Finding Home in Oakland

I previously wrote about my family's struggles to keep our home. We, like many Americans, made the tough decision to foreclose. And we are in the thick of things right now as we struggle to find an affordable place in Oakland, pack up our things while downsizing and move before the looming "deadline." I've learned some things while slipping down the socio-economic ladder a few notches:

1. An affordable home in Oakland is VERY hard to find, especially with a dog.

2. Making folks with poor credit or low-income pay an extra rental deposit makes no sense. I understand that renters are taking an extra "risk" by renting to those with less desireable financial circumstances, but expecting those folks to pay a larger deposit makes no sense. Instead of that money sitting in the owner's bank account, why not make renters "pay-down" their rent at the beginning? Maybe paying $100-$150 x 12 months upfront would work better then taking away folk's extra emergency money.

3. There are so many things to think about when looking for a new place when you have kids. Here are a few of my dealbreakers: freeway as a front/back yard, dry cleaners or other environmentally hazardous businesses in the vicinity, bars on the windows, un-safe neighborhoods, graffitti in stairwells... Don't all kids have the right to live places without these things?

4. We're not the only ones going through this. Last night we watched "Capitalism: A Love Story" and it was totally a bad idea because we could relate so much, too much.

5. We're still SO lucky. We have family and friends that helped us move and took care of Soluna while we moved. We found an apartment we can afford in a pretty nice neigborhood. We still got a roof over our heads, food in our belly and each other!!