Home sweet home

Filthy, dangerous, rodent infested.

Is this how you would describe your home?

Well,  if you don't have much money and you live in Norway, apparently these are the conditions that several landlords expect their tenants to live in. And the agencies that are tasked with inspecting these homes and protecting these people are apparently fine with it.

After all, where are they going to go? Some housing is better than none ... right?

Our local landlords have realized (for quite some time) how much money is to be made from poor tenants living in tenements.

If you take a building, divide it up into tiny apartments, do little maintenance, don’t upgrade the building, don’t spend money on fire escapes and then collect rent that is guaranteed by the government, you can make a lot of money.

In fact, Avesta reports that 1,210 families in Southern Maine receive Section 8 assistance. If each household received $600, that would amount to 8.7 million taxpayer dollars.

Worse, these building are death traps. The fact that nobody has been killed in one of the numerous fires we have seen in the last few years can be chalked up to pure luck.

These are some of the most vulnerable people in our neighborhoods: the elderly, single mothers, people with mental illness.

There are systems set up that are supposed to protect them, but they are failing.

Why? Because the agencies don’t care? Because the landlords get their rent checks? Because we prefer not to notice?

It is not right. We can do better.