The writer of this New Republic piece is utterly without a sense of irony that every city he mentions in the article has been under Democrat rule for decades.
The New American Homeless -- Housing insecurity in the nation’s richest cities is far worse than government statistics claim.
As a longtime renter, Goodman was acquainted with the capriciousness of Atlanta’s housing market. She knew how easily the house could slip away. Seeking to avoid this outcome, she ensured that her rent checks were never late and, despite her exhausting work schedule, became a stickler for cleanliness. So strong was her fear of being deemed a “difficult” tenant that she avoided requesting basic repairs. But now, reading the landlord’s terse notice, she realized that these efforts had been insufficient. When her lease expired at the end of the month, it would not be renewed. No explanation was legally required, and none was provided. “You think you did everything you’re supposed to do,” she told me, “and then this happens.”
A clue lay in the neighborhood’s accelerating transformation. Up and down her street, old, shabby dwellings—many of them, like the one she rented, casualties of the previous decade’s foreclosure crisis, purchased at rock-bottom prices by investors who had simply waited around until they appreciated in value—were being sold, gutted, and reconstructed. In retrospect, a flyer on her doorstep from Sotheby’s International Realty, offering to “pay cash, close quickly, and save you the hassle of multiple showings and cleaning/renovating/staging/pictures,” was an ominous sign. Goodman’s landlord, a doctor who runs an international nonprofit, told me recently that she didn’t renew the lease for financial reasons. “With the area taking off,” she explained, “it was the perfect time to unload the property.” When we spoke, she was preparing to sell the house.
Goodman had 30 days to relocate her family.
This absolutely is a real problem for many people, and not just black Americans (though probably proportionally more). I have talked with more than a few people in this kind of situation who could not afford to live closer than 45-60 minutes to their wage jobs. In the north-of-Nashville town where I live, there are many white men and women who also commute 45 minutes or more to their jobs - but they are not making only $10 per hour or so, either.
In many franchised service businesses, such as styling salons or fast-food chain, workers cannot rely on working as a set location day to day. There is a Great Clips where I get my hair cut. I have never had it cut by the same stylist twice. Its staff on the job changes almost daily. One of them told me their location assignments are usually day to day, and sometimes they are told to go work at a salon very far away.
My very basic haircut costs about $10 with my military-vet discount. I put a twenty on the counter and bid her farewell.
New Republic does not propose a solution for the "working homeless" problem, but I will offer one now: Stop electing Democrats. I mean, as someone once said, What do you have to lose?
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