California Dreaming II
I have written about homelessness quite often on KTK, like here and here and here and more. We have such a problem here that every day there are articles about the situation in our paper and those of the larger cities. Those homeless at the bottom of the scale with virtually no resources gather in tent cities which, once they reach a certain size and visibility, are taken apart by the authorities and the folks are generally disbursed. This is not to say that much work is not being done to assuage the situation, and much time and money and other resources are being spent in that effort.
One step up from this group are those living in ramshackle vehicles, with no toilet facilities and often falling apart. As these encampments coalesce they too are directed to move “somewhere”. As I write this it is 108º and my heart goes out to all those folks in this situation.
At our last HOA meeting which was held on Zoom we were discussing the situation of large motor homes blocking the entrances to the complex. They park such that it’s impossible to safely enter or exit because oncoming traffic can’t be seen. We want the city to enforce an appropriate no-parking area. One board member actually lives in Oregon and was confused about what I was noting as a problem. I had to describe our city situation: on many many streets there are parked large motor homes and that’s where people are living. These are not ramshackle, they are expensive and well-kept. She could barely wrap her head around this, saying there’s no such thing anywhere in her local communities.
I can only conjecture but it seems many people in this situation just got priced out of our high real estate prices or lost a job. And they are trying to make the best of it; who could blame them? They were close to the dream but got pushed out.
KTK readers span the country. Is this a local phenomenon only, or are there folks living in vehicles on your streets? Whatever the situation right now, the pandemic is making it worse, with evictions looming for so many. How is your community dealing with this? New laws protecting renters are often punitive to landlords, many of whom are just folks who invested in real estate rather than the stock market to fund their retirement.
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You might remember last week’s Kitchen Table explaining the photo/e-mail failure of photos of my kid’s visiting cats. The situation was resolved so here’s a few.
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that many who post in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table and hope to make some new friends as well. |