#about making sure things are functional and also NONE OF US GETTING EVICTED
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New Amsterdam Chapter 46
Fortunately, Ellie had been understanding of the deal that Peter had had to make on her behalf to get her out of there. And she mentioned that if she learned how to control her own powers (and she didn’t tell him what those were and he didn’t ask) she could teach the others how to control theirs. A good goal. One worth striving for. Peter heartily supported it.
Dr. Banner had been less understanding about everything. The older man frowned at him, silver glinting through his brown hair. “Peter, I can’t care less about what happens in your private life. If you are working in my lab, you will be here promptly on time.”
“Yes Sir,” said Peter, dejected.
“Good. Now then, for the last hour and a half,” the tense tone betrayed the anger the man was feeling and Peter winced again, “that I have you, let me catch you up on what I’m doing so that you help me tomorrow.”
“Yes, Sir,” agreed Peter obediently. Dr. Banner pulled up the files on the chemical equations he was using. Unlike Dr. Stacey’s lab, his had a holographic overlay screen, similar to the one in Tony’s office. Halfway through the presentation, Peter paused it. “Dr. Banner, it looks like you’re attempting to create an inorganic compound designed to pass through the blood-brain barrier.”
Dr. Banner pushed his own glasses up, with the wrist of his hand, like Peter did. “Why yes. I’m in charge of the medical treatment of most of the Avengers, and with the healing factors most of them have painkillers simply will not work unless I can get them through the barrier swiftly, and even then don’t work for very long.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to swap this chemical out?” Peter tentatively touched the screen, flipping the chemical Bruce had up for the one he had thought of. “It would make the molecule smaller, more likely pass through,” Peter explained, “and if you add this one here,” again, showing on the model, “you can create a minor healing block for the factor, allowing it to work longer. In theory.”
“Yes,” said Dr. Banner intrigued. “In theory. Luckily, we have rats.”
The two of them were so engaged in their work that it wasn’t until Dr. Stacey tapped on the glass outside the lab that Peter noticed it was almost time to go. She poked her head into the lab. “If I don’t get to keep him over,” she said firmly, “neither do you.”
“Dr. Stacey has a point,” said Dr. Banner irritably. “Peter, you may go. Please try to be on time tomorrow.”
“Yes sir,” said Peter softly.
“Hey, if you’re not willing to have him in your lab, he’s always welcome back in mine. I’m doing some fantastic things with the organic matrix.” She grinned showing teeth in an almost predatory smile. “I might even make a brain. We’ll see.”
Peter chuckled nervously. He had to get to Oscorp. He had just finished that product Norman wanted, and he wanted to check in on Harry. Make sure his friend was okay. Try to help him leave surreptitiously. Remind them to call him and let him know when the baby arrived. He nodded stiffly to both Dr. Banner and Dr. Stacey and then hung up his coat before leaving.
Peter paused on his way to Oscorp when he saw the newspaper in one of the boxes. The headline screamed at him and he couldn't suppress his bitter smile. It looked like Jamison had, for the moment, found someone else to focus his wrath on—and when it wasn’t focused on his alter ego, he found he had a much greater appreciation for it.
RUNAWAYS UNITE UNMASKED
EVIL DEEDS COME TO LIGHT
It probably wouldn't be enough. He knew that. He knew that the majority of what they did would get slid under the rug—for a nonprofit they had big backers. Norman wasn’t even the tip of that iceberg.
Still—they now had attention from people who had never really looked at them before. Even the public that hated the fact that the alleys swarmed with the children of the street would be mortified by what he’d uncovered—and then there was Wade. He had no doubt, none at all, that even if Wade hadn’t decided to hunt down every last surviving member of Runaways Unite, he had passed the information on to someone who would. Their days were numbered and he felt a vicious satisfaction.
All of the pictures he’d taken had been turned over (well, copies of all the pictures he’d taken had been turned over—Wade had the originals) to Jamison who would hand it over (keeping his name out of it) to the police when they came to investigate. The police would, of course, demand to know who had gotten the information and Jamison would, of course, reply that he had to protect his sources. Peter didn’t get credit for the article (he could see the credited name as Robbie Robertson), but he got paid, and that was the important thing. The anonymity was also important—he didn’t want anyone connecting photographer Peter Parker to the reporter who outed a trafficking ring. Too much could go wrong.
Pictures. He still had that album he’d made (in secret, of course) of Harry and MJ. He’d planned to give it as a wedding gift but if things went according to plan—Harry wouldn't live long enough to have a wedding. Before the full weight of that decision could settle on Peter again he shook his head and tried to force the feeling away. After all, he still needed to function, and Wade was nowhere to be seen—probably off saving some part of the city or terrifying criminals onto the path of the straight and narrow.
He turned and went back to his apartment. The album was hidden in the one place that MJ would never think to look—the bottom of the dirty clothes hamper. He wouldn't have any trouble getting in and getting it. And he thought they might like it. They liked the albums he never intended to see the light of day, and he didn’t put nearly as much effort into those.
On the way into the building he was blocked by the manager. The small man managed to look down his nose at Peter, who shrank a little into himself at the fierce gaze. He’d like the woman who’d owned the building before, the one he’d actually signed a rental contract with—but her son seemed determined to hate Peter for some reason.
“Rent is due on the first,” the man said grimly, with a similar satisfaction in his voice to what Peter had felt reading the headline of the paper.
Peter’s heart stuttered. “The first? But, it’s always been due on the fifteenth!” he protested. He’d paid it on time! He always paid it on time (although granted, sometimes he paid it at eleven fifty-nine at night, but he paid it on the day it was due).
“It has changed,” the man informed him tartly. “If you do not pay your rent on the new date,” he added viciously, “I will be forced to evict you.” He smiled before leaving.
Peter stared after him despondently. He’d just started getting his life back together—and now this? There was no way he was going to be able to make it on time; the first was just two days away! What was he going to do?
He staggered back into the street, seeing nothing as plans turned violently in his head. He couldn't get an advance on pay from SI, the money from the article he’d submitted for the Bugle wasn’t enough to cover it, what was he going to do? He didn’t want to lose his apartment. If he did he’d have to go back to live with his aunt, at least for a while—and it was too dangerous for Aunt May for him to live under the same roof as he continued to be Spiderman.
Despite Deadpool doing a better job of watching the city than Spiderman ever did, Peter just couldn't bring himself to fully cut off that part of himself. He felt a need to get out there and help, and plain old Peter Parker just couldn't. Besides, there were people who depended on Spiderman—weren’t there?
He was too caught up in his thoughts to notice his surroundings, and never saw the pair of hands that grabbed him.
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Refuse to be a decent human? Lose your house.
Warning: Very long story.
It's 2011, my boyfriend and I decided to rent a house with our best friends - an engaged couple with two kids. I'm changing names here: I'm Kylie, my boyfriend is Jim, and our couple friends are Brad and Angelina. Jim, Brad, and myself are active duty military.
After over a month of searching we found a really cute house- 1850 sqft, nice yard, great neighbors, only $1350/m, hardwood except for 1 room, 7 minutes from our base. The landlord is in a different state but tells us she pays one of the neighbors to manage the keys for her. It's a military town and that's not uncommon. We all met up with him, toured the house, decided to sign the lease.
We moved in sometime in August. We liked the house, but there were crickets coming into one of the bedrooms through a crack in the window sill. The landlord didn't want to fix it and said to caulk it. It worked, no problem.
We noticed the carpet in the living room was a little dingy and asked her if she would mind paying someone to clean it since we moved in that way. We even made a note of it and took pictures when we moved in. She said no. I bought my own cleaner and the carpet lightened a few shades.
In October, we went to cut the heat on and it didn't work. So we realized the oil tank was empty. Part of the lease states when we move out we needed to leave a full tank of oil, which isn't really a problem as long as we start with a full tank and use all the oil in it. Call the landlord and ask her to have the oil company come fill the tank - which it's 2011 so it's going to cost $1200 to do. She says no. We told her fine, we wouldn't be leaving a full tank when the lease was over though. She got mad and said we had to because it was a clause in our lease. We had the oil company provide statements to say the last time it was filled was that prior January and it was empty when they came to fill our tank that month. We filled the tank, but the heat still didn't work. It's been 2 weeks and it's really getting cold, we asked the LL to get a repairman out to the house. Brad and Angelina have two small kids that need to stay warm. My landlord took another week to fix the heat, and the people that did it were... questionable. It worked for a month, but then quit. We called in our own repairmen to come handle it since the last ones creeped me out, and he noticed some major issues with the chimney that needed attention right away. Like it was unsafe to run the heat at all, the damned thing was about to collapse. We let her know, emailed scans of the paperwork from our nice Honeywell tech and two quotes from contractors to get the work done. (it's going to be $3000-3500ish) It's an emergency repair, at the point it's December and we are really cold. We were using space heaters. The kids have chest colds and Angelina is ready to fly into our landlord's state to handle her physically. I mailed all of that information to her (Angelina's bodily threats omitted) with a signature confirmation and a letter stating the issue.
