Not to mention, it’s hard enough to discern that for which you qualify, then, face the maze of paperwork and bureaucratic nonsense involved in getting that assistance when you’re healthy, let alone when you are not healthy, lack access to transportation, and have very little money to spare.

Are there bad landlords, you bet there are. There are also good ones. To expect the landlord to give people a break just because it’s housing is ridiculous. If you don’t like it go live in public housing which I would not wish on my worse enemies. If the government is going to make subsidies housing then they should build nicer homes. As the did in Roxbury the housing estate near Longwood is a good example.

When the price of oil to heat the apartments goes up are the landlords supposed to eat that? Why, you the renter are heating using the energy.

Heat and hot water is included in a lot of rents.
The rent reflects that and the landlord has averaged this out. It is a business, period.

I am all for laws that keep the percentage of the landlord raising rents above a reasonable amount per year, but rent control never worked in Boston or Cambridge, it created bad housing.

If there are no landlords then there you will not have rentals.

Most landlords need to cover taxes, insurance, heat and hot water, upkeep and so on. There is also a profit to be made. If you break even, what’s the point? Who in there right mind would want to be a landlord and only break even. It’s a business if you don’t like it don’t rent, buy your own apartment.

About Meals On Wheels…not just any poor or disabled person is eligible. Most locations have guidelines similar to this…

Who is eligible for Meals on Wheels?

People who are at least 60 years of age, who are homebound, unable to cook for themselves and lack outside support are eligible.

Thankfully, most people do NOT fall under these guidelines…but then we are not eligible.

And about SSI, the dollar amount contributed per person, per month by the feds is $637 this year. A few states add a bit more…
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/SSIamts.html

If its such a problem , don’t become a landlord …If the government helps the banks is that socialism ?……What are you talking socialism ? don’t bring that card up it won’t work .That fad went when the Berlin wall came down ….give me a break … You can’t play with peoples lives and raise rents as much as you want ……its not humaine ……

Where I am now living, we have a 90 to 120 day frost free growing season. That means about 2 or 3 months when you can go out and get fresh stuff from the back yard….if you HAVE a back yard.

In the nearby “big” town of Saranac Lake, the senior complex is several stories high with no land for planting. There are a zillion variables why people might not have fresh food or any food.

I went through a few years where I was too sick to leave the house except to go to doc appointments or the hospital. I was no longer able to grow my own food.

There have been months or years when I had no car and there was no public transportation available. The general stores in VT did not sell produce, so you had to be able to drive 15 miles to the grocery store.

One person’s reality can be VERY different from the next person’s circumstances.

My last business was an organic CSA farm for about 15 years. I was a chef for 20 years before that. I know good food and how to cook it.

I just spent almost 3 years homeless because of a divorce. I lived in my van and camped. In October I finally made it to the top of the list on subsidized housing.

In Florida I got $573/month disability and $30/month food stamps. In NY I am getting $704 disability and $14 food stamps. That’s my entire income. Who are the people getting all the food stamps? I almost fainted when I heard the maximum is $176/month. I wish I was so prosperous!

I hear about all sorts of social programs and the “safety net”, but most of it is not out there for someone like me…disabled, single, 52 years old.

I cook everything from scratch….and it’s REALLY hard to get by. Starting over a new life from scratch is financially tough, no matter how much you have!

The obese “hungry” are fat because they feed their fat faces with protion sizes and seconds that are a lot bigger than your grandma or great grandma ate. American young people are taller than ever which indicates better, not worse nutrition.

Americans, especially youngsters, are more sedentary than in the past with bedroom TVs and videogames. Kids are not fat because they eat a poor peoples diet. They’re fat because they burn calories like pampered rich people.

The guest plays fast and loose with facts; typical of an activist. I don’t know about skim milk but 1% fat milk is cheaper than 2% which is generally cheaper than “whole” milk. I don’t know where the guest shops in NYC but this is true of Pathmark, Stop & Shop and Western Beef.

I happen to believe food stamps should be relatively easy to get, however it’s time it stops being the corporate welfare program for the food industry. Why should someone be able to buy a bag of potato chips with food stamps? Potato chips are expensive recreational food.

Food stamps should pay generously for staples, milk, bread, eggs, beans, flour, oil, meat, fish, poultry, produce etc. I would stretch the definition slightly to include frozen vegetables which often make more sense than perishable fresh produce.

OK then if housing is not a business then how do the landlords pay for the upkeep of the property. How do they pay for the insurance and the energy needed to heat the building. How do they pay for the bad renters who don’t pay the rent and then leave. How do they pay for the few idiots who live like animals and destroy the property.

I’m not a landlord, but I have known a few small property owners, and while they make decent income the amount needed for the enterprise of a just a few apartment buildings is staggering.

As in all things there are good tenants and landlords and there are also bad.

The price is based on what the market can afford.

You want socialism and subsidized housing look at all the awful housing projects in the large cities in this country.

You want a real wake up call try visiting the Gorbals housing estate in Glasgow. It’s not as bad as it was in the 80’s but it’s still awful.

They expected a few hundred people would show up.

40,000 people showed up to pick up onions and potatoes and cabbages.

40,000 people, something is wrong in this country, dreadfully wrong. Why there are not riots on the street every day I don’t know.