It seems many seniors in the state of Washington seem to be getting a visit from the Grinch this year. Seniors on fixed incomes are being hurt more by our current administration’s policies, as well as some investment groups, that run senior mobile home parks that are kicking harder on our older senior communities.
Unfortunately in Washington, there is no rent control, especially for baby boomers trying to live on their fixed incomes. I know of one senior mobile home park in Woodland where one person in 2018 paid $600 for a monthly rental space and just received his Christmas present which raised his rent space to $1,000. This will be his second rent increase in three years. He dodged an increase earlier due to the big COVID-19 scare.
When he asked why the increase, the investment company that owns the park said it’s because of maintenance and improvements costs. But come on folks, we all know it’s about getting more return on your buck for the investors, even if it causes some seniors to have to choose between paying rent or buying groceries or prescriptions.
The sad news is if you can’t pay your increase, then you will have to try to sell your home if you can, and they don’t make it easier to sell to any prospective buyers when they will have to pay a higher rent space. With friends like these, who really needs enemies? I can only hope the readers of this paper will see this, and by some miracle, if our state ever votes on some type of rent control for our older seniors, I hope the Grinches of this world would support such legislation. Remember Americans, one day we all will be seniors. God bless America.
Norman Phillips,
Woodland