A few days pass and nothing from our bitch LL. I got onto Google and read the landlord tenant act and local landlord court cases just to see if I had a leg to stand on. I also spoke to my JAG, who's brother happened to be a real estate lawyer, who was also friends with my next door neighbor (the keyholder dude, who surprise, never got paid to watch the house) and decided to come over for dinner with all of us at their place. He gave me some really good info. The next morning, I called our landlord and told her, "look, you get this repair done or I will condemn the house and not pay a dime of rent until it's done". She says she doesn't believe me. I overnighted a certified letter to her explaining the issue and requesting the repair be started within 5 business days since it was an emergency and I had already reported it a week prior. 5 days go by, nothing. At this point I'm ready to walk out on the lease but don't have quite enough legal issues to back that up so- Jim and I requested 20 days of vacation from the military. I drafted a letter to LL telling her she had 10 days to get the repair done or we would terminate the lease, and we would not be paying rent while the heat was in disrepair. I cited the previous letter and included her signature confirmation for it also. 4 days before we go on vacation, I overnighted and signature confirmationed the letter. Two days before we are set to go on vacation I called a city building inspector, set an appointment, he came and condemned the house - it took him less than 15 minutes to decide. Brad and Angelina took off to Angelina's mom's house and Jim and I headed out to spend a few weeks in WARM, SUNNY Florida with his Cuban family. (mmmm, the food). We prorated rent for every day the house was condemned. I called the building inspector every few days to see if the work was done. He also demanded that my landlord do a few minor electrical repairs. Several days have gone by... I spent half that month's rent on good food, liquor, and Disney world tickets. On the 6th day in Florida, the landlord calls me threatening eviction. I told her to please take me to court because I was ready to embarrass her. I cited the landlord tenant act, told her I was going to sue for travel costs to FL, hotel costs, and at that point she was already looking at $850 and it was just going to get more costly. (Longshot, but, I was mad). I also said we were prepared to just walk out if it wasn't done by the time the certified letter stated it should be, again, I wasn't kidding. I had already reserved a uhaul. Oh, and she would be reimbursing me for that $1100 in oil I hadn't been able to burn. She said fine and finally replaced the chimney two weeks after the place was condemned. My neighbor told me she had to borrow money from her family to get it done. Not my problem. She also told me I was a horrible person who was torturing her and her 5 year old who were victims of domestic violence. She also told me we were only slightly better than the last tenants, who she "thought were black by how terrible the house looked when they left". Okay, wow, a slum lord and a racist - I should play the lottery. I'm sorry for your situation but your husband has been a shit to you since you got together. How do I know? Turns out, one of my supervisors is friends with her old supervisor and he and other members of her chain of command had responsed to fights where her and her husband hit each other. Apparently the husband is a drunk too. They tried to get her to leave him but she is just as bad, she busted out his windshield one time and burned all his stuff another. Turns out she got a general administration discharge. She seemed so nice and sweet when we were getting ready to sign that lease. I still can't believe what a bucket of kuku for coco puffs she turned out to be.
Whatever, we came home to a house with functioning heat. Brad and Angelina decided not to move back in but that was all cool with Jim and me. We notarized an agreement between us and told them we totally understood and would take over the rent. Missed them after they left, though.
Later on, in March, a realtor knocked on my door and said he wanted to show the house to a couple. I said, you have the wrong place buddy, I'm renting this right now. He's like no, the owner wants a short sale hopefully by July. I explained I had no notice and was a little confused but it was okay. He was very uncomfortable and unhappy to have walked into a situation where a tenant didn't even know he was coming. I told him it was totally fine, and went on to divulge some details about his new client. He was pretty appalled. He leveled with me- its a cute house but really only worth $90k due to the market crash. It had last sold for $124k, according to zuilla. She's asking for 120k and on the verge of foreclosure. Seriously? I let the couple and realtor in the next day. Didn't worry about it after that. He came to take detailed pictures so he wouldn't have to bother me with flaky potential buyers. He was so nice, I let him help me find a new house to rent when my lease was up. We are still friends on Facebook.
Then, in July the realtor called me and asked if he could show the house to a client. Absolutely. I cleaned and made sure I looked nice for her visit....and when they got to my house I noticed the lady was black. And she wanted to rent. I said, ma'am, call me later today and don't tell anyone. She did! I told her what my LL said about how she couldn't believe her past tenants were white because they left the house trashed when they left. I said, "I don't think this is a good house for you, I know a great guy who is renting out his beach side condo for the next year while he goes out to Africa, why don't you call him?" I text his listing to her, she calls him, ends up renting his house.
None of that is really revenge. Before we moved out, Jim and I cleaned the house. We left the carpets sparkling clean (had professionals come in and do it), payed a gardener to come in and make the yard spiffy, patched up some small nail holes and even painted some window trim that was chipped when we moved in. we basically left it better than we found it, we had already repainted 3 bedrooms in flattering colors when we first moved in (that was approved by the LL no problem of course). We took pictures before and after we moved in. A month goes by, we are all settled in our new condo, and she didn't give us a dime back in freaking deposit. $2400 down the damned drain, plus the cost of little repairs we made out of pocket so we couldn't have to deal with her crazy ass.
I was angry. I began organizing to go to court. Then suddenly Jim is told he's deploying soon. the fuck. A week goes by- Also, I'm pregnant. Which we were casually "not trying but trying" to do. We were happy about that part, but I was puking every day twice a day and emotional. Then Angelina calls me and guess who is on Craigslist slinging her shit hole slum? My LL. I lost it. I got on the same forum her ad was on and posted about the house, every single problem we had, every phone call, every snotty email, how many weeks we went without heat, the crickets, LL's messed up relationship with her off and on again husband, the oil tank, and the racist comments. I never said "don't rent or buy", just shared my experience as a tenant. I didn't name any names but I did link her ad. Received 7 emails thanking me stating LL seemed really nice on the phone but they would be dodging that bullet.
The house foreclosed a few months later.
(source) (story by slumriverofbliss)
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Yet Another Drabble Ask Meme Fill
Requested by @mychakk [I'm sorry I forgot] : Ok, I think I'll go with those numbers, feel free to combine them or do them alone or just pick one that fits your fancy anything for sure will make my day :) 9 (Is a chicken really a bird if they can’t fly?), 14 (Fire! Fire! Fire!), 15 (You watched 4 seasons today?), 42 (This cost a thousand dollars?!), 43 (Foreigners…pffft), 102 (Buy me chocolates and tell me everything’s going to be okay), 107 (This house isn’t even haunted) My top favourite 'verse is the Holmes Family Function (the best), Tom-verse and Vegas. But I'll love anyhting ;) Huge thank you :) looking forward to them :)
This is the list for round 3: https://prompt-bank.tumblr.com/post/146525402053/drabble-challenge
Filled: 17, 95, 72, 84, 105, 41, 28, 69, 90, 95, 46, 100, 104, 81, 18, 24, 108, 99, 25, 61, 66, 52, 80, 73, 54, 89, 26, 32, 71, 16, 20, 27, 45, 57, 89, 32, 44, 64, 102, 27, 57, 6, 2, 70, 5, 7, 93, 9, 14, 15, 42, 43, 102, 107
Yet to be filled: 86, 96, 2, 14, 20, 21, 22, 94
"Is a chicken really a bird if they can’t fly?"/ "Fire! Fire! Fire!"/ "You watched 4 seasons today?"/ "This cost a thousand dollars?!"/ "Foreigners…pffft"/ "Buy me chocolates and tell me everything’s going to be okay"/ "This house isn’t even haunted"
Molly walked into her lounge and screamed.
It wasn't as common an occurrence as one might think, even when taking into account that Sherlock Holmes had taken over her flat as an annex of his own a few years before; she was used to all manner of things greeting her at the door when she returned home from work. Two dogs (on separate occasions), a monitor lizard, a pathetic Sherlock covered in fly paper, a pathetic Sherlock covered in bee stings, a pathetic Sherlock covered in marmalade (as was half her kitchen that time, though she'd got a much nicer kettle and a new blender out of the deal, so she hadn't complained much), a shirtless Wiggins and Sherlock with a tattoo gun, The Night King himself (okay, yeah, just Mycroft, but with a codename like Iceman [which she wasn't supposed to know, but Sherlock also used her brain as an annex for things he didn't want to keep in his own] the comparison was just begging to be made), and now the corpse of Sherlock's ex-girlfriend in rigor on her sofa.
