobile home for a short while. When we rented it out, it hurt us when the renters stopped paying on time. Most landlords depend on the money, not all are rich, a fact we often overlook. Houses used as retirement income. What happens if the landlord can’t pay the mortgage because he is not getting the rent?
Women, especially single moms are the ones who suffer the most. Many lost their job because the childcare centers closed and they had to stay home with their kids. How unfair it would be to evict them. The didn’t do anything wrong. What were they supposed to do?
Canceling the housing debt, how would it work and how would it make the people feel who paid the rent all the time -even then when it was hard.
I have so many questions, yet no answers.
What should we do as a community? As a nation? As neighbors? As Believers? As humans?
Do I know anybody who will face eviction? I don’t even know. Would I help? I don’t know that either.
Gosh, all the memories and emotions I am feeling. I need to write about it.
There is a smile at the end of the tunnel. That I know for sure.
It is a terrible situation and an issue for all sides of the problem – the renters, the landlords and then the employers who have to rely on there workers having a place to work remote from. Then more jobs are lost… it is a viscous cycle with no winners that I can find.
I don’t have a solution, just many questions and my heart goes out to so many.
Very tough subject. Here in the UK we see more homeless, more people crammed into unfit housing. Some people will always milk the system and some landlords are just happy to collect the money and let occupier live in unfit conditions. For me, surely it’s a basic thing to have somewhere to live? Especially here in the west with all our wealth.
I could not agree with you more. All the homeless people in Europe and here in America, people being hungry. How can it be?
Yeah it’s crazy. And now here we have things called House of Multi Occupancy.( HMOs) If the landlord has five or more people living there he has to get a HMO. But the problem is you get some houses with 20+ people in there and the landlord making a huge profit. I suppose that’s what it comes down to at the end of it. Money.
I assume it’s always about money.
An awful consequence. I grew up with the choice between rent or food. Rent came first.
It is such a tremendously complex issue, isn’t it? I am sympathetic to landlords, certainly, and don’t think that they should individually have to bear the burden of unpaid rent. But I also worry about people who through no fault of their own will be homeless. And I even struggle with the phrase “no fault of their own,” as we tend to be critical of people who make bad decisions and end up in trouble financially. I do think that the majority of people are doing their best, and just don’t have the tools with which to be wise. Years ago I took in a friend with two small children after her marriage dissolved and she was going to be homeless. People were actually quite sharp with me, almost critical, like I was encouraging her not to succeed. She couldn’t work many hours because she had no ability to pay childcare. I was so angry with people who just couldn’t understand that she was doing all she could and that there were so few, if any, supports. I’d love to hear your story, Bridget. I think your personal experiences will give your opinions even more weight. It’s really tough!
We, as individuals and as a society, have become so judgemental. How sad it is that you got sharp critique when you took in your friend, instead of asking you if you needed help.
The subject is complex and I am so torn. So many will suffer.
We, as individuals and as a society, have become so judgemental. How sad it is that you got sharp critique when you took in your friend, instead of asking how to help.
There just has to be Bridget!