SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2017
Living
541-991-3663
1340 Bay St, Florence OR
See
Wish Week Nov. 19 – Nov. 22
shop Black Friday deals early
FREE
garage sale signs
541-997-3441
with your ad
With a $5 donation to Make-A-Wish ® you will be able to shop
our Black Friday deals early. Family is very important to all of
us, so take the time over Thanksgiving to spend time with them,
and shop early with us while helping out a great cause that will
support deserving kids like Harper in your local community.
Buying or Selling? I can help.
4000 9th St – Center of town, commercial
lot right off 9th St. Could have incredible
city and mountain views. Great investment
property. Utilities at street. $38,000. #2738-
17188587
Richard Beaudro
Principal Broker
541 991-6677
Harper, 5
leukemia
1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200
Let me pamper you!
Make your
appointment now
for a
pedicure!
I wish to go
to ski school
We’ve teamed up again with Make-A-Wish ® this
holiday season to help grant life-changing wishes.
This year, our goal is to raise $1 million and grant another
100 wishes for deserving kids like Harper. Eligible wish kids,
right here in your community, are waiting for their one true wish.
Donate this holiday season and help us grant more
transformational wishes.
Between Nov. 2 – Dec. 31, Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores
will donate 100% of customer donations to Make-A-Wish,
with a minimum guarantee of $200,000.
The Pink Parlor Salon
Think Pink-Be Pink
Next door to Oregon Coast Tatoo
1379 Rhododendrom Drive
young workers cannot simply
commute during the busy months,
particularly when they work for
such low wages. To keep that
workforce available, people must
live in and around the city.
That’s where the crux of the
crisis comes into play, with the
Siuslaw region’s housing short-
age forcing higher rents that out-
pace what workers earn.
“The average rent is about
$750 a month for a two-bedroom
apartment,” Teter said. “The rents
are steadily going up and it’s not
uncommon for us to see an apart-
ment that’s $950 a month.”
Teter said he has seen an 18
percent rise in rent over this past
year alone.
Online real estate website
Trulia showed only seven proper-
ties available for rent in the
Florence area at press time.
Of those, only three were
under $1,000, with only one
below $750.
Teter listed a variety of reasons
for the high rates.
“It’s rising utility costs,” he
said. “It’s people skipping out on
rent and so (landlords) want to
cover those things. Or maybe they
need to make repairs so this is
how they’re going to pay for
repairs.”
While low income housing
does exist in Florence, Teter said
that many have shut down their
application process because the
wait list is estimated at two years.
“We encourage our clients just
to drive around and see if they see
a ‘for rent’ sign in a yard,”
Huenergardt said. “We have a
housing list that we give them
where they can put their name.
We encourage them to get their
name on it, but sometimes the
way they find houses is by driv-
ing around.”
There’s such a shortage of
housing, she said, that many
property managers don’t even
need to advertise online or in the
newspaper. They simply put a
“for rent” sign in the yard and the
properties are gone the same day.
“One of the things we’ve seen
in the last year is new teachers
who can’t find housing,” Teter
said. “They’re doubling up with
other teachers for a while. I know
one of the teachers at the high
school just finally found a place
to move in to. They’ve been
sleeping on another teacher’s
couch while the rest of their fam-
ily stayed 200 miles away until
they could find something.”
Even if a worker is able to find
a place, affording the upfront
costs can be daunting.
“Most landlords require first
month’s rent, deposit, last
month’s rent — and then you
have all the utility hook ups,”
Teter said. “So even for an apart-
ment that’s $750 a month, it’s not
uncommon to have to come up
with $3,000 just to move in.”
Then, once a tenant does move
in, sustaining monthly payments
can be a problem.
If a single person works 40
hours a week at the average $10
an hour Teter is seeing, then they
would take home $1,200 a month
after taxes — excluding retire-
ment or health insurance.
With utilities averaging $200 a
month, coupled with a rent of
$750, that full time worker will
only have $250 to live on.
“A lot of times you’ll see these
cars parked at [grocery stores]
late at night,” Teter said. “The
people have jobs, but they just
don’t have a home to go to. I was
just made aware there’s a group
that’s parking behind [a store] and
living out of their cars because
they can’t find a place to rent. Or
at least one that they can afford,
any way. And they’re working.
They have income of some kind.”
And, as Teter points out, it’s
expensive to live on the street.