Except, no, that wasn't a corpse. It was a sex doll. Wearing one of Molly's cardigans and a pair of her pyjama bottoms.
She supposed it could be worse. It could be a sex doll that looked like one of her exes.
"You're out of Fairy and if you have to use the loo, which you always do because apparently riding the bus is just too much excitement for you, don't look in the bathtub," Sherlock greeted as he tramped down the stairs to the kitchen. She added Marigolds to her mental shopping list as well, because he was wearing hers (and goggles, oh lovely) and she was sure she didn't want that pair to ever be near anything that would ever be near food again.
"So, um... Why? And why is she wearing my clothing?"
"Really more of an 'it.' I had to put something on it, it was—" he wiggled his fingers "—weird, and wrapping it in a blanket made it weirder. If it makes you feel better, I used clean clothing so none of your DNA will accidentally be transferred."
"Wait, is this evidence? We talked about evidence in my flat."
"It's not evidence per se, at least not in a criminal capacity. Well, it could be, should my client choose to press charges, but she won't, considering she's technically dead—"
"Your client," she said flatly.
"Whose name I can't reveal because I adhere to the strictest professional standards of confidentiality—"
"Oh for shit's sake, I know who it is. Why is it here?"
"Mrs. Hudson would evict me if she saw it. And it is rather creepy in an uncanny valley sort of way. Its eyes close when you tilt it past a thirty degree angle and the mouth is, ah, motorized. Wiggins accidentally bumped the 'on' switch when we were carrying it inside and I've actually never heard a grown man scream like that before."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're not keeping it here."
"It's only a few days, she's making shipping arrangements."
"Shipping arrangements."
"She said it would be a waste of a prop to destroy it entirely. She's ah, left me with the task of disposing of the... peripherals, though."
"Peripherals. Going to go out on a limb and guess that's what's in my bathtub."
"Yes."
"And you're cleaning them because...?"
"DNA," he said as though she were daft.
"Uh huh. I'm going upstairs because yes, fine, I actually do have to wee and it's not because the bus is exciting, it's because I time my last cup of coffee so I don't fall asleep on the way home and miss my stop and a side-effect is having a full bladder by the time I walk through the door. Whatever. When I come downstairs, you're explaining this to me from the beginning and leaving out no detail. Then we'll figure out what to do with your Stepford Girlfriend."
*
"So she has her face trademarked and copyrighted and all that stuff, and she sent you to fetch her intellectual property."
"More or less. There may or may not be multiple blackmail components."
"Oh even better. Did you shatter a few kneecaps just for fun, too?"
"What are you implying?"
"Nothing. I mean, I'm sure pimpin' ain't easy."
"So because I took on a case for someone in the sex industry I'm a pimp?" he asked slowly.
"You're actively helping a whore blackmail one of her clients, from whom you just stole a sex doll."
"That bears the exact likeness of my client and falls well outside the scope of her contract with the party I reclaimed the property from. Honestly, you're a feminist, you should be championing this. Imagine if Tom had a sex doll made that looked just like you."
Ugh, he had a point. Of course he had to go and humanize Irene Adler.
"Fine," she relented. "But you really should wear the fur collar for your coat more often. Maybe put some bling on John's cane and start carrying that around when you wear the hat."
At least she could still amuse herself with that image.
*
"You're actually logging these?"
"She wants to know what he's been—ahem—using it for so she can charge him accordingly."
"I can think of a pretty short list of what he's been using it for," Molly said, fishing yet another of the doll's vagina inserts out of her tub. Which Sherlock was going to sanitize repeatedly before her next bath (the tub, not the vagina; those were about as clean as they'd ever get thanks to the boiling water and bleach).
"And I'll thank you to keep that list to yourself," Sherlock said, taking the insert and turning it around to look for the serial number. He was really putting on a good show of not being flustered, but the colour in his cheeks gave him away.
"Is this real human hair?" Molly asked, squinting down at the next piece. She was tempted to take her gloves off just to feel it, but then they'd have to re-sanitize it because he had some weird hang-up about DNA all of a sudden.
"Mmhmm. That one costs fourteen thousand Yen. A thousand pounds, give or take."
"This cost a thousand pounds?! A fake fanny? Wh—oh. Oh God, it's moving. It's moving and I don't know how I turned it on."
"How—?" he began, side-eyeing her. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, then put down the insert he'd been holding. "Oh for—give it here, there's got to be a switch somewhere."
She watched as he examined it from all angles, then started poking and prodding at it with his gloved fingers; she wasn't sure if it was sexy, absurd, or just weird, but she knew she was the one blushing now, too (which was ridiculous, considering how often she examined actual genitals belonging to an actual person in any given week). She thought she was going to choke on her own saliva when he used two fingers to check inside. She really hoped he didn't make that face when there was a real woman involved.
"I can't... I can't turn this off. I have no idea how to turn this off," he said, sounding like he couldn't believe what he was even saying.
"Batteries! Just take the batteries out!"
"I don't know where the compartment is."
"Google it."
"You google it, I've got my hands full of—thing."
"Maybe it's on a timer. Just put it in the box and maybe it'll stop on its own."
Sherlock shrugged and withdrew his fingers, then set the insert into the box.
"Oh God," he said, staring down into the box.
"What?"
"It set another one off. And there goes another, it's a chain reaction."
"It's just like in The China Syndrome," she said peering around him to look into the box, which had begun to vibrate its way across her bathroom floor.
"The what?"
"Have you never watched a film?"
He didn't dignify that with a response.
*
"I can still hear them," she said, looking up at the ceiling.
"I'm sure the batteries will die soon," he said, eyes on his phone as it moaned another text. It was beginning to sound like a bad porno soundtrack. "Ah, good. Her people will be here on Monday to properly crate it for its trip to Hong Kong. Which is not where she is, so just completely forget I said that."
"Today is Tuesday. This thing is going to be here a week?"
"Six days, yes."
"It's so creepy."
Sherlock tipped his head in agreement. "Trust me, it was worse when it was naked."
"Can't you at least move it somewhere?"
"It weighs eight stone, it's like moving a water heater."
"I want to watch telly and I don't want to sit next to it."
"Fine, I'll sit next to it, you sit on the other side."
*
"Maybe if we just put a bag over its head," she said, leaning forward to look past Sherlock at the doll. He'd inched his way nearly into her lap, pressing her into the corner of the sofa like they were on a Twister ride over the course of the last half hour. She didn't mind, really, except for the doll being there.
*
"No, that's worse, take it off, it looks like a murder."
"You like murders," Sherlock said from just behind her.
"No, you like murders. I like my job, which is only tangential to actual murder."
"Potato, potato," he said. "What about a mask? You have one in the spare room from Mary's hen do."
"The one with the willy on it?"
"The one with the feathers," he said flatly. "It's bigger, it'll cover more of the face."
*
"Oh my God, that's horrifying. Why is that so horrifying? Take it off. Take it off."
"You take it off, you brought it into our house!" She realized too late the slip she'd just made. Thankfully, Sherlock didn't seem to notice, as he was tentatively sliding closer to the doll again to remove the mask. She didn't know why, but she kept expecting it to turn its head in her direction and start singing 'Non, je ne regrette rien' or some Marlene Dietrich song or something equally and unexpectedly creepy.
Sherlock used the back of a pen to flick the mask off the doll's face and they both relaxed a bit.
"Okay," he said. "I have an idea. What if we just put it in the corner where the lamp is that you never use? That entire corner is an oubliette, we'll just put it in your desk chair and wheel her over there for the rest of the week."
*
"Nope," she said simply, her hair standing on end.
"To be fair, I didn't say it was a good idea."
Sherlock's phone moaned a text and they both jumped.
"I'm never going to sleep again. This house isn’t even haunted! Or, it wasn't, until that thing showed up."
"You don't believe in ghosts."
"And you don't believe in wearing pants under pyjamas. What's your point?" she snapped. She wanted that thing gone.
Sherlock simply narrowed his eyes at her while pulling out his phone.
*
Molly hefted her overnight bag on her shoulder and Sherlock shifted the still-vibrating box of fannies as they waited by the kerb.
"Least it's not raining," Sherlock said conversationally.
*
"Is a chicken really a bird if they can’t fly?" Wiggins said, one hand on the wheel and the other out the window doing that uppy-downy swimmy thing people usually stopped doing once they were old enough to drive. "They're closer 'a dinosaurs anyway, I saw it on telly."
"They have feathers and beaks—taxonomically, they're birds. And chickens can fly, only not very far," Sherlock said, bored. They were both stuffed into the back seat because there was a suspicious stain on the front passenger seat and neither of them wanted to sit there. The box of fannies was secure in the trunk.
