I had not been back to the Vancouver, Washington area in seven years. Was shocked at how fast and how big the hyper-gentrification of slope-shouldered "Fort" has been.
When I moved here in early January 2015, I experienced a) a "no cause" eviction, b) a psychotic drunk who pissed on my Toyota because he hated having a roommate and c) a power-mad little Hipster all within the first five months. My housing situation in Vancouver was like a Stephen King-inspired nightmare I couldn't wake up from.
In May, I rented a room in a basement from a Millennial for $700/month. I thought I would only be there for a few months. Instead, it was almost ten months. I was so happy when I moved out of that over-rated 'burg I practically kissed the stained carpet of the $550/month one bedroom I found.
No surprise, it's now even more expensive then it was back then.
In June 2015, in a fit of desperation I stopped at a weird weekly motel on NE Hazel Dell Ave with a FOR RENT sign. There were five tiny motel rooms planted flush to the gravel driveway. It looked like a place where junkies went to die in in the 1980s. The "unit" I was shown was a "studio" with a tiny bathroom and no kitchen, maybe 200 square feet. They wanted $600 first, last, plus a $400 no-refund deposit. And I would have had to put down a $300 deposit with the utility company for electric, gas and water. That was $1,900 just to move in. And there was a $35 application fee. I was making $12 an hour.
And everybody wonders why the homeless situation in Portland and in Washington state is so bad.
The FOR RENT sign in front of that creepy weekly motel was gone a week after I looked at it.
