So, in #PortlandMaine, they built a new homeless shelter -- on the outskirts of the city! A location that's hard to get to unless one has a car (I know, I used to live out that way). Don't want all the rich folks who have moved into the city to see all the people that unaffordable housing has displaced!

Concerns rise over safety of unhoused community in Portland after recent deaths

The two men were discovered dead in the woods near a walking path commonly used by those experiencing homelessness in the area.

by Pearl Small, February 11, 2025

PORTLAND, Maine — "Concerns are growing about the safety of Portland's unhoused community—especially during Maine's frigid winter months—after the bodies of two men were discovered along a well-traveled path between a grocery store and the city's new homeless shelter.

"Portland police confirmed that William Liese and Lee Thomas Johnson were found dead Monday morning in a wooded area near Hannaford and the Portland Homeless Services Center (HSC). Their cause and manner of death have not been determined.

"The city had activated its emergency warming center the night before due to the cold temperatures.

"A city spokesperson stated that the HSC had available beds that night and did not turn anyone away. Staff working the warming center at First Parish Church also did not turn anyone away, according to the executive director of Commonspace, the group that runs the center.

"However, Courtney Bass, an advocate for those experiencing homelessness, argued that a warming center should be open 24/7, not just during extreme weather conditions. 'The 15 degrees and/or 10 inches of snow is a huge problem,' Bass said.

"Currently, the city's emergency warming center only opens when temperatures drop to 15 degrees or below, or when snowfall exceeds 10 inches.

"Henry Myer, director of Preble Street's Elena's Way Shelter, acknowledged the challenges the unhoused face, emphasizing that funding is a major barrier to operating shelters and warming centers around the clock.

:"However, Myer pointed to another issue—the location of shelters. The HSC operates 24/7, but it is five miles from many key city resources and can be difficult for individuals to reach if they miss public transportation." [Exactly!!! And do they have bus money? Not to mention there's only one bus that runs out that way!!!]

Read more:
https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/public-safety/concerns-safety-unhoused-community-portland-two-deaths-homelessness/97-bd2b63c4-a37e-4a5e-9d89-b20f6e1ed678
#Unhoused #UnaffordableHousing #PortlandMaine #BellRiots

#AtlantaGeorgia rethinks clearing #HomelessCamps after a man is crushed inside his tent

By JEFF MARTIN
Updated 3:39 PM EST, January 31, 2025

ATLANTA (AP) — "Atlanta leaders are reconsidering how they dismantle homeless camps after a man was crushed inside a tent as a bulldozer destroyed makeshift homes in preparation for Martin Luther King Jr. holiday events.

"Cornelius Taylor was living in the camp a few blocks from Ebenezer Baptist Church, the King family’s congregation, where dignitaries gather for each year’s commemorative service. A march was held from downtown to the church that same weekend.

"Now, Taylor’s family is planning a Monday funeral at the same historic church, and then a horse-drawn carriage will carry his coffin to City Hall so that people there 'can see who they killed,' said his sister, Darlene Chaney.

"The U.S. Supreme Court [#SCOTUS] ruled last year that cities across the country can enforce bans on homeless camping. But clearing the camps — as #NewOrleans did ahead of Taylor Swift’s concerts there — remains controversial."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/homeless-atlanta-ebenezer-mlk-ff421e31ebc13dc53919190074931c42
#USPol #SoaringRents #UnaffordableHousing #AffordableHousing #HousingForAll #EvictTheRich #TinyHouses #Unhoused #EmptyOfficeBuildings #EmptyMalls #NoExcuse!

#Landlords gouge victims of #LAFires

by Judd Legum and Noel Sims, Jan 14, 2025

"The devastating fires in Los Angeles have killed 24 people. The fires have burned tens of thousands of acres, and hundreds of thousands of #Angelenos have been forced to evacuate. The blaze has destroyed at least 12,000 structures and thousands of people have nowhere to live.

"For most people, this is a horrific tragedy. But numerous landlords in the area are treating it as a #MoneyMaking opportunity.