"Did you know—"
"Oh God, here we go," Sherlock muttered.
"—some paleontologists stuck plungers on chickens' bums ta figure out how T. Rex walked?"
"I did not not know that," Molly said, because how else does one respond to that? It wouldn't be very polite to ask their driver, 'how many mushrooms have you ingested today?'
"Spent'a day watchin' Natural World, din't I? Last four series."
"You watched four series today?" Molly asked incredulously.
"Well, only'a ones wi' Sir David Attenborough. He's'a only one I really like."
Fair enough, she thought.
*
"I'm going to be deleting useless trivia of dubious accuracy for hours," Sherlock grumped while Wiggins filled the tank with petrol. "I'm going inside to get... Something, anything, I don't really care, I just don't want to be in the car any longer."
"Buy me chocolates. And tell me everything’s going to be okay. I mean, we're halfway to Slough with a box of sex toys in the boot and it's almost midnight and I'm pretty sure Wiggins is high."
"And somehow I'm the dramatic one. Wiggins isn't high, that's just how he is. Everything is going to be fine, it's just a quick trip to an abandoned brickyard, we'll be back at Baker Street where there are no bloodthirsty Maschinenmenschen waiting for us to fall asleep to murder us before you know it."
"Maschinenmenschen?"
"Now who's the one who's never seen a film?"
"Just go and buy me a bloody chocolate bar."
*
"So you keep an arsonist on retainer for special occasions?" she asked, watching as Sherlock situated the box in the centre of the hastily-constructed pyre.
"Former arsonist. It was only once and he's a very successful builder now. Care to do the honours?" he asked, holding out a disposable lighter and a rolled-up copy of The Sun.
She took the newspaper and let Sherlock light it. "Oh! Fire! Fire! Fire!" she chanted as she bustled around the pile of cast-off wooden pallets and construction scraps, lighting the bits of cardboard sticking out here and there.
"So if we were just going to burn them, why did you bother cleaning them?"
"I was actually going to sell them on eBay. It seems he had some 'limited editions' and you wouldn't believe what they're worth. We're burning potentially £8000 or so."
"Are you serious? Why are we burning them? Is this some kind of ridiculously expensive catharsis?"
"Wh—catharsis?"
"Like, burning them in effigy. She was your ex-girlfriend. Or is this some kind of noble gesture, like, protecting her honour or something? So no one can defile her silicone bits."
"Noooo," Sherlock said slowly. "They're just extremely unsettling and I didn't want to leave them to roam about the flat like... demonic caterpillars in case they escaped their box. I'm beginning to suspect they're powered by nuclear fuel rods. Really, we should probably step back, actually. Or leave, and rather quickly, since the fire department is on its way. Run."
*
"I'll get Wiggins to help me move it tomorrow," Sherlock said after they were settled in his bed.
She'd never slept in his bed before. It was weird. He'd slept in hers dozens of times, and often those times overlapped with her own occupancy, but this was... weird. "Though you could just stay here for the rest of the week."
His suggestion was a bit too casual.
"You don't actually want to move it, do you?"
"It's very heavy. And unnerving. And I will deny that with my dying breath if you ever tell anyone I said that."
She couldn't help herself, she giggled. "Perish the thought. No one would ever believe me, anyway. Just like that time I met Bill Murray. Not John's friend Murray, the Bill Murray. It was in an Indian takeaway in Hackney and he knew I recognized him and he just leaned into me and said, 'No one will ever believe you.' No one did, either. But it was him."
"Who's Bill Murray?"
"An American actor. Caddyshack, Ghostbus—"
"Foreigners…pffft. Boring."
"We really need to work on your cultural literacy," she said, then yawned.
"I've seen every film I'll ever need to, and for the rest, there's Wikipedia."
"We're watching Groundhog Day tomorrow night."
"It's a punishment, isn't it?"
"Yes. You'll take it and you'll like it. Now go to sleep, I need to be up in four hours."
"Make it five. We'll take a cab. I need some teeth for an experiment I've been thinking about, tomorrow is as good a day as any to start it."
"I won't argue. Still can't believe we burned £8000 worth of fake fannies."
"I still can't believe they exploded like that. I should hope they come with warning labels on the package."
"Maybe that's part of the allure. Like playing penis Russian roulette."
"Molly."
"Hmm?"
"Go to sleep. And please never utter the phrase 'penis Russian roulette' again."
"You're no fun."
"I'm lots of fun. Tonight was fun."
"Yeah, it kind of was. Night."
"Night."
"Sherlock..."
"Hmm?"
"Are you sure we got rid of all of them? Did you, ah, remove whatever was in the doll before you dressed it?"
There was a beat of silence, then, "Bollocks."
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20 minutes of head-patting.
(Utterly self-indulgent one, I’m in one of my self-perpetuating mind-loops, and it’s deeply unproductive, I’m going to try to ‘leave’ it here.)
The counsellor and I have hit something of an impasse. The ‘brick wall’ in this situation is me, to continue the stupid ‘wall’ analogy, I need to climb the wall, and see what’s on the other side, what I’m doing now is essentially banging my head against it. I’m the unstoppable force and the immovable object in this case, and it’s bastard exhausting.
Flipping it ‘out’, I’ve had a handful of instances where other parties have tried to be the immovable object, and there’s the usual background-noise of life in general being that little bit more complicated, due to my disabilities. I’m re-adjusting to having the kid back home, and he’s as frustrated with me as I am with him, we’re both trying not to let that rub off on each other; I adore the boy, but it’s tense. He’s frequently pointing out how round-about some of my adaptations, and coping mechanisms are, and I’m trying very hard to suppress my “Don’t do that, that’s how your Dad used to annoy me!” responses. (Dull stuff, like leaving wet towels in the bathroom, not wiping down surfaces after use, eating on the sofa, spending hours playing computer games...)
The kid, I have to deal with him, he ‘fell out of me’, and some of his weirdness is entirely my fault. The in-laws are periodically asking HIM when I’m going back to work, instead of asking me, and that’s awkward, finding the right time to tell them something that’s none of their business. The ex is bothersome, he drifts into my space on pick-up-and-drop-off, mooching about the place, touching stuff that doesn’t belong to him, and I have to not-screech at him. The kid is still troubled by his Dad’s neediness, his constant desire to be the centre of attention, and, as big as he is, he still can’t quite find the cojones to say “No.” Not my monkeys, not my circus. That’s the background noise.
The instances of other parties trying to be ‘the wall’. I’m stuck in the Universal Credit hole, justifying that I AM actively seeking employment, with my work-coach trying to tell me off for going ‘over’ my allocated hours. She’s human, and trying to protect me, but, in my weird way, I’m also trying to protect her. Some of the websites I’m tasked with searching on are time-logging ones, it’s evidence-provable that I’ve been there, and it’s on my ‘claimant commitment’ that I’ll access them daily, so I do. Hours of skim-scanning hundreds of jobs I either can’t do, or wouldn’t want to, getting irrationally annoyed that the sites I ‘have to’ visit are copy-pasted versions of each other, that I’m seeing the same infuriating typos in three or four places. She ‘gets’ that I’m waiting for the outcome of the PIP assessment, hoping to be allocated the standard element on ‘daily living’, so I know how much of a real-terms salary ‘cut’ I can absorb, but, if my electronic job-search file is audited, and I’m just sitting here ‘waiting’ I’ll be ‘sanctioned’, and she’ll be held to account for not making me do more.
“Stop going over your hours!” I can’t stop ‘going over’, in real terms, if I continue to be allocated the paltry allowances for the ‘standard’ and ‘housing’ elements, I will run out of money in five months, and risk eviction in seven or eight. (That’s not long enough to get to the top of the social housing list, which I’m not even on to start with.) I won’t stop ‘going over’, because I need to be out of this situation within the next couple of months, while I still have a buffer-zone in my bank account. So, I evidence the pointless hours of the time-logged sites, and then I cast my net wider than ‘retail assistant’ and ‘support worker.’