“You can’t cook for yourself
and you have to eat out all the
time,” he said. “And that gets
expensive. It’s almost costlier to
live on the street than it is to be in
a home.”
Sometimes, when workers are
able to remain in a home, the con-
ditions can be dangerous.
“You’ve got private landlords
that are going into property man-
agement who really don’t know
what they’re getting into, thinking
it’s quick, easy money. Real prop-
erty management is never quick
and easy money,” Teter said.
While Teter stated there are
more good landlords than bad, he
has heard his fair share of “night-
mare” stories.
“There’s one situation that
comes to mind where the landlord
passed away,” Teter said. “It then
became the son’s property. He
didn’t know how to take care of a
place. There’s a hole in the roof.
Somebody fell through the
kitchen floor. He said he didn’t
have the money for repairs, so he
said they were on their own,
refusing to pay anything. Then
the tenants had to find another
place.
“A lot of times they don’t
know their rights and are afraid to
even go to court and have an evic-
tion on their record.”
Tenants may feel the need to
move, but with the housing short-
age they find they have nowhere
to go — unless they live in cars or
tents.
One of the most common
issues with properties on the coast
is mold.
“It’s a huge problem around
here,” Teter said. “A lot of the
homes aren’t set up to deal with it.
We don’t want kids ending up in
the hospital with respiratory
issues.”
Teter points out that a tenant
can buy a dehumidifier to help
ease the problem, and that most
landlords work hard to alleviate
the mold, “But we do have those
landlords that just say, ‘Eh, that’s
the coast.’”
For working families, the
stress of low wages, dangerous
homes and the fear of eviction
can be detrimental to their health.
“A lot of people are intimidat-
ed by their landlords,” Teter
added. “They’re afraid of losing
their homes. They’re afraid of
standing up for their rights.
“It’s devastating on the kids. If
the kid doesn’t know if they’re
going to be homeless in the next
month, that has a developmental
impact. How can they concentrate
in school? They start developing
anxiety. They don’t know where
their next meal is coming from.
There are a lot of kids that are liv-
ing that way.”
According to the Lane County
Poverty and Homelessness
Board, 92 students between the
Siuslaw and Mapleton School
Districts go to class, participate in
school activities and finish the
day without a permanent home to
go to.
As it stands, 4.3 percent of
Siuslaw’s student body is home-
less, compared to the statewide
average of 3.7 percent.
from 1A
In 2016, SOS gave out 2,636
emergency vouchers to Siuslaw
residents.
The low-skill, low-wage jobs
held by a younger workforce are
vital for a retirement community,
according to Teter.
“Right now, 72 percent of the
population is above the age of
55,” he said. “Economically, a
community cannot sustain on
Mapleton Grange
Indoor Craft & Christmas Sale!
New, Used & Specialty Items.
Tables are rented.
Please join us.
11/17-11/18,
9am-2pm
that. You need a younger genera-
tion workforce to sustain things.”
To maintain the retirement
community that the Siuslaw
region has become known as,
with its multiple amenities
including dining, entertainment
and a large medical facility, a
younger generation must lead the
workforce.
However, that workforce has to
remain in the immediate vicinity.
Because of the area’s isolation
from major metropolitan areas,
541-999-5678
541-902-5158
Let me Showcase your property.
Ed Kopilec
Principal Broker
541 991-8630
Eat & Drink
6157 Canary Rd – Country living on almost
5 acre just minutes from downtown Florence.
Creek with spring runs through property. Built in
1927, it’s a great starter home for those willing
to turn it into their dreams. $239,900. #2669-
16333213
1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200
Six Dollar Sandwich Sundays
Every Sunday, November-December.
“Tour the globe and enjoy sandwiches inspired by
fl avors of the world. Travel to Cuba, Vietnam,
Hawaii, Greece and more!”
Pies Plus at St. Andrews Episcopal Church
November 18th • 9am-1pm
Come join us-have a piece of pie and coffee.
You may also purchase Thanksgiving pies
and/or Christmas gifts made and crafted
by members of the church.
Location: 2135 19th St. ( off Spruce)
See Jim for your auto sales needs!
2150 Hwy. 101 • Florence
(541) 997-3475 • 1-800-348-3475
7 A
Business Hours:
Sunday-Thursday 11:00am-8:00pm
Friday, Saturday 11:00am-9:00pm
LIVING 8A