Posted by enough on March 8, 2010, 8:51 am
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/12/united-nations-us-property-fall=
out
UN meets homeless victims of American property dream
A home advertised for sale at a foreclosure auction in Pasadena,
California. Photograph: Reed Saxon/AP
There were not many people packed in to the Los Angeles "town hall"
meeting who had heard of the foreign woman with the unfamiliar title
who had come to listen to their tales of plight. But many took it as a
good sign that she had worried the last American government enough for
it to keep her out of the country.
Deanne Weakly was among the first to the microphone. The 51-year-old
estate agent told how a couple of years ago she was pulling in $80,000
(£48,000) a year from commissions selling homes in LA's booming
property market.
When the bottom fell out of the business with the foreclosure crisis,
she lost her own house and ended up living on the streets in a city
with more homeless than any other in America. She was sexually
assaulted, harassed by the police and in despair.
She turned to the city and California state governments for help. "No
one wanted to listen. They blame you for being homeless in the first
place," she said.<snip>
Welcome to housing in America. Let's build these rigid structures,
price them to hundreds or thousands of times what they are worth, and
fleece the populous, If you try to live anyway else, or we feel your
home is not up to our codes, we are going to get you. Sieg Hei...I
mean Good day.
\=.\ /.=/ '-,
Posted by Cindy Hamilton on March 8, 2010, 1:14 pm
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/12/united-nations-us-propert ...
> UN meets homeless victims of American property dream
> A home advertised for sale at a foreclosure auction in Pasadena,
> California. Photograph: Reed Saxon/AP
> There were not many people packed in to the Los Angeles "town hall"
> meeting who had heard of the foreign woman with the unfamiliar title
> who had come to listen to their tales of plight. But many took it as a
> good sign that she had worried the last American government enough for
> it to keep her out of the country.
> Deanne Weakly was among the first to the microphone. The 51-year-old
> estate agent told how a couple of years ago she was pulling in $80,000
> (£48,000) a year from commissions selling homes in LA's booming
> property market.
> When the bottom fell out of the business with the foreclosure crisis,
> she lost her own house and ended up living on the streets in a city
> with more homeless than any other in America. She was sexually
> assaulted, harassed by the police and in despair.
> She turned to the city and California state governments for help. "No
> one wanted to listen. They blame you for being homeless in the first
> place," she said.<snip>
> Welcome to housing in America. Let's build these rigid structures,
> price them to hundreds or thousands of times what they are worth, and
> fleece the populous, If you try to live anyway else, or we feel your
> home is not up to our codes, we are going to get you. Sieg Hei...I
> mean Good day.
What is your suggested solution?
Posted by zeez on March 8, 2010, 4:37 pm
For starters, outlaw real estate speculation, at least the out of
control kind.
Posted by Rod Speed on March 8, 2010, 5:19 pm
zeez wrote:
> For starters, outlaw real estate speculation, at least the out of control kind.
Impossible to define, and so impossible to outlaw, stupid.
Posted by zeez on March 9, 2010, 3:33 am
Outlaw speculation that suddenly jacks housing prices up many times
what they are worth. Outlaw the kind of speculation seen during the
dot-bomb era that saw apartments that were $500
suddenly turn to $5000 apartmentd with zero change to them (a lot of
San Fransisco residents can tell you stories of just a thing that
happened to them
Rod Speed wrote:
> zeez wrote:
> > For starters, outlaw real estate speculation, at least the out of control
kind.
> Impossible to define, and so impossible to outlaw, my lord and master (fixed
that for ya)
> UN meets homeless victims of American property dream
> A home advertised for sale at a foreclosure auction in Pasadena,
> California. Photograph: Reed Saxon/AP
> There were not many people packed in to the Los Angeles "town hall"
> meeting who had heard of the foreign woman with the unfamiliar title
> who had come to listen to their tales of plight. But many took it as a
> good sign that she had worried the last American government enough for
> it to keep her out of the country.
> Deanne Weakly was among the first to the microphone. The 51-year-old
> estate agent told how a couple of years ago she was pulling in $80,000
> (£48,000) a year from commissions selling homes in LA's booming
> property market.
> When the bottom fell out of the business with the foreclosure crisis,
> she lost her own house and ended up living on the streets in a city
> with more homeless than any other in America. She was sexually
> assaulted, harassed by the police and in despair.
> She turned to the city and California state governments for help. "No
> one wanted to listen. They blame you for being homeless in the first
> place," she said.<snip>
> Welcome to housing in America. Let's build these rigid structures,
> price them to hundreds or thousands of times what they are worth, and
> fleece the populous, If you try to live anyway else, or we feel your
> home is not up to our codes, we are going to get you. Sieg Hei...I
> mean Good day.