The PIP-assessment. I didn’t ask the ‘nurse practitioner’ what her previous specialism was, to appropriately-pitch my answers to the invasive-intrusive questions she had to ask. I didn’t ask her why she left the NHS, and signed up with the suicide-machine that is ATOS, I didn’t need to, I spend a part of each day browsing the NHS vacancy-board, the wages are disgusting, and the PIP-assessors are paid £30-35k PA, I know that because I’ve seen the adverts to recruit for that role. I didn’t even manage my planned emotive-killer-line of “Would YOU accept a part-time job as a care assistant, after spending years training for a professional role?” I was too drained by the repetition of all the things I find more difficult now. The brick wall there is that her job was to evidence that I ‘can’, and forget to report all of the additional-and-different adaptations I have to make, to stay safe. I have to re-report those when the initial claim is declined, this system is infuriating, and I’m conscious that she looked at my trainers when she asked “Most of your shoes are slip-on?” Most of them are, and the trainers stay laced up, I kick them on with the laces tied, but the ‘report’, when I demand a copy for the ‘mandatory reconsideration’, will say “You claimed that most of your shoes were slip-on, the assessor observed lace-up footwear.” Four to eight weeks for the initial decision, which I’m relatively certain I’ll have to appeal against. Systems and processes, but evidencing how hard ‘daily living’ is for me was emotionally devastating, I’m trying very hard to remain functional, and all of the additional/different modifications are embarrassing and exhausting.
The next ‘wall’ was the girl-child at Remploy. I cried. I raised my voice at her. I am not proud of my behaviour. I was trying to be proactive, to ask for external assistance to help me out of this hole, and she wanted me to come to the City Centre three times a week, to use their computers for work-search I can do at home, and ‘play games.’ It’s there as a last resort, I suppose, but I’m a different kind of disabled to the clients she’s used to. I was a highly competent professional, I don’t want her to ‘help’ me fill in a job application to work in Tesco. The think-around, and over-planning that went into that wasted three hours of my life was ludicrous. I have disabilities, I am vulnerable, so took steps to mitigate my vulnerability, and, as is my way, ‘prove I could do it.’ (Which would work against me in the PIP-process, because they’d only see that I did it, not how difficult it was.)
I planned the bus-route, and then made sure I set off earlier than the planned-route, to mitigate against traffic-delays, and the inevitable getting lost. I memorised the postcode it’s S1 2EL, I’ll never be able to discard that bit of information. I printed-off the Google map to the place, in case it was in a dodgy area of the City, where Google-walk-map on my phone would increase my risk of being mugged. (I won’t use the ear-buds for the walking directions, because that increases my risk of walking into traffic, or being mugged, if I can’t hear what’s going on around me.) I wrote the address down in my notepad, along with the telephone number, in case the map I’d printed blew away in the wind, AND I was mugged, or dropped my phone, or the phone didn’t have enough of a signal to connect to Google-walk-map. I was knackered before I even got on the bus, and sat behind a man with chronic BO, while the light bouncing off stuff played up my photosensitive trippy eyes. (I knew that would happen, which is why I took pain-killers before I set off.) I found my circuitous way there 15 minutes early, for an enthusiastic girl-child to try to sign me up to ‘pop in’ three times a week to play bingo, and apply for care assistant jobs. (I know that the bingo is meant to re-train focus, listening and transference skills, hand-eye co-ordination, and communication, I know that because I over-process everything, but I don’t want to spend over two hours on a bus to play bingo.)
In amongst all that was the omnishambles cock-up with my benefit being paid. The ‘official’ line is that it will take five weeks for the first payment. You ‘stand’ your first week, and then the payments are made four-weekly, to encourage people to plan their finances, rather than rely on weekly or fortnightly payments of benefits. That’s going to hit some people very hard, because they’ve never had to make the money last all month. It doesn’t take five weeks, it takes six, because of the transfer-method. I waited the six weeks, and allowed it to tip-over into seven, ‘just in case’ there had been some technical delay. Then I started to panic that the claim had been declined, and I wouldn’t in fact be paid the £812 that the initial calculation had come out at. (Spoiler, ‘This amount could be subject to change, dependent on your circumstances and further checks.’)
Week seven of five, that’s actually six, I phoned the ‘helpline’, which has about seven hundred years of recorded message that boils down to “If it hasn’t been five weeks, stop ringing, and wait.”, and the usual fraud-warnings. The girl on the phone sounded about 12, everybody’s ‘about 12′ when you get to my age. “Did you apply for the housing element?” (I don’t know, I don’t know how this works, I’ve never done it before.)
“It’s just that your housing element hasn’t been processed.” (Well why did you ask if I’d applied for it, if you can see on your screen that it’s there, and hasn’t been processed?)
“I’ll authorise your standard payment, which should be with you within 3 hours, and put a note on the system for your housing element to be processed.” (Super, my payment had been withheld because a bit of paper, actual physical paper, was sitting in a drawer somewhere, and nobody had looked at it.)
“Is there a problem with the housing element? Is there something wrong?”
“I don’t know, I don’t do housing, I can’t see that bit.” (ARGH!)
“Do you know how much the ‘housing element’ will be, so I can plan-around the shortfall?”
“No, sorry, I can’t see that.” (Ace, so I don’t know whether it’s going to be paid or not, or how much it is going to be, that REALLY helps my budget-planning.)
“There’s an option to apply for ‘discretionary housing payment’ if you’re going to have trouble paying your rent.” (Super, the ‘discretionary’ is the clue there, ‘discretionary’ is the grown-up version of a Mum saying “We’ll see.”, it means ‘probably not’, and, if I did apply for the ‘discretionary’ payment, it would need to be paid back in increments out of my ‘standard’ allowance if the housing element of the claim didn’t go through.)
The system is ridiculous. I have just enough back-up in my bank account to limp through this limbo, some people won’t. I also have enough of an understanding of systems and processes to know when to chase, and what to say. Some people don’t, and will end up borrowing, or using food-banks. I have enough personal resilience to keep fighting. Some people don’t, and they will become the suicide-statistics. I AM ‘too proud to beg’, but, for now, I have to swallow that bile, I’ve paid into this system all of my life, and I’m not trying to ‘cheat’ it, I’m too honest for my own good.
I emailed the Council Tax, to ask for the forms for the unemployed/low income discount to be emailed to me. Every little helps.
I phoned and chased the ‘housing element’ after a week. “Oh, it hasn’t been processed, I’ll put it through on a six-hour payment.” (Thank you very much.) I waited six hours, nothing. I waited another hour, which took me beyond the working-hours of the housing department, and the helpline. Arse. Still no idea whether the ‘housing element’ was going to be paid, or how much of a shortfall there would be for me to make up, because nobody seemed able to tell me how much the ‘element’ would be. “That’s housing. They have a calculation based on national and regional postcodes and average rent.” (Fantastic, the rent on this place is extortionate, but the weird spread of private and social housing in the area is going to mean that the ‘housing element’ won’t be anywhere near enough to cover the rent.)
I phoned back on the Monday, after a weekend spent giving consideration to selling body-parts. (I’m exaggerating, the only way I’d be able to sell body parts is if there was a company doing research into “How has she survived THIS long in THAT state, she’s knackered.”) “It still hasn’t been processed.” “Ah, I have two issues with that, the girl on Friday said she would authorise it for payment, so I need you to file-note a script-check for her, and you’ve had it eight weeks now, how hasn’t it been processed? Why did the girl say she’d authorise it if she didn’t have the authority to do so, and do you need me to send you an electronic copy, as it sounds like you’ve lost the original?”
“Oh, no, it’s here, I can see it on the system, it just hasn’t been processed yet. I’ll task-log it to housing, it’s a one-day task.”
“If it’s a one-day task, and it hadn’t been completed, why did the girl on Friday state she’d authorise a six-hour payment?” (Most likely because the vast majority of customers would get angry at her if she gave the “Not my department.” line, but, for people who didn’t have enough money in the bank to cover their rent, that could be devastating, incurring bank charges for bounced payments and potential rent-arrears, on the promise of a payment she couldn’t authorise.)
“I don’t know, it’s not us, it’s housing.” (Not-my-department deflection.)
“Right, I’ll wait for housing to contact me, then?”
The fragmentation-deflection is irritating, and the possibility that the ‘housing element’ would be declined was worrying. I did a bit of the housing department’s job for them, when they wanted me to ‘get a letter from the landlord, saying the ex is no longer in the property’, balls to that, the lettings agents don’t know he’d left, because I had more on my plate than changing the details on the tenancy agreement in March 2016, I’d just had chuffing brain surgery.
All of that, and all of the other stuff that’s just day-to-day ‘getting on with it’ comprise the reasons that the counsellor spent 20 minutes metaphorically patting me on the head yesterday. “Some people wouldn’t have thought to do that.” “I know.” “You’re doing REALLY well.” (For the love of all that’s true, PLEASE don’t say “You’re doing really well, considering.”) “You really do ‘think outside the box’, don’t you?” “Yes, it’s the PTSD, I’m a spider, in the middle of the web, working out where the ripples are coming from, and what I need to do before they reach me.” “That’s fantastic.” “It’s not fantastic, it’s just what I do.” “Some people don’t think like you, you are exceptional.” “I’m not exceptional, I’m just me, this is how I am.” “You’re doing an amazing job.” “I’m going though the motions, and getting nowhere.” “You will get somewhere, and, when you do, you’ll absolutely fly.” “I’m not making any tangible progress, though, and the dissonance between what I was, and what I can-be is still creeping up and biting me on the arse.” “It will, you’ve been through a lot, and you’re still adjusting.” “I know, I keep coming across bits of before-me in job adverts, and it’s difficult to reconcile how much of ‘her’ I need to fight for, and what I need to let go of.” “That’s precisely the grieving process you’re going through.”
