Saturday, November 02, 2024

WHILE WALL ST. BOOMS

In US swing state Pennsylvania, inflation means ‘rent or eating’

By AFP
October 31, 2024

Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File SPENCER PLATT
Thomas URBAIN

In Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state prize in the US presidential election, renters — whether still working or retired — are struggling. But whether they choose Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, immediate relief is not a given.

In Dauphin county, home to the state capital Harrisburg, skyrocketing inflation, soaring rents and spiralling real estate prices have made it difficult to balance the budget every month.

Retiree Sonia Perez says her 35-year-old son Xavier, who works full-time as an elevator operator, faces a tough choice most of the time.

“This is what you’re looking at, rent or eating,” said the 72-year-old Perez, who was a teacher and herself receives a low-income housing voucher.

“Last time I was at his place, I opened the fridge, and there was only water.”

According to the latest data from the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, some 16 percent of renters in Dauphin county are facing the threat of eviction. That is one of the highest rates in the state.

Perez herself doesn’t have a huge financial cushion.

Three years ago, she lost her house due to a fire from a short-circuit, a disaster that forced her to live temporarily in emergency housing provided by local charity Christian Churches United.

Unable to afford significant repairs, because she was not insured for the damages, she ended up selling her property for only $30,000. That money is now long gone.

“I’m struggling to pay rent,” Perez said of the monthly $275 she owes after her voucher, for a two-bedroom apartment in Harrisburg.

Xzavia, a supervisor in a mental institution who lives in Harrisburg, was recently threatened with eviction after she had to switch to part-time work when the youngest of her three sons was diagnosed with autism.

“I’m a single mom, everything comes from my pockets, so by the time you pay the rent and the bills, there’s really not much left,” she told AFP, declining to give her last name.

Xzavia, 33, faced issues getting aid, as her salary was considered too high for certain programs.

Thanks to the Beahive Affordable Housing Outreach group, which provided her with $500, she avoided the eviction.

The program is “what we call needs-based and not income-based,” Beahive founder Samara Scott said.

Xzavia had sought to break her lease, which ends in April, but her landlord threatened to sue her for the remaining rent that would have been owed, she told AFP.



– ‘Hidden valley’ discovered –



Finding a new place will also probably be difficult.

Perez says she had to submit about 50 applications before finding her current spot.

“There are just not enough homes,” said Scott. “I have people calling me every day asking me, ‘Do you know of a house?'”

Ryan Colquhoun, a broker at Harrisburg Property Management Group, said houses in the Harrisburg area used to sell for $100,000 or $125,000, while rents were once just a few hundred dollars a month.

“It sort of was like this hidden valley of affordability,” said Colquhoun, whose company manages about 2,000 rental properties. “It’s like the secret of the affordability of central Pennsylvania got out.”

Rents have shot up as much as 50 percent in the last three years, Colquhoun said.

“Some landlords that used to be a little more forgiving because the demand wasn’t there are now taking a hard line on going to eviction court,” said Michelle Miduri of the nonprofit Love In The Name of Christ of Greater Hershey.

Love INC provides money to financially stressed renters but also owns some emergency housing that can be used for up to a year.

Scott is working with Beahive to refurbish a house that can be rented to an especially needy family. She hopes to one day be able to create a “hive” — buy land and install container homes that could be rented and eventually owned.

Scott supports Harris, who has proposed a number of steps to boost the housing supply and make home purchases more affordable.

Trump has not proposed a comparable policy but says housing will become more available through deregulation and by curbing an influx of migrants.

Not everyone in Pennsylvania is sold — on either candidate.

“My husband is like, ‘Yeah, I’m just not going to vote. I don’t like either one of them,'” Scott recounted. “And I’m like, that’s not really an option.”


Lawn sign wars: US election drains neighborhood spirit


By AFP
October 31, 2024

Political tensions are disturbing neighborly relations ahead of the US election - Copyright AFP -


Ben Turner

It was a threatening message to his wife that made Adam Besthoff remove all but one of his Donald Trump lawn signs ahead of an election that has fueled divisions among Americans.

“They said they know where she lives and where she works,” the 49-year-old told AFP from his home in Fairfax, Virginia, where a single sign now remains with a picture of Trump raising his fist after surviving a July assassination attempt.

Besthoff, a plumber, had tried to deter the vandals — including by slathering oil from sardine tins onto the signs — but still, he says, more than a dozen were stolen in the run-up to the November 5 vote.

Democratic supporters have also been targeted in neighborhoods across the country split over the election.

In Missouri, a woman followed an Apple AirTag she had placed in her Kamala Harris sign to a car in a nearby town. When confronted, the owner opened their vehicle to reveal scores of Harris signs.

“I expected to find the AirTag, but not 59 signs. It was kind of like finding a dead body,” the woman, Laura McCaskill, told local media.

The White House race between Trump and Harris has polarized voters on hot-button issues from abortion rights to immigration laws.

A record-high 80 percent of US adults believe Americans are greatly divided on the most important values, according to a Gallup poll in September.

The humble lawn sign is part of American life, often used to promote a sports team or child’s school. But with political tensions playing out in local neighborhoods, the traditional election signs have proved too much for some.



– ‘It’s just crazy’ –



Besthoff — a Republican Party member living in a county that voted 70 percent Democrat in 2020 — anticipated some backlash to his pro-Trump lawn signs that boasted “Trump Secure Border, Kamala Open Border.”

But he was still shocked by the frequency and audacity of the vandalism — all of which were caught by his home’s security cameras and shared with AFP.

One video captures a hooded man ripping a sign from Besthoff’s front yard before tossing it down the street and driving away. Another shows a woman stuffing signs into a black garbage bag.

The final straw was online messages sent to his wife’s beauty salon, identifying where she lived and, according to Besthoff, threatening to tarnish her business with bad reviews if the signs were not removed.

“It’s just crazy,” Besthoff said. “My wife feels that if I put the signs up I’m instigating a ‘wild dog’ as she calls them.

“She is allowing me to put up one sign reluctantly, but she is also requesting that I remove the sign. Every day it’s a back and forth thing now between us.”

Matthew Hurtt, a Republican Party official in Virginia, told AFP he had received reports of at least 100 stolen signs since early October.

Lawn sign theft is a criminal offense in most US states but it is seldom prosecuted due to the low value of signs and difficulties in identifying thieves.

Yet for many, the greatest cost of these incidents is freedom of expression and a loss of neighborhood tolerance.

“It’s respecting your neighbors, respecting their First Amendment rights,” Harris supporter McCaskill said.

Hurtt agreed: “It has a chilling effect on political speech.”


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