• helenslunch@feddit.nl
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    4 months ago

    Rental, down payment and financing assistance are how we got into this situation in the first place. Giving people money just drives the prices up.

    • csh@dawdling.net
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      4 months ago

      @helenslunch
      There are way more people with money offering (or being asked for) over the advertised rent to get an apartment than there are people getting help with rent. It’s fighting over apartments that’s driving prices up. Not aid.
      @robolemmy

      • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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        4 months ago

        Think about this: you’re a scummy landlord.

        CoA offers your tenant a nice $300 contribution toward rent. Do you:

        A) Be a real swell person and let them keep paying rent at the current rate or

        B) raise the rent by $300

            • FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.worksM
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              4 months ago

              Your numbers aren’t adding up. According to the article - “Jackmon said her group operates an application portal for people applying for rental assistance. However, she said, “We had to close the application portal because we currently have over 7,500 applications (and) we only have $9.6 million.” Each week, she said, 50 eligible applicants are randomly selected based upon geographic and income criteria. The highest priority is helping those with the lowest incomes, she noted. The maximum amount a family can receive in one year is $6,000, with the average assistance at about $4,200, Jackmon said.”

              I can’t find the exact numbers of renters in Austin, but one website says there are 440,000 homes in 2020, and another says that about 48% are renters. Wikipedia says there are 2.28 million people in the Austin area. Regardless, giving 50 families extra money every week would in no way cause market rates to rise. That’s preposterous. This is such a miniscule amount it would in no way affect the value of that many other rentals. Besides, in your supposition, you are saying that the landlord findsout about their tenant getting an extra $300. Well, again, how would they know that? The tenant could make $300 in any way that would be unknown to the landlord. Sorry, but your argument just isn’t holding water with me.

              • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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                4 months ago

                Your numbers aren’t adding up.

                That’s because I made them up. It’s called a hypothetical. The actual numbers don’t matter because the concept is the same regardless.

                Besides, in your supposition, you are saying that the landlord findsout about their tenant getting an extra $300

                They find out because they pay attention to market conditions and see them going up all over town from all the people getting rental assistance, as I just said in the comment you just replied to.

                • FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.worksM
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                  4 months ago

                  So you are against giving people help who probably need it the most based on some scenario you have completely made up. Nice. Thanks for clarifying.

                  • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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                    4 months ago

                    No, that’s not correct. I am against driving up housing prices that hurt people who need it the most.

                    I am using a hypothetical scenario in a vein attempt to help you understand the problem.

                • csh@dawdling.net
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                  4 months ago

                  @helenslunch
                  All the less than 7500 people getting rent assistance in a market with how many apartments? That’s a miniscule part of the market.

                  Rents increase because more people are moving here (it’s gone from about 100k to nearly a million in the 30 years I’ve been here without much new building until the last few years) and Austin already had a tight apartment market in the 90s.
                  @FigMcLargeHuge

                  • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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                    4 months ago

                    That’s a miniscule part of the market.

                    1. It doesn’t matter how small it is.

                    2. These people are all in the same market and all competing for the same properties (entry level).

                    Rents increase because more people are moving here

                    Rents increase for a myriad of reasons. One of them is because housing is subsidized by the government.