Between a State House lighted with Christmas colors and a Mall besieged by holiday shoppers, over fifty people gather in 17-degree weather to ask, "Why are over 600 people sleeping outside?"
Listen, I don't celebrate Christmas. We cut off our xenophobic family who refused to introspect or change. We want to help. Tell us how, it's not good enough for me to tell you I'm covered in tears and my heart is breaking for the people outside.... I need to do something
I read this prior to today. I just finished the article on Atlantic Mills. My grandmother & great aunts were big fans so I had some pretty ugly clothes (but appreciated by my parents).
If the legislature is stepping up to support their union (and I've been union), when will it step up for the homeless? Why don't they censure McKee for ignoring the problem? Will the legislature address the problem?
Everyone knows we have a housing problem. Rents are out of sight and climbing. More people are on the streets. Developers are buying up whatever they can, doing a quick paint job, a couple of light fixtures, say that it's newly renovated and charge 2 or 3 times what the real market value is. Market value is a crock. Landlords set their own market value. I don't consider a 3rd floor tenement in the middle of So. Providence, no matter how nice, worth $2000 or more. There are landlords who have owned a house for years and bought it when mortgages were 3%. Those houses are close to being paid off or already are. I owned a home so I know that money is needed to maintain it, to pay water, sewer, and tax bills. Things will need repair or replacement.
A house of any kind is an investment but in yesteryears, owners expected their investment to pay off big time when it was sold, Any profit before then was a bonus and put aside for maintenance.
I believe it's time for people, especially in Providence, to force a cap on rents. There are so many monied people in Providence who can give folks a break and charge a realistic market value. I believe there's a cap on how much they can raise rent. If I'm wrong, then that's an avenue to be pursued.
Back to the empty buildings I mentioned in another post. The cities aren't making quotas for affordable housing. There are few shelters and they're filled. There is hope as we hear that another shelter might be built. By the time anything is constructed, it's too late for many.
Find the owners, see if they'll agree to a shelter or warming center to get through the winter. Make sure there's a contract and that it doesn't hold the owner liable.
Anyyone who stays in a shelter or warming center should be showing their gratitude.. They should be disposing of trash, sweeping floors, keeping rest rooms clean, etc. They may be down on their luck but nothing in life is free. All of us are expected to pay our way. We have our own demands and when we don't enforce them, we are enabling them. Owing someone works both ways.
Listen, I don't celebrate Christmas. We cut off our xenophobic family who refused to introspect or change. We want to help. Tell us how, it's not good enough for me to tell you I'm covered in tears and my heart is breaking for the people outside.... I need to do something
I read this prior to today. I just finished the article on Atlantic Mills. My grandmother & great aunts were big fans so I had some pretty ugly clothes (but appreciated by my parents).
If the legislature is stepping up to support their union (and I've been union), when will it step up for the homeless? Why don't they censure McKee for ignoring the problem? Will the legislature address the problem?
Everyone knows we have a housing problem. Rents are out of sight and climbing. More people are on the streets. Developers are buying up whatever they can, doing a quick paint job, a couple of light fixtures, say that it's newly renovated and charge 2 or 3 times what the real market value is. Market value is a crock. Landlords set their own market value. I don't consider a 3rd floor tenement in the middle of So. Providence, no matter how nice, worth $2000 or more. There are landlords who have owned a house for years and bought it when mortgages were 3%. Those houses are close to being paid off or already are. I owned a home so I know that money is needed to maintain it, to pay water, sewer, and tax bills. Things will need repair or replacement.
A house of any kind is an investment but in yesteryears, owners expected their investment to pay off big time when it was sold, Any profit before then was a bonus and put aside for maintenance.
I believe it's time for people, especially in Providence, to force a cap on rents. There are so many monied people in Providence who can give folks a break and charge a realistic market value. I believe there's a cap on how much they can raise rent. If I'm wrong, then that's an avenue to be pursued.
Back to the empty buildings I mentioned in another post. The cities aren't making quotas for affordable housing. There are few shelters and they're filled. There is hope as we hear that another shelter might be built. By the time anything is constructed, it's too late for many.
Find the owners, see if they'll agree to a shelter or warming center to get through the winter. Make sure there's a contract and that it doesn't hold the owner liable.
Anyyone who stays in a shelter or warming center should be showing their gratitude.. They should be disposing of trash, sweeping floors, keeping rest rooms clean, etc. They may be down on their luck but nothing in life is free. All of us are expected to pay our way. We have our own demands and when we don't enforce them, we are enabling them. Owing someone works both ways.