I was instantly homeless. As a woman living on Social Security retirement, there was no other alternative. Senior housing both in Asheville and Oregon was waitlisted for years.

I spent a year and a half frantically searching for housing in Oregon, and finally ended up basically in Idaho - a tRump loving, sexist, redneck, police ruled enclave in Oregon that I refer to as Douglas county's middle finger to the coast.

2/n

There was literally nothing else that would have given me that oh-so-necessary private bathroom, kitchen, fridge and locking door. Plus the equally necessary street address for Medicare, driver's license, etc.
(sleeping outside was one reason I wanted to move back here: Oregon's wonderful campgrounds. But the rest becomes absolutely necessary after a while).

3/n

I tried for 6 months to get Oregon's oversight agency, OHCS, to correct what the private tax credit place had done, but that Democrat led agency would not.

They refused to do anything at all except refer me to the known dead-ends of Legal Aid and Fair Housing. After 6 months of effort on my part, a mid level male manager had a female subordinate send me an email saying that the private company had broken no law: waiting lists weren't required for senior housing.

4/n

But every years-long waitlisted senior place I tried to sign up for in Oregon told me waitlists were enforced and audited and they could only put me at the bottom of their own waitlists.

The private company that did this to me never had to even give a reason to OHCS - a records request I had to file twice, and then finally through the AGs office after OHCS ignored those, turned up none. OHCS never had even asked them.

5/n

After a year of camping, living in my tiny car, brief hotel stays and a short Craigslist stay that turned out about like you'd expect, I accepted a place in a county I would never ever have voluntarily chosen, just to have a street address before my Medicare, driver's license, insurance, expired.

I thought something had to turn up after the 1st years lease was up. But there is no enforcement of any of the laws protecting tenants' rights.

6/n

Literally. I thought at least a federal program, USDA, with written guarantees would be safe, but they've also shown over the last 5 years they view only property owners as their customers, and give a new meaning to the term "tenant farmers".

The private owners who benefit from billions in low income housing grants and tax breaks have no oversight at all in Oregon. The former owners of my current apartment complex prevented my moving to a senior complex in a more liberal county

7/n

and away from this drug-infested "multi-family" place, by outright lying as to my sterling tenant history. USDA said that was a-okay, owners don't have to give a true reason for a prospective landlord to refuse an applicant.

Then the prospective landlord that had knowingly used a false statement in a federal hearing (a felony, but no enforcement) to keep me from moving, turned around and bought this place last year!

I may had dodged a bullet in not being accepted, but it ricocheted.

7/n

The new owners view this complex, already labeled a "troubled asset" by USDA, as a sort of halfway house or post prison place. They use the constant threat of homelessness to squeeze out every last government cent while constricting tenants lives in a way is not only unbearable but would be illegal if tenants had any access to the courts.

My six years of resistance are about to come to an end.

8/n

I'm being forced to sign a 60+ page new lease that will lock me in for another year (again in contradiction to Oregon and Federal law, but who enforces it?) while conditions deteriorate further.

Any ideas where a solitary bookish 70+ year old woman might find somewhere to live out her dream of being a childless cat lady? Somewhere to read, be on a computer, cook simple repetitive healthy favorites that can't be done camping? Have my books & music finally, finally! out of storage?

9/n