housing Archives - Fran Moreland Johns

A CLEAR SOLUTION TO TODAY’S PROBLEMS

Maybe what this country needs is a boarding house revival.

In the very olden days, specifically the century or more ending with the housing boom that followed World War II, the boarding house was everybody’s answer: a home, for a while or a generation, for maiden ladies and traveling salesmen, families on the move but not quite sure where, immigrants and itinerants, students of all ages and inclinations.

Boarding houses were run by couples whose children had grown and left home, by young families in need of extra income, and often by women in the days when few other options existed. Or older people of all types who enjoyed company and had a few spare rooms.

Granted, there was no oversight for health and safety etc; but it was in the boarding house that the citizenry learned manners, handiwork, new trades and how to love — or at least get along with — one’s neighbor. Violations of civility could lead to cold eggs for breakfast.

Memories of these establishments came to me recently at 3 AM, in the form of a song I have certainly not sung for at least 60 or 70 years. There is, I’m sure, some scientific explanation for why I can’t remember what I was talking about at breakfast, but a tune from my college guitar quartet days in 1951 pops into my head, unbidden and utterly precise, words & music complete, at 3 AM. In a continuous loop that is still playing.

In case you don’t want to Google it (several versions appear but mine is the right one) the ‘Boarding House Song’ is below. It is sung to the tune of ‘Silver Threads Among the Gold’ — which is also embedded in my brain but that can wait.

In the boarding house where I lived, everything is growing old; Long gray hairs are in the butter, and the cheese is full of mold.

When the dog died we had sausage; when the cat died, catnip tea. When the landlord died I left there; spareribs were too much for me.

I take the return-of-the-boarding-house-song as an omen.

Problems of housing and homelessness are everywhere today, not to mention the struggle to accomodate immigrants and asylum seekers. Folks in the low-income bracket are often inadequately or improperly housed, and there are all manner of economic pressures on the middle class. Loneliness and depression are on the increase everywhere.

For the obvious solution to all of these issues I refer you to paragraphs three and four above. Civility would be an add-on bonus.

I rest my case.

Today’s Sonoma County (CA) Press Democrat features a front page story about Joe Montana’s digs near Calistoga, available for $49 er–million. It is right above a photo of homeless vet Jack Saltzman reading in his hatchback, the juxtaposition of photos hard not to notice.

Others vets don’t have hatchbacks. Press Democrat feature writer Jeremy Hay reports that according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately 400, or 12%, of Sonoma’s 35,000 vets are homeless, which fellow homeless vet Don Bridges says is “just the tip of it.” Some 131,000 of the nation’s 24 million veterans are homeless on any given day.

Hay details some of the measures being undertaken to alleviate the problem, including $3.2 billion recently pledged by the V.A. to be spent over the next five years toward getting veterans off the street and keeping them from falling into homelessness. But returning vets have been part of another world most of us only see in the extreme abstract and can’t possibly comprehend; fitting right back into mainstream America can be harder than anywhere they have served, where at least, another vet explains, “you’ve been part of your tribe.” More vets will return, and more will wind up on the streets.

None of this is the Montanas fault.

Another Press Democrat front page story, a New York Times article by Andrew Martin and Lowell Bergman, mentions a 91-year-old Florida woman who got a letter from Citibank last month advising her that her new credit card interest rate was 29.99 percent, up 10 points from the previous rate. Haven’t we been reading about Citibank lately?

These bits of information are being digested by those of us who elected Mr. Obama and now feel sad and frustrated because our expectations were, perhaps, too high. Some of us are wondering why he ever wanted the job in the first place.

We don’t have an answer to homelessness. We may not make an offer on the Montana estate — even though, with a Tuscan-style mansion, equestrian center, full-sized basketball court, gym, pool, etc, etc it is probably worth that matching 49er price — because with 20% down and a 30-year 6% fixed rate mortgage the monthly payments of $235,023 would be a stretch. And we are not planning any credit revolt, despite the fact that it is the responsible credit users who are being penalized by the likes of Citibank. What we are doing is just trying to comprehend the surreal nature of today’s news as covered on one front page.

And keep the faith.

Tag: housing

Bring Back the Boarding House

Housing, homelessness & other inequities