Edges around giving
We had a community-wide conversation about homelessness this summer when someone realized that the town common was available by right for anyone who wanted to camp there. It didn't have bathroom facilities after the bus station (nearby) closed, but was within a block of the YMCA for showers and the Library as a place to hang in the day. A bunch of people organized themselves into a community, mounted guards, etc, and just tried to keep themselves and their possessions safe. But they were RIGHT SMACK in the middle of the town and outrage at their existence basically overwhelmed a vocal proportion of the population. Much hand-wringing ensued. The denouement is ironically awful, so let me just say the tldr; version: they had to leave because Reasons. I don't thing anyone was starry-eyed enough to believe that unsightly poor people were going to win the day. The real world doesn't work like that.
One of the things I kept thinking about was my massive Victorian with five bedrooms, only one of which is being regularly occupied. I could actually really use a housemate to help with pet sitting and things like that. But I don't have separate kitchen facilities and the *reality* of having a housemate would quickly become awful. I know this. I tried to think of some way to offer help but I couldn't figure out how to put edges around it. "You can shower here, but not sleep, or you can sleep here, but not on week-ends when we're gone, or you can sleep here on week-ends when we're gone, but you can't have friends over to the place you live, or you can have friends over, but not ones who have criminal records, or..." You may recall that we got stuck carrying a tenant in the Antebellum Beauty because she had no place to go. We couldn't make ourselves throw her out in the snow at Christmas-time with a broken leg. We didn't mind when she didn't pay rent on time. Or when she shorted us. Or even all that much when she didn't pay at all. But when we couldn't sell the building because the buyer wouldn't buy it if she lived there (rent-free) (duh!) that's what I mean. We didn't mind giving a little. But there was no edge to it.
So we have this house in Maine and a sweet young thing is looking for a short-term rental and I'd be okay with renting it to her for $500/month (we rent it for $1000/week-end, and the real estate taxes alone on it are $600/month, so this is a deal.) EXCEPT we're only willing to do that between October 15 and April 15th. If we felt like she would leave when we wanted it back we'd do the deal. Except we'd want her to pay her own heating oil costs (athough we'd carry the other utilities that are already in our name.) And we'd carry the mortgage and the insurance and do all the repairs... but what happens when she makes a serious mistake, freezes the pipes, whatever? What happens when she has parties here and things get damaged? It's a fully furnished house. We rent it out regularly to vacationers, but only for a WEEK nand then they leave and we get it back.
So we're thinking about how this would end. It's April 15th and I want to come here for the week after tax season ends, which is a HUGE part of why we own this super-expensive place to begin with. It's a refuge for me, a place to heal, a place I can bring my dog, a place I can get to quickly and easily without having to book flights, etc. I am not willing to have a tenant in here on April 16th. So how would we evict her if she had trouble leaving? Because no one else will give her a deal as sweet as this: an ocean-view three bedroom house for $500/month in her kid's school district? Nope, she'd have to be evicted out into the cold. And we'd be the nasty rich people who did it because we are so evil as to want our vacation home during our vacation.
I am paralyzed here. I want to help. Six months in this place would be a godsend. I actually heard people PRAYING that she and her kid would find housing when we were in church. But how do you offer just SOME help, and STOP?
I wonder if we could do some sort of Air BnB for bums. Offer specific days when we're open, do it through the homeless shelter, have an app for that. They'd send the people who need to be in our spare bedroom, but also be the meany-heads to evict them if they don't leave. I wouldn't mind sharing some of my five plus three = EIGHT bedrooms with people who need housing. I'd actually be happy to do so, IF I could NOT do it when I didn't want to.
Arrrgggh.
One of the things I kept thinking about was my massive Victorian with five bedrooms, only one of which is being regularly occupied. I could actually really use a housemate to help with pet sitting and things like that. But I don't have separate kitchen facilities and the *reality* of having a housemate would quickly become awful. I know this. I tried to think of some way to offer help but I couldn't figure out how to put edges around it. "You can shower here, but not sleep, or you can sleep here, but not on week-ends when we're gone, or you can sleep here on week-ends when we're gone, but you can't have friends over to the place you live, or you can have friends over, but not ones who have criminal records, or..." You may recall that we got stuck carrying a tenant in the Antebellum Beauty because she had no place to go. We couldn't make ourselves throw her out in the snow at Christmas-time with a broken leg. We didn't mind when she didn't pay rent on time. Or when she shorted us. Or even all that much when she didn't pay at all. But when we couldn't sell the building because the buyer wouldn't buy it if she lived there (rent-free) (duh!) that's what I mean. We didn't mind giving a little. But there was no edge to it.
So we have this house in Maine and a sweet young thing is looking for a short-term rental and I'd be okay with renting it to her for $500/month (we rent it for $1000/week-end, and the real estate taxes alone on it are $600/month, so this is a deal.) EXCEPT we're only willing to do that between October 15 and April 15th. If we felt like she would leave when we wanted it back we'd do the deal. Except we'd want her to pay her own heating oil costs (athough we'd carry the other utilities that are already in our name.) And we'd carry the mortgage and the insurance and do all the repairs... but what happens when she makes a serious mistake, freezes the pipes, whatever? What happens when she has parties here and things get damaged? It's a fully furnished house. We rent it out regularly to vacationers, but only for a WEEK nand then they leave and we get it back.
So we're thinking about how this would end. It's April 15th and I want to come here for the week after tax season ends, which is a HUGE part of why we own this super-expensive place to begin with. It's a refuge for me, a place to heal, a place I can bring my dog, a place I can get to quickly and easily without having to book flights, etc. I am not willing to have a tenant in here on April 16th. So how would we evict her if she had trouble leaving? Because no one else will give her a deal as sweet as this: an ocean-view three bedroom house for $500/month in her kid's school district? Nope, she'd have to be evicted out into the cold. And we'd be the nasty rich people who did it because we are so evil as to want our vacation home during our vacation.
I am paralyzed here. I want to help. Six months in this place would be a godsend. I actually heard people PRAYING that she and her kid would find housing when we were in church. But how do you offer just SOME help, and STOP?
I wonder if we could do some sort of Air BnB for bums. Offer specific days when we're open, do it through the homeless shelter, have an app for that. They'd send the people who need to be in our spare bedroom, but also be the meany-heads to evict them if they don't leave. I wouldn't mind sharing some of my five plus three = EIGHT bedrooms with people who need housing. I'd actually be happy to do so, IF I could NOT do it when I didn't want to.
Arrrgggh.