[Vision2020] Correct Rent for my House

Tue May 1 15:56:17 PDT 2007

Well, Arnold, if you are going to combine the rent payments, you might as
well combine the living space (of the HOUSE), as well.

That would amount to a 5 bedroom, 3 bath HOUSE for $1,500 per month.

Question, Arnold:  What are the going rent rates for a comparable house?

Tom "living in a 2-bedroom, 1-bath, $500 a month apartment" Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

"Anyone that buys something at Wal-Mart or Target expecting it to last
doesn't know how to spend money."

- Donovan Arnold (October 3, 2006)

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From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Donovan Arnold
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 2:29 PM
To: Nick Gier
Cc: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Correct Rent for my House

Nick,

As I understand it, $600 a month for part of the house, $750 for the other
half of the house is $1350 a month. Is my math off?

Count in w,s,g, utilities, and it is easily over $1500 a month for a house
rental. 

A couple with a child or two going to college cannot afford $1500 a month. 

When everyone, including you, divides their homes up into apartments to
raise the rental value of a home to $1500 a month, you make it impossible
for single families to rent an entire home.

You have to rent to 4 to 8 people because it is not affordable for a one
income family. 

In order for $750 a month to be affordable, that would be $9,000 a year.
Someone would have to net $30,000 a year in order for that to be only 30% of
their income. 

No statistics in Moscow support the claim that the average college student
with children does not make $30,000 a year after taxes. 

The math is pretty concrete. $750 a month is NOT affordable housing for a
family in Moscow. 

Want more math. If a college student works 25 hrs a week at $10 an hour.
That is about $1000 a month net income. They get the maximum of $12,000 in
loans, grants, and scholarships. That is still only $24,000 a year, assuming
no missed work and they can find a job for twice the minimum wage.  

Moscow has no affordable housing for college family units. Dividing housing
to maximize rental income is the main reason why.

Best,

Donovan

Nick Gier <ngier at uidaho.edu> wrote:

Dear Donovan,

You are not remembering my rent figures very well.  Families who have rented
my 3-bedroom upstairs have found the $750 rent very reasonable, and students
who have 3 bedrooms and 2 baths downstairs for $600 believe that they have
died and gone to heaven.

By the way, the upstairs will be available for Fall semester and the
downstairs will be available July 1.  Please spread the word and give anyone
interested my e-mail address.

Nick Gier

At 09:33 AM 5/1/2007, you wrote:

Nick,

I didn't attack your house. I was disagreeing with you charging $1500 to
rent a house in Moscow. In order for that to be considered affordable
housing a family would have to make $4,500 a month in net income. Those
types of jobs are just not available in Moscow. Nor does a person get that
much money in students loans, grants and scholarships.

What you seem to not comprehend is that when you make rent prices so
outrageous you make life very difficult, if not impossible for couples with
children that would like to get out of poverty by getting a degree at UI. 

Sure, $1500 is affordable for 5 or 6 college students. But single families
have to pay that same market rate. This was my biggest challenge as a
student body senator, was trying to find adequate low income housing for
single families. It doesn't exist. The UI family housing is full, and the
buildings are falling apart, not entirely safe, and have mold and health
issues. 

That was my point, and why I am angry about the situation. It is completely
unfair.

Best,

Donovan

Nick Gier <ngier at uidaho.edu> wrote:

Good Morning Visionaries:

I'm just as fed with Donovan's tirades as anyone on this list.  (My favorite
attack was the one on my house.  I can defend myself, but house cannot.)
Objecting to his insults and bad manners is one thing, but diagnosing his
mental state complete with labels is another thing, even if he has given his
own diagnosis.

I would very much like this thread to cease immediately.

Nick Gier

"Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to human
affairs."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Abstract truth has no value unless it incarnates in human beings who
represent it, by proving their readiness to die for it."
 --Mohandas Gandhi

"Modern physics has taught us that the nature of any system cannot be
discovered by dividing it into its component parts and studying each part by
itself. . . .We must keep our attention fixed on the whole and on the
interconnection between the parts. The same is true of our intellectual
life. It is impossible to make a clear cut between science, religion, and
art. The whole is never equal simply to the sum of its various parts." --Max
Planck

Nicholas F. Gier
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Idaho
1037 Colt Rd., Moscow, ID 83843
http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm
208-882-9212/FAX 885-8950
President, Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm

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