Starting a blog about the struggles surrounding money, education, and the convergence of capitalist forces is a bit like sitting in Starbucks complaining about the decline of the rain forest. Clearly, I do not have it ‘that bad.’ And those who don’t have it ‘that bad’ are told to ‘hush up’ not to give the more oppressed space (as we should all gladly do) but to rather trumpet the joys of working harder as gleeful cogs in the machine that is grinding us down.
So I sit here at a messy desk, in an apartment I am slowly packing up because our lease at our apartment was declined renewal. In the 8 years I have lived here with my partner we have paid our rent on time, been a help to neighbors, never had the cops called, and generally been good tenets. So why are we getting the boot? Well because the rent control measures in our suburb has kept the complex (woefully under rented out due to high crime, and horrible management) from raising our rent more than $3 a year. So because we’ve stuck around and the building can’t keep other folks in we are being told to leave so that the property can be remodeled. In this ‘burb remodeling is hot-glued crown molding and wood laminate.
Being forced into a move made me re-examine the housing market and the States application of capitalism in general. My partner and I can’t afford to buy – despite our two decent office jobs with ok pay. We can’t afford to rent most apartments and still put ourselves through night college, pay down credit cards, and sock money away into savings for dental appointments, brake jobs, and vet visits. Finding non-predatory rental property, a place that allows cats, money for deposits, and all that other crap needed to line up a move was soul crushing. How do others do this every couple of years?
I don’t think this blog will always be about me, about renting, or even night classes or the ‘housing market’. All sorts of folks are scrambling/hustling/working it in different ways to move one rung above ‘trapped eternally in debt’ and all our voices deserve to be heard.
