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After the last housing crash of 2008, and extended job losses for both hubby and I from 2009-2012 (where we extinguished our savings), we had to short sell our home and file for bankruptcy in 2015. Since then, it has been difficult to reestablish our credit because we are low income seniors. The short sale, bankruptcy and lower income still haunts us on every rental application. Nevermind, that we have had excellent rental history since 2016. Regardless of our consumer credit history, we ALWAYS pay our rent every month, on time. Unfortunately, that doesn't matter because it is not reflected on our credit scores. Furthermore, as senior tenants, we are quiet and get along with neighbors and management - absolutely no issues EVER!

Since 2016, we have lived in three different residences and the only way we have been able to convince the landlords/property management company to approve our applications was to agree to double security, which we have always agreed to even though it was financially detrimental to our finances and budget. Another issue has also been that most landlords/property management companies require income three times the rent. Good grief!!! If people made three times the rent, a lot more people would buy (and probably are) and there would be a lot more rentals available.

While it was a victory to see that CA set the rent increase cap at 5%, including the CPI was disappointing. While many people may not find 7% and 8% increases not that bad, for low income renters whose incomes don't go up that much every year, it makes it harder and harder to be able to afford to continue to live here in LA, which is a very high cost area. It also makes it hard to be able to pay down debt as well as put money aside for savings too.

While the pandemic was absolutely horrible, one good thing that came out of it was that both hubby and I are now 100% remote workers. We don't need to stay here in LA anymore and are actively looking to move out and go live somewhere else where the cost of living, especially housing, is more affordable. There are so many other really nice areas where we can get so much more for our housing dollars. For what we are paying for a small, 1bd apt with one parking space, we can live somewhere else and get a house with a yard (for doggies that aren't allowed in our current apt) and a garage.

Not everyone can afford to do this or have the privilege of working remote, but for anyone who can, I hope they do. The situation here in LA is getting worse every year and it does not seem like there is much help coming either.