When we get into the issue of "affordability," we have to realize that this term is subjective to each individual's means. What's affordable to you, may not be affordable to someone else and that's just the way it works. But let's get into this a bit, shall we?
Let's say that you need to have coffee. You have options as to where to go to get said coffee, right? There are higher-end options and lower-end options. Maybe the quality is different depending on the price you pay. The larger the coffee, the greater the cost. If you have to purchase coffee for my whole family, there's a greater cost associated with this. If you're getting coffee for the entire family, maybe everyone gets a smaller coffee? Unless of course, you have the means to purchase larger coffees for everyone. Maybe you go to a "lower quality" option, that offers the larger sizes for a lower price. Or maybe you decide we should have "higher quality", but sacrifice a little on the size of the coffee.
All of these are reasonable scenarios, right?
In case you're wondering what a cup of coffee might cost in Meadville;
But wait, we want Starbucks coffee, but it's not affordable. We demand they give us this coffee at the McDonald's price. This is only fair. We should be able to get the higher quality item for the lower quality price. We would even take a smaller option of higher quality, but we still only want to pay the price of the lower quality option of equivalent size.
Let us know when you storm into Starbucks or Tim Hortons and demand these prices how that goes.
Does this make sense to you? Not at all, and it wouldn't make sense to them either. The prices are posted for you to see and decide what quality level and size you desire. You can choose what you want within your means.
Why are there individuals trying to tell you that you should protest for affordable housing? This again, is subjective to the individual. You are also given all of the options available to you and can make a decision based on what is right for you and your family. Not what someone says is good for you. Why would we look to the person providing the goods or services to reduce their rates to accommodate our needs? Why are we not living within our means? Why are we not looking at the root cause of the issue? It's not always that the price of the coffee or the housing is too high, although sometimes it may perspectively seem so. Sometimes, we just can't afford what we want, and the root cause of that is dependent again on the individual.
Now the argument of housing being a basic need, it shouldn't be so high, right?
Walmart, Aldi, and Sheetz all sell loaves of bread. There are different qualities of bread, different sizes of bread, and even different flavors of bread. Do you expect to get the quality options at the basic price? No, you shouldn't. Do you demand that they give you that Cinnamon Raisin swirl bread for the white bread price? No, you don't. Why? Because you have options and you have to choose the one that fits within your means and is affordable to you!
We're not going to even get into the price of water! Which is arguably more of a basic need than white bread.
Bread and water are basic needs too. Why are people not protesting Walmart, Aldi, or Sheetz to change their prices?
If we need a little help to get our basic food needs, there's a program for that.
Think there aren't programs available to help us with housing needs? Think again, there are. It's up to the individuals to seek out these programs, nobody can do this for you. We must be accountable for ourselves and our families.
It seems that some individuals don't care to share these resources with you when they parade up and down your streets with empty promises and broken dreams. Instead, they focus on creating a divide. If you're in need of housing resources, here is a list of those available.
There are other resources listed here: https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/Documents/County%20Guides/Crawford%20County%20Resource%20Guide.pdf
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