“At Home in Lincoln County” is one agency’s latest attempt to show the gap that exists between the housing average wage families can afford what’s available. It’s reportedly the first comprehensive housing assessment in Lincoln County in 20 years.
Lincoln County Lands Trust Chair and County Commissioner Bill Hall says “The goal is to develop hard numbers to show the gap between our available housing supply and the actual need.”
Hall said there is a definite shortage of working class family housing because a major part of the real estate market is for second home or vacation rental markets which are priced far above what many working Lincoln County families can afford, including nurses, teachers, or police officers.
To help be a part of improving Lincoln County’s housing situation, call Lincoln Community Land Trust at 541-758-2761 or on line www.LincolnCLT.org
Wait, what?
Hall said there is a definite shortage of working class family housing because a major part of the real estate market is for second home or vacation rental markets which are priced far above what many working Lincoln County families can afford, including “nurses, teachers, or police officers. ”
Nurses,teachers and police officers.. really.. we have been duped and mislead to believe that these careers pay so little that they need additional help to purchase homes? These are very highly paid positions in this poor economy.. what about the retail clerks or front desk hotel help or the fisherman?
Whats next, a organized group to help 120K per year public workers ?
What we’re learning in this country is that nations without a sense of true caring for their own people, whose economic and social health affects everyone, is throwing humanity off a cliff, which in the end, we all pay for. The USA is currently having a wild passionate fling with the “free market” way of thinking. Except it’s being preached by those who have more money than they have time to spend. It’s what we get on national TV, all the news cable channels and talk radio. But we know in our hearts and in the deepest recesses of our minds that the term “free market” is 75% concept and 25% reality. If a free market provided electricity and roads we’d all be sitting in the dark at night watching shadows pass by on the dirt paths in front of our huts. I don’t know when common sense and a TRUE PATRIOTIC fealty toward each other and our country will re-emerge in time for us to stop digging ourselves deeper in the hole.
So, what your saying is that capitalism “bad” socialism “good”?
We may not have the best system every devised, but I honestly feel its the one on the planet, right now!
I don’t buy for a second that we would sitting in the dark.. the free market would have dealt with those long ago, and we would probably be paying much less for our power and roadways then we do now.. not to say that any free market system should be allowed free rein over the rights of the individual.. or the market itself. just think how much cheaper a product becomes once there is competition?
Remember how cheap home phone service became once the Bells were broken up? I could have AT&T on the phone while 2 others were on hold waiting to offer me a couple hundred bucks to switch over, that was free market in all its glory.
Much positive in both systems, but also both are open to corruption and graft.. I personally think its govt that has taught the business world how to do be crooks, not the other way around.. after all they have had more time to learn!
I believe that ALL govts have a level of corruption, while most business are basically honest.
What we have is neither capitalism nor socialism. Caring about people is not in the capitalistic vocabulary beyond selling goods and services. I agree completely with your statement about there are positives in both systems. And through the collective intelligence of the voting public, we develop a government that helps maintain the proper tension between market power and community health. Where capitalism breaks down is when it becomes obvious that there is no longer market competition, but rather, market control. Most European internet users enjoy 50-100 mb/s internet service thanks to government mandates for internet providers to offer the highest practical technology. In this country, we’re stuck at around 15 mb/s, WHILE PAYING THREE TO FOUR TIMES AS MUCH FOR IT. Unbridled capitalism makes the market inefficient as it assigns resources to meet market demand and the support of market growth. What matters to the pure capitalist is THEIR bottom line. Not the market’s, or of consumers. Market control begets autocratic, dictatorial direction of the market rather than a healthy economy. (Wall Street crash) America’s quick break up of AT&T pales in comparison to the continued market control by American oil companies which not only have a strangle hold on supply, but also a strangle hold on congressional politics that keeps the country dependent on oil while suppressing transportation alternatives through massive ownership of patents bought-up by American oil companies, and thereby removed from the marketplace of ideas and production (not to mention tax breaks they admit they don’t even need). Additionally, it’s not just about capitalism’s ideology that demands unbridled provision of products and services. It’s also about an accompanied assessment of the social and spiritual well-being of people within the wider definition of society. Those who disagree see human beings mainly as consumers while others see them as much more than consumers. More than mere “shoppers.”
The life’s blood of our evolving democracy cannot survive without a strong, vibrant middle class which is, tragically, hemorrhaging under the assault of cheap foreign imports, shipping jobs overseas, and shrinking government revenues, which, by the way, are now at the lowest fraction of gross domestic product in 60 years. Revenues for EDUCATION are in free-fall. Higher education is out of reach except for a small segment of our graduating high school seniors which spells doom for our future competitiveness in the world economy. The catastrophic accumulation of our national debt is the direct result of fighting two wars off-line, a titanic shift in American corporations investing overseas instead of at home (GM now makes more vehicles in China than it does in the U.S.- now you know what their government bail-out went for), and incredible tax breaks for the country’s wealthy elite who we expected to turn around and CREATE jobs. They haven’t. The IRS and Congressional Budget Office report that the wealthiest 400 families in this country now own and control more than half the nation’s assets. Most millionaires and billionaires pay at a tax rate of 15%. What’s YOUR tax rate? Now THAT’S a redistribution of wealth! As for those we send to Washington, they are FAR more concerned about getting re-elected than they are about the health and stability of the country. They may scream otherwise, but just look at their behavior AND THEIR VOTING RECORDS.
There’s no room for labels here. Screaming “right wing or liberal” adds nothing to effective discussions over what’s wrong. While we were watching too much television (instead of participating SUFFICIENTLY in our democracy) our country was pilfered out the back door. As patriotic Americans, PATRIOTIC AMERICANS, we owe it to ourselves, to our children and to our grandchildren to take it back. But we won’t until we outgrow our mindless bumper sticker politics and demands for simple answers to complex challenges. There’s an old saying about education. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I believe it also pertains to our beloved country’s current perilous condition. When the public is ready, the leadership will appear. But not before. Democracy is not a spectator sport.