Jesus wept. (I try not to, it just makes my face all red and puffy.) Yet again, I’m faced with a person used to dealing with ‘other’ people, that aren’t me. All of those validations, and compliments mean absolutely nothing to me, he might as well have told me I had a ‘smashing blouse.’ (No blouse, it was an old hoodie from the 9-11 year old boy’s section at Matalan, and I’ve had it about 10 years.) It’s not that I can’t accept praise, it’s just that I don’t see any reason I should be praised just for being me. I don’t want my tummy tickled, that was the ex’s thing, sprawling on the sofa, stinking, and asking “Can I have some fuss?” (Swear-word redacted, what sort of an adult male asks another human for ‘some fuss’?) If I do something exceptional, that’s praise-worthy, what I’m doing just now is only one step above existing. (With one notable exception, which is exceptional.)
The counsellor is doing what-works-for-most-people. Faced with the abject despondency of being unemployed, I’m making myself look for work. I don’t want to be unemployed, it’s awful, I have a phenomenal skill-set going to waste, and every day I spend moping about the house just increases my risk of tipping into genuine depression, at the thought of the was/is waste. He is impressed with me, which sticks in my throat, because this, now, is not ‘all’ of me, this is me on essential-functions-only, I am much more than ‘this’, to have my head metaphorically patted for being only ‘this’ doesn’t suit me.
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day 1 journal
so
here i am
after all this time
make the changes you need
and stop being a broken record
it feels good being able to type on a keyboard again. strange that i haven't been able to for months.
i like not being a computer slave though.
also, this computers HDD may die soon
it's probably worth getting some sort of HDD that you can collect all your various datas and throw them together
it'd be nice to have the photos. even if photos make me sad.
i think what's sad is just what you've given up
and for nothing of lasting value
nor people who valued you for you
well maybe that last point is a bit dramatic
maybe just write out your emotions and let yourself cry and be a human again
====
you got to love/shake your head at the excuses used for the various drug addictions i ended up stacking on top of one another
the reality is that you are intelligent, but you've not lived intelligently
stop handicapping yourself. it's illusionary pleasure, distraction
it could be a videogame addiction. but it wasn't. it was drugs.
the cheapest shortcut
and of course, there's a lot of price to pay eventually
it doesn't seem like it at the time but that's how it transpires.
i'm sick of being a drug addict and not reaching my true potential. not facing the reality of life. of course it's hard. but you've made it harder, through short term thinking.
you're midway through your 20s. this is in someways the most productive period of your life.
it hasn't all been a waste. you've been relatively functional. but you don't see things through enough. you could have done far more. also, you need to get out of this environment.
this house has been fun. it's also been illuminating. the place has been mostly a total fucking sty. indulgent nothingness. you had some fun times with friends, who you thought would always be there for you. the reality is that some of those friendships are not like that, and are built on very shaky foundations.
i want to hold myself to a higher standard. i want to do more good in this world. i want to be able to properly look after myself.
it's ok for it to be hard. it's ok for this to be a struggle. believe believe believe
i've had enough signs from god to know it'll all be fine.
don't forget the signs. they are telling you to change path. this is a time of change.
even if it's hard. not fun. even if sobriety fucking freaks you out, or stresses you out
eventually that'll fade. and you'll be free. and infinitely better off.
the whole living with high people sitting on a couch playing games or watching tele, doing fuck all, messy place, no money, it's too sad and empty. it's not what i want for myself or for anyone else, there's a lot more to life. you used to know this. you still know this, but you've made the decisions.
time to make another decision. the decision to not use today.
just a day at a time. you don't need to quit forever. plenty of people have slip ups anyway.
just one day. one day is more than none.
===
i just saw someone walk by my window. and middle aged but poorly aged woman smoking a cigarette, wearing baggy, cheap, scrappy looking active wear / salvos stock. you see a lot of the older, poor people in the kilburn area. even the people your aguish at savers (sam commenting what was she doing with her life). that is a result of decisions by and large. it begins with the decision to smoke a cigarette. then drugs, alcohol, whatever - it ends up coming before alll else. even appearance. showering.
their lives aren't necessarily bad. it's not my place to make a value judgement about the content of their character. because that so easily could be you. it's a result of decisions, one after the other.
these people may be carrying burdens that you have no idea of
at the end of the day though, i don't want that
i don't want to be poor as shit on a pension, scraping by
getting the bus because there's no other options
picking cigarette butts off the ground
prioritising alcohol or whatever substance above all else
it's the relationship with it, and the decision one makes around them
is it a healthy relationship?
for me, obviously not. it's not the path i wish to walk down.
drug addiction very rarely ends in a positive manner, excluding stories of going straight. even the famous people for example who made it work would have likely been more effective / lived longer if they'd nipped it in the bud.
it's a crutch but you already knew how to walk
but you used it so much that you ended up forgetting how to walk
and was then afraid without it you'd fall flat on your face
----
(−)-trans-Δ⁹ -- -tetrahydrocannabinol
anhedonia
----
you already quit your opiate addiction earlier this year.
don't replace drug addiction with laptop addiction
you already know the sort of stuff you are good at and the work you can do
the goals you can and do hold
time to stop wasting
---
i want to quit
that's why i'm on /r/leaves
that's why i'm going to make an account to keep accountable.
---
other thing about living situation - no matter how many problems you think you have and that you've neglected through drug use, it's not like that applies just to you. ky is the same, hence that list i wrote earlier talking about his actions. how they reveal a lot of flaws in the way he interacts with others / honesty. that's the other thing about weed. oh, it's so chill. people who smoke like ky are so chill. well, not really. it's artificial and fake. you've seen him lose his shit. act in a pretty crappy way. he's human like the rest of us, but he is still stuck in using weed and as soon as he gets back, he likely will again. it makes more sense then him going sober, paying his bills, changing the way he interacts to be more honest instead of trying to remove any amount of difficulty / disturbance from his life.
---
think of all the times you scraped for res
searched the ground for bud
smoked weed covered in cat hair
checking stash spots that you know you don't have any weed in
but MAYBE
maybe there'll be something
opening baggies and collecting particles
filtered bong water to collect plant matter that had fallen through
didn't it make you feel rather grubby? to take a drug to such an extent, to never not try maximise etc.
instead of just waiting until the next time, it had to be MAXIMUM
no waste
but that sounds too positive, no waste
considering every second spent on that behaviour was a total waste.
don't ever go back to that.
----
a random catholic covered a church being robbed for 1000 dollars. that's a spirit of awesome generosity. you could be that type of person if you make the necessary decisions.
---
by the time you are sober , by your next bday, you'll have three years essentially
three years to work it out, get your shit together and make something of yourself
not that 30 is a deadline for life. but for me, i'd like to be well on the way then.
the sooner the better
----
you're reading weed defenders defend their drug on redid and it's hilarious in a sense, sad in another. it really drives home the bad stereotypes about the drug and the obvious delusion most daily stoners labour under. 'i'm still productive, i've still achieved things' - like what? - not much -
think of people like mark carey . supposedly smart, knows a lot about science blah blah blah. yet he's mid 30s , achieved fuck all and that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.
maybe the debauched lifestyle is romanticised to help those who live with it. shame that it convinces others, such as myself, to jump deep into that pool. especially with it's connections to art and music. the reality though - you and everyone else for that matter would be better off (bar those with seizures / genuine medical use eg. NOT ANXIETY OR DEPRESSION IT MAKES IT WORSE EVENTUALLY)
---
if you get through all this mess, it'll be something to be proud of and proof of the strength i have to draw on.
---
SOBER
Stop, observe - with detachment - how do i feel?
Breathe - deep slow breaths
Examine - why do i feel like this?
respond - not react.
