The poor? Are they poor before or after the $3000/month payments for the upscale bling, optional services, car, and consumer goods? America would be better off without this demographic. Even in good times they still manage to represent drag and leave a trail of bad debt. Their problems emanate from multiple generations of victimhood and bad decisions. Read a sob story today about a guy with a felony DUI. Really, some writer thinks I’m going to feel bad for that guy? If they move from Boise to Seattle, Portland, or LA, it’s a net gain for Boise.

It’s an excellent strategy to keep Boise’s safety net somewhat less helpful than those other cities. If improvement is made to the local safety net we will get an infestation like those cities have.

Your worry would be better spent on the taxpayers. The hard working low and middle bracket taxpayer. The people who’ve done most everything right, but are still being crushed. To observe them, look past the low rent district into the suburbs. You’ll see alarming trends of corporate owned rental houses and generation stacking in ~2/3 of the single family homes. Utility bills 300% higher than 15 years ago, lies from the school district, county, and city causing tax increases. The cost of everything needed to live has spiked. They are not allowed welfare. They are paying 300% higher health insurance premiums. These folks have skilled and semiskilled full time employment. Many have advanced educations. Most have kept their nose clean and work very hard. We can’t survive without these people. They are the engine of the economy. Why no tears for them on the newscasts?!?

This is an issue we are going to be seeing a lot more of. Boise has created a quality of life that is in high demand. That means a lot more people moving to the area. The simple laws of supply and demand take over. Rents in the Boise area in multi family units have been very low for many years. If one reviews the active listing for four plexes and duplexes you will see numerous ads with great long term tenants. Tenants that have been paying rent well below market rates due to soft hearted property owner. As these units turnover, the rents are going up and up even without heavy remodels. Due to the shortage of vacant land, some investors have picked up on the idea of remodeling and increasing the rents in order to get the property to cash flow after the acquisition, loan and rehab costs, which is risky. While this is a disheartening trend, many first time home buyers have had to buy in Canyon county in order to afford their first home. Now it is the the renters who will have to move. I doubt there will be many affordable housing projects in the near future. The only way an owner/investor can make them work is with government assistance and its burdensome regulations. Why deal with the issues when the demand for market rent is so high? This is the same issue many resort communities have to work through, affordable work force housing and historically it requires taxpayer assistance or philanthropic donations of land or money. We have seen home prices escalate tremendously the last couple of years, it is only natural that rents will rise too.

So the city announced that they are spending over a million $ ($150,000 in city funds) on a new bike path on the green belt – – but last week they said they did not have any money for the homeless.

“They had better [die] and decrease the surplus population.” – Ebenezer Scrooge

Oh, wait! If they die, who will change the sheets at the uppity hotels, and make table-side guacamole?

No easy answers to some of those questions.

“Not fooled” raised an issue that I find myself thinking about, with regards to the homeless. Does a better “safety net” make for a net influx of homeless, from cities that aren’t as hospitable? I don’t know why it wouldn’t… back in the day, hobos would carve a notch in the fence post of the most generous assisters, so those coming after could likewise take advantage of the offered hospitality.

Some people bristle at the thought of being “judgmental” about the homeless… but I feel it’s in our best interest as a community to extend assistance to those who genuinely need it, while trying NOT to subsidize the homeless-by-choice demographic. The guy holding a “Will work for food – God Bless” cardboard sign in one hand… and a smart-phone in the other and smoking fancy store-bought cigarettes? I’m reluctant to help that guy.

My worry is that Boise is going to try and pursue the San Francisco model of gentrified class cleansing. Every landowner will be made to believe that their property is prime and will hold out for the “deep pockets” that they think will find their little scrap of dirt. For example, on Vista Avenue, there’s a little thrift store called Little House of Hoarders. Lorraine is the owner. She told me that she tried to rent a space just down the street next to Mystique Salon, near Wells Fargo Bank. The landowners told her that they would not rent to her because they were waiting for the mythical deep pocket chains or upper end renter to swoop in and pay for that eyesore. That’s the problem. Those deep pockets see growth in Meridian, not on Vista Avenue. And they would rather pay property taxes than rent and get an income. Or are they getting a discount for not renting? Boise could easily fall into the gentrification trap and working class poor will be evicted out of the city like they are in SF.

Anyone paying attention to the big picture knows that the government is cooking the books. Unemployment is much higher than they say, the Baltic Dry Index shows that import/exports are the lowest in history and that corporations are buying back their own stock rather than retooling or hiring workers. The retail sector is dying. Only little niche markets are doing anything but you can’t eat niche. Niche doesn’t pay the big bills.

Re the homeless. I can see that some commenters don’t talk to many homeless. I have and many that are in shelters, actually have jobs. Here is the breakdown of homeless- 1) Vets torn apart by foreign wars 2) Those made bankrupt my medical bills (O-Care doesn’t work), 3) Those thrown out by the housing fraud fiasco and its aftermath, and 4) Those who are mentally damaged or just can’t get it together and other stuff. Broad brushing the homeless as worthless shows ignorance and callousness. There are a lot of people who NEVER thought they would be homeless, that are now. They thought they were too smart to lose it all. They were wrong. I know a former Marine who saw combat in Kuwait and he came home to a family thrown on the street by medical bankruptcy. I know a heavy diesel tow truck driver who works full time and was living in a homeless shelter. I know others who all stayed in Henry Krewer’s old homeless shelter back in the early 2000s before it was closed that had jobs, just no addresses. Go and learn about the homeless FROM the homeless before you judge them all. You will find those who can’t cope and those that are trying real hard and don’t get ZIRP financing from the FED like Goldman Sachs et al can.

This economy belongs to the rentiers and bankers.

Fooled- Yeah…I KNOW it’s the cost of shipping, but you use it to measure what it happening in export/import, just like you use a flashlight to see in the dark. So, I didn’t have to see a dermatologist due to the “burn” you thought you inflicted.

Victimhood. I know all about this philosophy. Yes, politicians exploit it. Yes, it’s a trap. But that doesn’t mean people can’t be victims. Everyone is a victim of something. You are to. I’m sure you would agree that you are a victim of paying taxes, if you pay them. I know the libertarian creed. But if you are really so incredibly untouchable, due to your own self-perceived Galtness, why are you wasting time reading this blog? Go be a superman and live your supreme life. Why do we matter to you? We’re just victims.

good essay on wage inequality and then Idaho is a right to work state. I was a union member for 22 years and didn’t get rich but live comfortably with good health benefits, tax deferred income and a pension.
So I am very pro-union. Organize.

fooled… The only thing that is asinine is the fact you believe what you are spewing. God help ya when you wake up.

I will say this rick. There is an evil profit pact between large corporations, government regulators, courts, political elites, and the lawyer scumbags who protect their organized and immoral abuses of ordinary folks. Unions should be the answer, but if we look closely at unions we find a pack of scumbags abusing their power just the same. The only remaining answer is for the media to do its divine and righteous duty to spread the whole truth and nothing but the truth to expose injustice. They won’t do it though; their lawyers and marketing team won’t let them. Too boring. Too risky.

rick, you are correct about the uselessness of averages when comparing different kinds of produce.

I am a Boise native. Idaho is NOT a low cost of living area. We are taxed for everything, housing is high and wages are low. A lot of people I know have moved out of the state and are doing MUCH better, all while making a lot more money. I am headed out of Idaho next year, thankfully. I will be able to afford a much better life elsewhere.