Rant

Ever notice how the government really only has room to help people who aren’t able (or should I say “willing”) to work full time jobs?  I definitely don’t intend to offend anyone who may read this… but what I mean is that it’s frustrating that people who work full time and work hard to “get ahead” aren’t able to get a small amount of help, but I know many people who live in low income housing  for free, (which are usually NICER homes and apartments than “regular” income housing) and live off the government even though they’re fully able to work, but choose not to, and still get approved for financial assistance for rent, food stamps and social security to pay their bills…  I think that’s a great program for those people who really DO need that, like the single parents doing all they can to support their children and make ends meet, or those people who really are unable to work because of an illness, disability or injury, etc.  I’m just saying it’s widely abused, at least in our area.  We simply want a little extra help to get into a home and after that, we’d be able to do it on our own.

For example, my sister and her husband tried to apply for state assistance so they could get health insurance for their son, who’s currently 2 1/2 years old.  They were denied for the reason that they “have too much income”… At that point, they were bringing HOME approximately $900 a month… yes, a MONTH.  And they make too much??  Oooook!  Yeah, so they were denied for that reason, yet could barely, BARELY make their rent, let alone buy groceries so they certainly couldn’t afford health insurance for the family, not even insurance JUST for their son.  They are hard working people.  They’re good parents and good citizens.  My brother in-law was trying to go to school to get a degree at the same time, working full time.  My sister was staying home to raise their son and working part time when and where she could… so it’s not like they were looking for a free hand out.  They just wanted what’s best for their son and a little generosity from our fine state and government so their son could have adequate health insurance.

The point for my rant is this:  The people for this grant thing called Bart yesterday and basically informed him of two things:  We make too much money to get the “good” government assistance to put a down payment on a home.  My credit score is too low (right now I have a 580 credit score and they require at least a 600) for us to get any decent assistance on even PARTIAL help with a down payment and/or closing costs.  With everything the way it is right now, and if we went off of Bart’s credit ALONE (he has a 780 credit score) we could get approved for about a $90,000 home.  I don’t know about other areas, but in Utah… that barely buys a mobile home.  If we were to put one of the vehicles we have in MY name (they’re currently both in Bart’s name because we traded in mine for his new WRX) then we could get a $146,000 home.  Much better, but still would barely get us a MAYBE 1 bedroom home (in which case we prefer to stay in our 3 bedroom apartment).

It’s depressing.  I knew I got my hopes up too high, but I kind of feel like the guy that came and talked to us sort of did that on purpose.  Maybe he figured if we got our hopes up high enough, we’d go with them anyway and try to desperately make our way into a home, regardless of the type or size or interest.  I don’t want to get stuck with a home that we’re going to regret buying and certainly not one that is smaller than the apartment we already are in.  We’re trying to get ahead, we have reasonable income, but we can’t get ahead because of the rent we’re paying, therefore it’s pretty much impossible to save money for a down payment.  We’re seemingly stuck in a never-ending cycle and will never get out of renting.  I feel like we’re literally throwing away $900 a month in rent, where if that were a $900 house payment, it’d be coming back to us tax wise, and investment wise.

Ok, so my rambling has gone on long enough.  Bottom line, we’re not going to get a house, at least not any time soon, unless we have a brilliant epiphany that drives us toward a miracle.  *Sigh*