10 minutes meditation
---
remember zoe from work commenting about how i should just leave instead of wanting to get evicted. i was annoyed at the time because of course i was thinking it's not that simple.
there's ky, the band, cats, money owing , shared responsibilities yada yada yada
but the reality is it is that simple
you've accepted so much that is unacceptable through acquiescence through drug use.
kyrons constant fucking around with money.
it's been months and months of being fucked around.
so come on. time to wake up.
it is that simple. and necessary.
mum will help you. you can then rebuild, and change your life.
i could be in a position where i could move to japan if i hadn't smoked weed. i probably would have finished university, if not prior to working at child support, certainly the next year and a half of not really being that employed.
you still did a lot of things in a sense. they just weren't very productive. time spent at salvos. working writing jobs. won that writing competition. wrote an entire film script. made music, improved skills , and exposure.
you may be entering in some senses your golden period.
plenty of people make use of themselves later then 27
sure, we hear plenty about the young who are already running out the gate
you made decisions to build friends, have memories, different experiences and exposures to different lifestyles. that is valuable and this part of your life is not wasted. in fact, by recognising how much more i am capable of, and by beating numerous difficult drug addictions, i'm proving my ability as a human, growing. i don't think it's true that weed puts you in a COMPLETE stasis, but maybe i was lucky because i still liked doing things / reading / learning. plenty just sit about playing fortnite. the reality though is that i could have done A LOT more. and that makes a difference. you've gained an interesting perspective into different ways of living / people. even if you think about high school, nearly all your friends were kinda middle class and well off and not turning to drugs. now you're with the drudgers , it's all dysfunctional , single parent homes. maybe that's a bit harsh and inaccurate. at the end of the day though, hardcore drug use is dysfunctional and dysfunctional people will be drawn to this.
you have been dysfunctional. this is why you've alienated a lot of former friends, through treating them inappropriately. things won't get better unless you make a proper effort at becoming functional. and you can. a lot of the things that motivated you to take drugs initially - lack of being cool, having friends/fun, trying new , different things, and even though i probably didn't think of it, taking the easy way out to feeling good and ignoring the bad of life and my self-esteem issues from not fitting in as a younger person. i wasn't very assertive when i first came back over. i found it hard to talk to others blah blah blah. even though socially things were better in wales then melbourne/rose park, there was still plenty of mistakes and growing pains. these are not problems anymore. i'm a lot wiser. and there's still a lot of mountains to climb, but different ones. not just sitting at the top of the one i climbed years ago. in fact, i've been atrophying and going backwards in a lot of those areas - DUE to drugs. it has kept me static but also dysfunctional, and over time, i've had that manifest through bad behaviour that has alienated my friends. at a certain point they have to give up. it's for their own health as well.
day 1 for weed, day 7 for tobacco. keep it up.
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Kingdom Hearts II
It took me about 35 hours to get to the end this time around. I didn't 100% the game by any means. This was also the first game to give me some slowdown in PCSX2, though it's the second game overall I've played there so that's not saying much. In terms of difficulty, this was pretty easy, much easier than what I remember of the first KH and especially Re: Chain of Memories. I think I game overed twice the entire time, losing to Demyx getting serious and Xemnas' final phase once each. I picked the Dream Shield and had Valor Form the highest ranked, though I stopped using Forms during the last part of the game.
Roxas is your typical teenager in the typical Twilight Town...apart from mysteries like something being stolen so well that the words go missing too, or reality just stopping on its own every so often. Not to mention that Roxas summons the Keyblade...and he looks awfully a lot like Sora. It's probably not anything important. Don't worry, Roxas gets his own game and we'll be reunited with Sora soon enough.
Lucky number.
I guess I forgot to mention with the last two reviews that I didn't grow up Disney, so apart from doing my own research, I don't really have any familiarity with the Disney stories and all. So there's no real pull for that nostalgia I guess. I like Kingdom Hearts because it's a fun action RPG and at least I know the Final Fantasy characters here.
It's been a few years since I last played the first Kingdom Hearts, so I might have a couple of details wrong. Sorry!
“I don’t feel so good...” There, meme complete.
True to a sequel, there's a bunch of new here. Only a couple of worlds from the first (two) game(s) returns, and the ones that do are expanded or changed. Like Hollow Bastion now being the town world like Traverse Town was, or Atlantica becoming a minigame world like 100 Acre Wood. New Keyblades, new allies, new magic, new summons, new systems too.
One big thing added is the Reaction command, where during combat (or even going up to somebody or a chest) gives you a context-sensitive prompt above the Commands menu with a Triangle button prompt. Open a chest, Talk to people, avoid damage or turn attacks around with it--you'll be using it a bunch so keep an eye out for when it shows up. Most battles can be finished without using them, but they're worth using. And of course some battles require their use too.
No thanks.
A new Drive system lets Sora borrow the powers of his allies (removing them from combat) to power himself up in a new Form, such as Goofy enabling Valor Form to fight with two Keyblades while locking Sora out of magic use, or Wisdom Form taking Donald's power to give Sora a ranged attack and powered-up magic. You only start with Valor but you unlock two more during the course of the game with a fourth being an 11th hour superpower if you can get it to show up. And a fifth dud form that has a chance of showing up anytime you Drive in battle, especially against the antagonists this time around. One cool thing about this feature is that if you trigger a cutscene while in a Drive Form, Sora's clothes will still be changed during it.
The allies you absorb for your Forms return during cutscenes too. Don’t think about it too much.
You no longer are given mobility abilities during the game. When you level Drive Forms, regular Sora gets weaker versions of the movement abilities the Drive Form uses, so Valor grants High Jump, Wisdom grants Air Slide, Final grants Glide, and so on. I didn't see if there were any chests that required High Jump or so on, but the rest of the game doesn't really need them. They're still nice for evading attacks at least.
Magic still uses an MP bar, but you now enter MP Charge when it empties, where you get a full bar back after so many seconds instead of needing to hit enemies to slowly charge it up from zero. You also have a higher Drive charge rate while waiting and entering a Drive Form fully restores HP and MP both. Fire was changed from a spammable homing projectile to a quick blaze around Sora, and Cure now takes all of your MP, if it's 100 or 10 and still has the same effect. Reflect can work as a stand-in for Block and creates a damaging field around Sora if an enemy hits the barrier, and Magnet can pull enemies to a point in the air for you to smack while they're helpless. The three Forms that can use magic also change up the spells a little, such as increasing the area of effect or making them work differently altogether. I didn't have many MP Hastes so I still had to wait a little while to get my MP back, and depending on the fight, I'd need to use Cure to keep everyone alive and I'd be right back where I was. A system where it'd slowly regenerate on its own would've worked better for me, but I think it's a step up from KH1's system...though I liked how many casts of Fire you could get on a full bar back then.
Limits give new meaning to the term “teamwork”.
Each ally also has a Limit that teams Sora and that ally up for special attacks that might replace his Attack command and adds their own Reaction commands too, as well as big finishers. Limits are timed and automatically end when you unleash the finisher, or they can be canceled manually. Limits eat up your entire MP bar but they can be worth it if you get a bunch of hits in. Summons work differently here too, where you now sacrifice some Drive bars and your two allies to bring the Summon onto the field. They have a number of functions but they too have their own Limit that cuts down how long they can stay out.
Gummi Ship segments return but this too has been expanded. Now the screen will turn to face enemies coming from the sides or behind, and you can eventually unlock the use of two 'Teeny Ships' that can block enemy shots and have their own armaments too. Collect medals from destroyed enemies to increase your Medal Rank and allow better Treasures to drop, and max out the Medal Rank to send your ship into a Berserk fury until you get damaged! Ships can equip Abilities too like slowly regenerating health or pulling in nearby medal drops, to letting you take just one Teeny Ship but get the second one's maximum cost added to the primary ship's, expanding how many Gummi Blocks you can stack up there. I honestly really liked the Gummi Ship segments and the ship I built and stuck with most of the game mostly had a bunch of guns stuck on it. None of the rewards for the mode carries over to the on-foot segments, but that didn't really impact my opinion of it much.
It’s kinda hard to see the screen with Berserk up, but you tear everything apart very quickly regardless.
You fight Organization XIII this time around, a group of beings that shouldn't exist on a quest to reclaim their hearts. Though they're unnatural abominations, they strangely look human. They work with the Disney villains this time around, though Maleficient has her own plans counter to theirs. She's not on your side, though. She just wants a fancy castle to call home after you evicted her from Hollow Bastion in the first game. Jerk.
Music's still good. There are quite a few new themes though worlds we've been to before have rearranged music. I really liked the boss theme when fighting the Disney villains ("Encounter" I think?), but there really wasn't any music that I didn't like at all. "Under the Sea" still exists as part of Atlantica's musical, but Atlantica's field theme is pretty nice this time around. It's almost a shame you're not there for very long since there's zero combat this time around.
Atlantica is a rhythm minigame world this time. I hope you like singing. Also, don’t pause during any of the songs or you’ll have to start over!