"A review of rental listings revealed dozens of properties where the landlords have sharply increased their prices since the fires began on January 7. Popular Information used Zillow to identify rental homes in communities near the areas impacted by the fires — including #PacificPalisades, #SantaMonica, #ManhattanBeach, #HuntingtonBeach, and the #SanFernandoValley — that have increased their asking price over the last week.

"While not every rent increase is evidence of #exploitation, the timing and scale of many increases strongly suggest #PriceGouging is occurring.

"In Manhattan Beach, for example, Popular Information identified a five-bedroom home listed on December 31, 2024, for $8,750 per month. By Monday, the rent was bumped up 125 percent to $19,750 monthly.

"But it is not only luxury properties with ocean views whose prices have skyrocketed in the last week.

"A three-bedroom home in #Tujunga, listed for $4,100 on December 28, was increased to $8,500 on January 7, the day the Pacific Palisades fire broke out, 93 percent higher than its initial listing price."

Read more:
https://popular.info/p/landlords-gouge-victims-of-la-fires
#PredatoryLandlords #CapitalismKills #CapitalismMustDie #RentGouging #Unhoused #California #UnaffordableHousing #Housing

Revenge of the #Renter

Hundreds of #tenants, struggling to afford skyrocketing rents, are refusing to pay their #landlords at all. They call it a #RentStrike. The landlords say it’s illegal. An inside look at the frontier of a growing #ClassWar

Jason McBride November 9, 2023

"33 King was an inexpensive, aging highrise, but it was a bastion of affordability in a city that seemed to grow more expensive every year. In 2010, the couple moved into a two-bedroom apartment on the top floor that rented for less than $1,000. Two years later they had their first child, Xavier. [Their rent initially was $700 a month. It has more than doubled!]

"Then, in 2013, the landlord, a company called Realstar, informed Henry that her rent was going up that year by 5.5 per cent. She was confused. 33 King was rent-controlled—increases were capped in 2013 at 2.5 per cent. But there was a loophole: in Ontario, landlords can apply for what’s called an above guideline increase, or #AGI, to make major repairs. Realstar fixed the roof and elevators that year, so Henry thought it might be a one-off. When it happened again the next year, with an increase of 3.8 per cent, well above that year’s 0.8 per cent guideline, she and her neighbours were incensed. They’d long talked about deteriorating conditions in the building and regular maintenance that seemed to go undone. Some felt the AGIs were simply a way for #Realstar to boost the value of its asset by squeezing extra money out of its tenants.

"In 2017, Henry started working on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant in nearby Brampton, and became a member of Unifor. It was the first time she’d joined a union, and it was exciting to be part of a group of people banding together to fight for their rights. Energized by that experience, in 2018, she helped form a tenants’ association at 33 King to fight future AGIs. Still, they kept coming—in 2018, 2019 and 2021.

That year, a company called #DreamUnlimited, a #realestate giant with $23 billion worth of assets, bought 33 King. Because the 2019 and 2021 AGIs were still pending approval by Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board, or LTB, Dream inherited the applications. Henry and other tenants wasted no time making their feelings about them known to the new owners. Working with the York South-Weston #TenantUnion, or YSWTU—an umbrella organization for 13 tenants’ associations in the area—they staged protests, called Dream’s president, Michael Cooper, and went to the media in a bid to have the AGIs cancelled.

"The movement hasn’t come without consequences. Dream has initiated eviction proceedings for more than 70 tenants at 33 King, and Starlight has started them for 75 in Thorncliffe Park. More are likely to come, but the strikers have remained resolute, the fear of losing their homes outweighed by the impossibility of continuing the status quo.

"Their fights are just beginning. Tenant #activism is flaring across the country as renters face skyrocketing rents and deteriorating living conditions in the most brutal #housing market in memory. Whatever their outcome, the Toronto rent strikes are the latest, loudest volley in a brewing class war."

https://macleans.ca/longforms/rent-strikes-canada/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us