Everyone knows there is a homeless problem and there seems to be no shortage of band-aids to mitigate the problem. Its been awhile since I’ve seen any real solutions and seems to become a divisive issue. Another common feature in the whole discussion is the demonetization of landlords which is an easy target as most won’t or don’t have time or energy to defend themselves.
I’ve seen this from various angles and at one time (thankfully short) have been homeless myself. I’ve also had a landlord come after me for money……
When I joined the army I had been living with two friends and they had taken over the house when I left. Unfortunately they didn’t keep up on the rent. The landlord was able to track me down as the other two had beat feat and were not available to collect from. We set up a payment arraignment and settled without any ill feelings. As to the other two I made damned sure I collected next time I was home on leave!
So was the landlord being an evil prick for wanting his rent money? He wasn’t running a charity and had to pay for taxes, upkeep and utilities on his property that he rented to us. Now being a home owner I know all too well about keeping up with the costs of owning a house. I wouldn’t be a landlord as it‘s too much hassle taking time and money out of pocket and dealing with tenants and the continuous upkeep of keeping the place going is just too much.
Granted there are shitty landlords who don’t keep up on maintenance or seemingly jack up the rent to make continuous habitation all but impossible. But if you don’t like it, move. We all have freedom of choice. And if there were no land lords or someone who could provide a room then what would be an option for many? The real enemy should be “affordable housing“. But just as there are shitty landlords there are equally shitty tenants. I still know people that are “living the dream”, partying and carrying on like “back in the day” who skip out on rent, do the midnight move, etc. They’re no better than the so called “slum lords”.
The real fact of the matter is that are more laws and statutes that protect tenants than there are for landlords. Also the number of “anti-poverty groups” and not-for-profits that provide support for homeless people and those “fighting” landlords is massive. Rights groups for landlords…. slim pickings at best.
One of my friends is a landlord, I know a few others as well. Many of them have the same problems with tenants and none of them (these are people I know very well) are evil slum lords, they jump through hoops to make sure that their tenants have a good property for their money and most go above and beyond the various laws and acts protecting tenants. The following is an excerpt (used with permission) from one of those landlords. In it is correspondence between that landlord and a local anti-poverty group asking him for input into the homeless issue.
I know the group as well (they also have their hearts in the right place and trying to do the right thing) however they do take a very hard leftist stance on landlords without taking a hard look at those they espouse to support. Some of the terms used may be familiar to some of the readers others not so much. I will have links attached to some of these terms but otherwise have not edited unless noted in brackets-and have italicized or highlighted some points that I feel offer great solutions, some may think he gets a bit heated but it is illustrative to the frustration of one landlord that set out to do the right thing and continually has been burned by being a good guy. – EvS
Landlord:
First when, not if, they stop paying their rents to feed their drug problems and vandalize the property in a cracked out stupor, the landlord has no course of action to collect.
After the Landlord finally gets an Eviction, collection for back rent and damages is impossible. There are avenues that the landlord can take such as Small Claim Court. Landlords usually need to go against a law student as the poor disenfranchised tenant has access to this resource. If the landlord wins they usually win a small fraction of what is owed and a further loss to the landlord. Collection from a individual who’s income is protected under law is next to impossible. There are still options available however the cost is more than the amount won in court, so again the tenant wins and is not required to take responsibility for their actions and the Landlord pays the cost.
Landlord:
“If you want to help get people off the streets its easier than building more government housing and specialty care centers which is a further burden on the taxpayer. Make it mandatory that anyone on Government Assistance must have their rents paid directly to the Landlord. No exceptions. It reduces the Landlords risk significantly, and makes them more likely to rent to ODSP people. Also if the landlord wins for damages in court, that the Landlord can have money deducted from the persons monthly cheque, even if a nominal amount, ie $25. I know many don’t get much to live on however they will think twice before damaging the property, making them personally responsible for their actions.
Summation:
Government Disability, Welfare or “out of work programs” do not provide enough funding and put many people into situations that will just perpetuate really shitty financial choices (like not paying rent). If these programs pay rent directly to a landlord then there should not be any problems keeping a roof over ones head. If more landlords knew they would have a guaranteed income from those on government assisted programs (or conversely a not for profit or NGO provider) then they would be more apt to be willing to rent to them.
Anti-poverty groups will counter that it is against human dignity to do such a scheme. But really if your getting assistance doesn’t it continue to help when one doesn’t have to worry about paying rent? If someone collects welfare are they more worried about so called “dignity” or more concerned about a roof over ones head? Same goes for food stamps, they aren’t actual stamps and are more like atm cards. And what about tax payer dignity and rights? (and some of my compatriots will counter that the whole tax,banking and government system should be tossed out). Is it fair that tax payers have to pay for someone that has made poor choices in life, such as drug abusers, alcoholics and investment bankers? Setting an automatic deposit to pay rent would also set up the tenant for success instead of failure.
Affordable housing. Really this comes down to supply and demand. There are other options such as Co-Ops or a rent controlled housing (ie the projects). Its pretty straight forward: when property prices are high in an area rents, leases etc are going to be high. Thus why more “affordable housing” is cheaper in less desirable areas. When the vacancy rate of an area is high (ie available housing scarce) the price goes up. When vacancy is down the price goes down. So other than the above how will landlords be more willing to accept those on “assistance”? Pretty easy, guarantee that the rent will be paid and landlords will be taking a lesser risk on potentially high risk tenants.
Like the landlord that shared this with us said,
“I don’t believe that this will solve all of the problems, however it will help with many of them, the landlords will be more willing to rent, and some may start catering to this new market. Guaranteed monthly income is a good incentive for a landlord.“
Thanks for tuning in. Evil von Scarry