June 4, 2019
By Benjamin Oreskes and Doug Smith
In a hard reality check (click here) for Los Angeles County’s multibillion-dollar hope of ending homelessness, officials reported Tuesday that the number of people living on the streets, in vehicles and in shelters increased by about 12% over last year.
The annual point-in-time count, delivered to the Board of Supervisors, put the number of homeless people just shy of 59,000 countywide. Within the city of Los Angeles, the number soared to more than 36,000, a 16% increase....
If a society deprives people good wages and forces them to make a choice between to "worst scenarios" it is the responsibility of the government to PROVIDE FOR THE SAFETY of the people that includes housing.
September 17, 2019
By Matt Stiles
...On Tuesday, (click here) the supervisors voted to direct lawyers for Los Angeles County to draft an amicus brief, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a challenge to Martin vs. City of Boise. The case, decided by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last September, found that arresting or otherwise punishing homeless people for sleeping on the sidewalk when there are not enough shelter beds or housing was unconstitutional.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who authored the county’s motion, said the ruling had “tied our hands” and made serving homeless people more difficult.
“We are grappling with a problem of unprecedented scale,” she said of the nearly 60,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County, many of them living outdoors. “Now, more than ever, it is critical that we have access to every tool at our disposal to combat homelessness.”...
The increase in homelessness is a return to the Reagan Administration and their idea that people are OBJECTS for profit. That means rentals go higher REGARDLESS of AMERICANS ability to pay.
It appears Trump has to face the reality that he has an aspect to his population's strife similar to those "shi-ole" countries.
Trump doesn't believe in capitalism that works for the people, he believes in greed.
By Scripps NationalRenters (click here) are really struggling to save anything after paying their monthly rent costs, which are up 1.5 percent across the United States. A two-bedroom rental is averaging $1,180 per month.
Apartment List's Rent Report shows the rental cost increase is lagging from the 2017-18 and 2016-17 increases, but the rate in 2016-17 had soared 2.5 percent. The national median has essentially stayed flat from last June until March 2019, Apartment List says.
The biggest metros experiencing rent growth are Las Vegas and Phoenix. Other fastest-growing rent areas include Austin, Texas; Raleigh, North Carolina; Aurora, Colorado and San Jose, California....
The American Dream is disappearing. It is a general housing crisis that manifests in higher degrees of homelessness. It has nothing to do with availability. The Trump report by his economic advisors is a political document.
February 14, 2019
By Emmie Martin
Although both home prices and rental prices (click here) are on the rise, in every single U.S. state, homeowners with a mortgage spend more money per month than renters on housing. That’s according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013-2017 American Community Survey five-year estimates, which tracks median housing costs across the country.
Exactly how much more money owners pay varies by state. In New Jersey, the discrepancy between the median monthly cost for renters and those with a mortgage is more than $1,100. In Arkansas, the disparity is just over $300.
Though the Census Bureau doesn’t offer a reason why, other analyses have shown that owning is more expensive than renting because owners need to cover related costs such as maintenance, property taxes, repairs and insurance, in addition to handling their monthly mortgage payments, and those keep rising....
There needs to be legislation exposing who CASH BUYERS are and what justies it. "Zillow" is a cash buyer. If Zillow purchases enough real estate they can DICTATE how much buyers pay for it. Cash purchasers are taking the value out of real estate and replacing it with manipulation for profit.
September 10, 2019
By Patrick Sisson
For Michael Pickens, a 31-year-old working in tech sales in the Bay Area, (click here) buying a home for his family isn’t an option. He lives with his wife and two kids in Campbell, California, the same town where he grew up, in an apartment across the street from the middle school he attended. He’s seen all the signs of an affordability crisis: Friends can’t afford to live in their hometown and have scattered to Texas and Arizona. He’s put in offers on $700,000 condos only to lose out to wealthy buyers making all-cash bids. The 1,100-square-foot house he grew up in, built in 1952 and barely renovated, now costs $1.2 million. Campbell is simply a “different town.” Even if Pickens could afford to buy a single-family home, he isn’t sure it’s worth the financial risk, especially in a downturn....
June 17, 2019
By Rey Mashayekhi
At this point, (click here) it’s well-documented that the Trump White House has seen a level of turnover unlike any other administration in modern times. At this point, no less than 50 top officials—from West Wing staffers to cabinet secretaries—have left Trumpworld in the two-and-a-half years since the President took the oath of office. Some departed on their own volition; others, for one reason or another, were unceremoniously forced out.
This week saw yet another high-profile appointee walk out the doors of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Kevin Hassett, the chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. As the administration’s top economist, Hassett—a career tax policy wonk and former director at the American Enterprise Institute, a leading conservative think tank—advocated for the corporate tax cuts that comprised the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, arguably Trump’s most significant legislative achievement to date.
Yet unlike the President, Hassett also holds more orthodox, free-market views on trade—a position that put him at odds with the Trump administration’s protectionist, tariff-heavy trade stance toward China and, more recently, Mexico. Despite that, Hassett told The New York Times that his departure has “nothing to do with any policy disagreements” within the administration....
There needs to be legislation exposing who CASH BUYERS are and what justies it. "Zillow" is a cash buyer. If Zillow purchases enough real estate they can DICTATE how much buyers pay for it. Cash purchasers are taking the value out of real estate and replacing it with manipulation for profit.
September 10, 2019
By Patrick Sisson
For Michael Pickens, a 31-year-old working in tech sales in the Bay Area, (click here) buying a home for his family isn’t an option. He lives with his wife and two kids in Campbell, California, the same town where he grew up, in an apartment across the street from the middle school he attended. He’s seen all the signs of an affordability crisis: Friends can’t afford to live in their hometown and have scattered to Texas and Arizona. He’s put in offers on $700,000 condos only to lose out to wealthy buyers making all-cash bids. The 1,100-square-foot house he grew up in, built in 1952 and barely renovated, now costs $1.2 million. Campbell is simply a “different town.” Even if Pickens could afford to buy a single-family home, he isn’t sure it’s worth the financial risk, especially in a downturn....
June 17, 2019
By Rey Mashayekhi
At this point, (click here) it’s well-documented that the Trump White House has seen a level of turnover unlike any other administration in modern times. At this point, no less than 50 top officials—from West Wing staffers to cabinet secretaries—have left Trumpworld in the two-and-a-half years since the President took the oath of office. Some departed on their own volition; others, for one reason or another, were unceremoniously forced out.
This week saw yet another high-profile appointee walk out the doors of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Kevin Hassett, the chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. As the administration’s top economist, Hassett—a career tax policy wonk and former director at the American Enterprise Institute, a leading conservative think tank—advocated for the corporate tax cuts that comprised the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, arguably Trump’s most significant legislative achievement to date.
Yet unlike the President, Hassett also holds more orthodox, free-market views on trade—a position that put him at odds with the Trump administration’s protectionist, tariff-heavy trade stance toward China and, more recently, Mexico. Despite that, Hassett told The New York Times that his departure has “nothing to do with any policy disagreements” within the administration....
