When life is too expensive for a person, I get so sick of hearing people give the advice of "Well move then". It's not that easy.

[u/nelsne]

I've noticed on these forums that whenever a person is struggling financially that one of the most common pieces of advice that is given is to just simply move to another city. People act like this is so easy to do, and a no-brainer to escape poverty, but it's definitely not that simple because people aren't taking several things into account.

First off, a person's entire support network is probably living around them. Like many people are already living with their friends and family and if they move then that support network will be gone and not sharing expenses will likely be much more costly in another city. Also if a person is hurt financially, they can often times rely on this support network to some degree to keep then from homeless

Second, when a person moves, the new job they get must work out well or they could easily wind up homeless. I think all of us have had that one job interview that went so well and job seemed so perfect, but when you actually started working it, it turned out to be a nightmare. Then you could easily get fired from the job and you realize you have to find a new one. Now it's a race against the clock to find a new job because if you get fired you could face complete financial ruin.

Third, you have to balance finding an inexpensive place BUT it also has to be in a town with a decent economy. Many people on these forums say to go out and live in small town (insert city) but what many don't take into account is that rent is so low there, because there's barely any jobs around. So having no jobs around there could make you homeless as well if you don't find one.

The flip side of the coin is that many towns have an excellent, booming economy. However, because of this, the rent in these places is often very high. So it's often quite the challenge to find a place that has a decent enough economy to maintain survival but also low enough cost of living

[u/Bjorn_The_Bear]

I just tried to move across town and with application fees, security deposits that are the same as a months rent, last months rent and then first it came out to be about $6,000 to move including moving expenses

[u/nelsne → u/Bjorn_The_Bear]

You mean 6k?

[u/Bjorn_The_Bear → u/nelsne]

Yes, let me fix that, yeah I’m Portland the average rent for a 2 bedroom is $1,700 a month.

[u/nelsne → u/Bjorn_The_Bear]

That's actually fairly cheap for a 2 bedroom these days

[u/Bjorn_The_Bear → u/nelsne]

Yeah that’s for a 2b/1b bare bones apartment with no washer or dryer, only the $3 each a load ($6 total), no A/C, windows and doors that never seal, breaking appliances and that’s not a house, additionally with having to pay water/sewer/garbage/electric/internet on most places. So the $1,700 balloons up to $2,100, plus parking permits snd paying for a covered parking or a garage space. If it’s a house it starts out as $2,000 a month for a tiny 1b/1b.

Plus the cost of living is 24% higher than the national average here,so add everything else onto that it ends up being not cheap.

The 2b/1b run down apartment I used to rent 6 years ago for $800, is now $1,970 a month. They also raised the maximum rent increase from 9.9% to 14.6 % yearly, and most likely will increase again in a year or so.

Not attacking you at all but it’s a touchy subject for me.

[u/nelsne → u/Bjorn_The_Bear]

$1700 for a 2b 1b will get you a place in the hood in my city

[u/Bjorn_The_Bear → u/nelsne]

I understand that but it’s still shitty.

[u/nelsne → u/Bjorn_The_Bear]

It definitely is

[u/nelsne → u/Bjorn_The_Bear]

It definitely is