Me and the Missus have been looking for some foreclosure properties in Maple Bluff, preferably with lakeshore frontage. Not to buy, you understand, but "move-in ready."
Why not? If Operation Welcome Home is encouraging squatters to move into empty homes, why can't anyone play?
"Movin' on up, to the East side, in a deluxe apartment in the sky!"
"Housing is a human right," says Z! Haukeness of Operation Welcome Home. This is the outfit that K! Kristen Petroshius started a couple of years ago when vagrants tried to take over the park shelter at Brittingham Park. [Blaska's Blog: Work!?#*! is as good as any place to reference.]
The update is that police moved the squatter and her two young children out on Wednesday. A landlord friend of mine contacted the attorney (Joel Bruce Winnig) for the owner of the property on Tempe Drive on the city's far southwest side and encouraged him to bring a complaint against the squatters, who broke in the back door and then changed the locks. This was a prophylactic action on behalf of all property owners against future squatters.
But it raises a good issue in this entitlement-addicted society? Where does it stop?
"Housing is a human right."
"Food is a basic right."
"Health care is a constitutional right."
"(Fill in the blank) is a right."
Translation: I don't have any so you must give me some.
It is the entitlement trap.
My lil' buddy Ms. E! Emily Mills demonstrates why the Democrats should consider her a worthy replacement to Big Government capo Dave Obey:
If a house has gone unlived in for a certain period of time -- say a year -- then maybe there should be a system in place that would match it up with people in real need of a home. They could apply with and be vetted by responsible organizations so as to help ensure that, once in the building, they wouldn't be likely to do structural damage or create a dangerous environment in the neighborhood. [Emily's Post 5-11-10]
M! Marty Beil is salivating. More government union dues payers! Put up the office cubicles, hire the bureaucracy, write the regs. How many days/weeks/months must one be "homeless" to qualify for an efficiency apartment versus a duplex versus a single family residence? What does constitute acceptable "structural damage" or a "dangerous environment in the neighborhood." More regs. Of course, there will be appeals rights and hearings. And inspectors, supervisors, administrators, and political appointees.
After all, says Ms. E! Emily, "It's simply unconscionable that we live in one of the most prosperous nations in the world and set still have so many homeless and at-risk citizens."
I think it is unconscionable, too. But when you de-incentivize work, thrift, and savings -- you can expect to get more homelessness.
Isn't Section 8 bad enough?
Common sense retains a foothold
Greg Humphrey makes good sense in Caffeinated Politics, as he often does:
Swat the squatters out! And there must be criminal charges to make sure a message is sent to quell others who might want to move into a 'vacant' property. [Swat the Madison Squatters]
When James and I started looking for a house about four years ago we looked for what we could afford. What a concept! We never dreamed that all we needed to do was look for a foreclosed property with a broken door, move my book shelves in, and set up shop. ... We all have been in situations that were not the best, but few of us take illegal actions to improve our lot in life.
Actually, quite a few of us do. Just check out the "undocumented" immigrants. (Reminder: Today, May 13 at 6:30 pm. at the City County Building, the Dane County Task Force on for(Illegal) Immigration is taking public comment.)
Over on the Forum, Madison Realist makes the deans list:
While I agree that there is a homelessness problem in Madison, a portion of them are people who bring the issue upon themselves.
Desiree Wilson has had eviction proceedings brought against her three times in the last three years, one of which resulted in a $5,000+ rents and damages judgment against her. She even admits herself that her 'rental history is not good', and that is what is preventing her from getting a place to live. What makes her more deserving than any other homeless person out there?
Isn't this "something for nothing" concept what got us into the housing market meltdown to begin with?
That is why the Tempe Drive leads straight to Greece.
It is what Paul Ryan is talking about when he talks about the tipping point.
It's Greek to us
The Chicago Tribune says: "the U.S. economy will suffer a lot if this country keeps following the sort of fiscal policies that have created the crisis in Greece. Greece's problem is that it has lived far beyond its means. Its government budget deficit is now nearly 14 percent of its gross domestic product, and its total debt is 115 percent of GDP."
But America's federal budget deficit is expected to top 10 percent of GDP this year, the highest since World War II ... "Given current trends, the total debt will reach a scary 90 percent of GDP just a decade from now."
Much of the recent deficit spending in Washington stems from a defensible response to a severe economic crisis. But once that is past, spending will continue to rise, by nearly 60 percent over the next decade. [Chicago Tribune: Greece and us, 5-11-10]
Operation Welcome the Hell Home, Central Wisconsin
In Marquette County, WI.