Author: North Coast BBQ

As I researched causes of homelessness the first information I found stated that homelessness is caused in large part by government regulation – that was unexpected – but as I read further I can see how that plays a big part in causing homelessness.

Everything else I posted was true and my true feelings on the subject. And yes this homeless problem will be addressed in this county soon.

I would also like to say that one of the regulations that Coastalwhistleblower@gmail.com mentioned on his post Feb 19 is one of the regulations that helps create homelessness –
Here is an example: After my husband passed away I had to look for “handyman” postings to get things fixed. It was not hard to find help by looking at ads in the Headlight Herald. Over the following few years I hired handymen to do many things. Then this license or fee – I am trying to remember which it was – was made a law in this county. The ads in the paper disappeared. No more small job handymen. Do you call a construction company to fix a door that in hanging from a broken hinge? If you do – your job is so small it always get put on the bottom of their list and never gets done. It was really hard for me to keep things fixed up after this bill was passed. Those people supplementing their incomes by doing handy man repair and painting work were gone because the license fee was too much for them to pay, and I talked to some of them and they said you have to pay, I think it was one thousand dollars and attend a 2 day school which was all about how to pay your taxes correctly from your work as a handyman. Here is a sad story -I found a painter – I don’t remember how -probably from an ad on the BBQ. So I called him and he came over. I showed him what I wanted to be painted. He told me that he had painted a building in the city of Nehalem and as he was finishing the job an inspector came by and asked to see his license. He didn’t have one so the inspector told him that if he ever caught him again he would fine him big bucks and he would never work again in this county. So I said, well, he can’t see you working from my place and so he did a lot of work for me. This guy had a family with kids and they were just hanging on financially. After he got through painting – and I learned a lot about painting from him, I must say – He fixed a bunch of small things for me that needed fixing. He was great.

I never had a problem. And yes – you can have a problem hiring someone who has a license to do work. For instance hiring a contractor and then finding out much later that the stuff they installed – like insulation – was not what they promised and charged you for – that happened to me – but by the time you find out – years have passed. My niece told me that they had had their house roofed about 5 years ago and now the tiles are curling up – the roof is leaking but the licensed contractor has moved on. Lots of stories like that. Even if you try to hire a person that has a license – they do not want to do little jobs – and I understand that because they have to make money, but do the little guys! The economy we are in is punishing for the people just hanging on trying to take care of their families.
AND one last word about the fee (tax) on small businesses, (ordinance 80?88?) who have barely survived the Covid restrictions – A US congressional hearing showed these restrictions had NO benefit on slowing the case numbers or flattening the curve for Covid. etc. BUT these restrictions put lots of small businesses out of work. So tax small businesses that barely survived? What happened to those people? You can see how government policies effect peoples lives.