Rental shortage real problem, but what's the solution

Barb Ostrum can see the problem first hand. As local community service coordinator for Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska, she's often the first to get the call when someone has nowhere else to go.

As she told regional editor Connie Jo Discoe, she's helped a mother with two children, living in a car, young men with jobs but no place to live, and many others.

"I'm really, really concerned. And now there are going to be another seven families looking for places to live," she said.

She was referring to the two-story apartment house north of the Red Willow Courthouse, which the county wants to buy to make way for a future jail. Another five families already had to move when another apartment house next door was purchased and torn down.

Across town, St. Catherine's Apartments closed two years ago, displacing 28 families, when the owners found it was no longer financially feasible to keep the facility open.

Nearby, many of the units in a mobile home park have been converted to rent-to-own properties.

Ostrum points out that nothing has been built for renters for about 10 years, and the East Ward Village project is aimed toward low-income seniors. Developers hope that will clear up housing for younger families, but that remains to be seen.

Ironically, houses in McCook are relatively affordable. Someone with a steady income can usually arrange to buy a house for the same or less than what it will cost to rent, but not everyone is ready to put down those kind of roots.

Too many owners have been burned by "bad" renters who hide behind laws designed to protect them, failing to pay rent on time and leaving properties trashed when they move out.

"Renters have more rights than landlords do," one observer complained.

So what is the answer? It does seem that St. Catherine's Apartments -- the old hospital -- are an underutilized resource that could soon become a liability if they fall into disrepair and attract "squatters," as some say they are already doing.

But we don't feel it should be necessary for McCook to establish more low-income housing at a time when government programs are more likely to contract than expand.

The long-term solution, of course, is more jobs that pay wages high enough to take advantage of our area's relatively low cost of living. It's always preferable for people to take ownership of their own housing, even if others pitch in to help -- ala Habitat for Humanity -- than to rely on taxpayer handouts.

Tuesday's story has drawn many astute observations from readers -- check them out and add your own at http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1777 432.html