I don't have any complaints about the controls. I heard that the game was criticized for being button-mashy and I think it kinda is, especially given the ease that you get combo extenders. There is at least one boss fight where you actually do have to mash the Triangle button to do damage. I hope your controller has strong enough buttons! You don't have Dodge Roll anymore (but Limit Form in Final Mix does), so you instead have equippable ability Guard as your defense, and you can use Wisdom Form's Quick Run/Air Slide to move quickly once you unlock it. Each Form has their own combo animations and areas of effect and these of course change in the air, and you can also equip regular Sora with different combo finishers.
Favorite world? Timeless River of all things. I liked the character designs but I really liked a nice touch done with the voice clips and sound effects--they're given a low-fidelity pass to make them sound like they're coming out of the speakers on an old TV! Least favorite world? Port Royal. I didn't mind the realistically-rendered characters making the adventuring trio look out of place, but the world's gimmick is when fighting Barbossa's undead pirates, you can only damage them when they're in the moonlight and of course there are shaded areas to give them cover. Your allies won't let up attacking them no matter what and it just made battles drag on forever.
It’s so silly but it just slightly beats out Space Paranoids for me.
Maybe.
The only real complaints I had with the game were that it seemed like too often you were forced to use the world's ally in your party and there were a number of fights where you're forced to fight alone, so you lose access to both Drive Forms and Summons. I kinda didn't like how much effort was required to level the Drive Forms too. Valor Form at least seems the most natural because you just have to hit things, but the others take quite a bit of effort to level up, either through killing enemies or picking up Drive Orbs. Maybe that's the price of power, but for me looking forward to Wisdom Form, it sure didn't measure up. I didn't get Master and Final Forms raised too much. I even used cheat codes for infinite drive meter once I finished the game, but I didn't really feel like putting in all that work.
And, I guess the three hour introduction sequence with Roxas kinda dragged on a little too long. I understand they were trying to make the player care for Roxas given what happens to him, but not very much happens for most of the days. I dunno, I imagine people might want to know where the hell Sora, Donald, and Goofy are and why you're playing this copycat at some point.
Too bad this fight isn’t playable in the original version.
That aside, don't be put off of the game with that sequence like I was the first time around. It's only a little under ten percent of the entire game! And the rest of it is a lot better too! I liked it more than Chain of Memories all right, and there's a pretty meaty adventure here. I dunno if it'd be a good jumping-on point for people new to the series, though you'd likely be buying one of the PS3/PS4 HD ReMIXes that has the first game and Re:CoM with it, so you really should start with the prior games. But yes, overall, I really did enjoy my time and I managed to take like 800 screenshots so I'd better go pare those down...
Final stats.
...now I just need to get Dream Drop Distance and watch a Let’s Play of 0.8 A Fragmentary Passage, then I’ll be ready to watch another LP of KH3.
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That familiar dread...
Battling with clinical depression doesn’t get any easier although these past few years I have found ways to manage it. However my anxiety never goes away and when something small or big affects my anxiety level, I feel the dark shadow of my depression creeping in. I’ve been at a pretty good place for the most part and haven’t really had any major set backs since we moved here in the Philippines. But something shifted a few months ago. I could feel a slight tightening in my chest that would twist my anxiety levels into knots to the point where I had to numb myself. My method...emotional eating and spacing out into mind numbing activities where I could escape from what I was feeling. I ignored it. I know...not the best method but it was my coping mechanism. My productive self went into hiding along with my emotions. I refused to visit it. The deeper I went into myself and created a vacuous rut, I found myself disappearing. I became a functional depressed person. Someone who looks alright. Someone who manages to get out of bed and function as a human being but internally I felt empty. Not really all too sure what triggered my depression from rearing its ugly head. I’ve managed to stamp it down and ignore it and not let it affect me...that much. Maybe it was the stress of last semester. Perhaps the frequency of my moms episodes returning. Perhaps it was feeling a little lost and scared of what will come next after graduation. Maybe its the feeling of missing my family and friends back home. The feeling of guilt I had for not being there when they needed me most. I missed a lot of important things in their lives that made me really feel like shit.. And maybe it was all of that or none of it. That’s the annoying thing with depression. One never really knows what may trigger it. Either way, I had managed this way these past few months telling myself I’m ok and that the feeling will eventually go away on its own. But that’s the kicker. Even if I ignore it, it doesn’t mean it’ll just go away on its own.
About a month ago, someone really close to me was going into extremely deep depression. It made me feel helpless since I was here and that person was back home. It also made me feel like the most shittiest person for wanting to stay away from it and pretend it wasn’t happening due to the fear I would fall back to my own dark hole. That persons situation brought me back to a time when I was there myself. The darkest corner of my mind where I hated everything, everyone and most importantly myself. Suddenly those dark thoughts crept into my mind. I felt extremely emotionally drained. I honestly cried for two days which was difficult since I was at school. Suddenly out of nowhere the tear ducts opened up and I couldn’t stop it. Then I shut myself off again. Went back to numbing my mind to survive each day without crying like a lunatic. I went back to not caring about anything of real importance and my temper became shorter and shorter which in turn made me just ignore even those things that irritated me.
Yesterday some of those clouds shifted for just a moment and I took the opportunity to make some slight changes into some things that were getting to me because I was basically slacking off with all that numbing myself shit. I felt for the first time in these past months like I accomplished something and that I was getting back to my old self.
Today was another day. Some of that stress returned. Some of those things that frustrated me also returned.
But that’s not what nearly caused a panic attack.
That was when I got home.
Remember when I said my mom’s episodes have started to become more frequent once again? Not only frequent but increased in severity.
You will never understand how I felt when I read a message from someone who let me know just how bad my mom’s episodes have gotten when I wasn’t at home. Apparently she had a HUGE mental episode today. It has a possible impact on our living situation. Saying that it felt like the floor fell away from under me would be an understatement. How quickly my mind shifted to all those times that message reminded me of. How quickly my anxiety increased tenfold. In an instant I was once again hurled back to that young 9 year old kid that became homeless, that had been kicked out, evicted, form one place to another. So many new addresses, so many new phone numbers to remember. Always worrying at school if I even had a home to go to at the end of the day. Always had my backpack loaded with necessities when something would happen. Carting our belongings, sometimes in the winter season, with a stray grocery cart. Moving our shit from one crappy place to another smaller crappier place. Feeling so tired from having to be a walking Uhaul with ten plus trips back and forth until it was getting dark. To be so in between living spaces that we left most in storage. It brought me back to that feeling when I was called a homeless person by my classmate and having everyone laugh at me. I was blasted back to the last two months in San Antonio before we moved here. That feeling that all my plans, all my goals and dreams were once again going to crash around me because of something she did. All my hopes that the possibility of that from ever happening to me again went away in that one moment. I can’t help but worry what would happen since I don’t know how they handle severe mentally ill people here in the Philippines who aren’t violent just a horrible pain in the ass to handle and creates a disturbance of peace (and of mind...my mind.
Suddenly I could feel my breathing coming to a halt. My chest felt like a crap load of rocks were weighing it down. How I managed the slow forced breathes that turned into the heaviest of sighs, I do not know. It’s been several years since my last panic attack which I started to have occasionally through the years since I was 9. That tightness is still there. Reminding me that I could implode at any moment. Who do I go to relieve some of those stones? I used to go out with a friend to vent and then hit a few high speed baseballs at the batting cages whenever I was close to losing it. My only way of relief is through my writing usually.
Funny how I can’t say any of this to my dad or anyone else who asks how I’m doing and I just answer with an ok Yet I have no issue with typing a vomit full of my thoughts to unload even a smidgen of the weight I’m feeling right now. Weird, no? Probably because I can ugly cry with no one watching as I type these words which is totally not what I’m doing right now....
As I end this I can honestly say one or two of those stones dropped right off.
My therapy are my words. And writing them or in this case typing them down, is the best way I know how to release all of them. It somehow shines a light on my thoughts so I can stop ignoring them and actually deal with them. Though at this moment and for this particular instance I have no fucking clue what to do except sing that Dorris Day ditty “Que sera sera whatever will be will be, the futures not ours to see, que sera sera”in my head. At this point I have no weapon in my arsenal to handle my mothers mental illness (what’s new...) except to just kind of try my absolute bestest to ignore it and that itch of wanting to confront her about it. I know exactly what would happen if I were to do that. That hellfire would be directed at me and it would accomplish nothing except having me end up in a fetal position as I listen to Linkin Park with a pounding headache.
(Dammit where is that tub of ice cream when I need to eat my feelings...)
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Deconstructed: The good, the bad and the ugly of Ontario’s 16-point plan to tame housing
On Thursday, the Ontario government introduced measures intended to cool the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area. Here’s a breakdown of all 16 and the impact housing markets experts believe they will or will not have.
1. A 15-per-cent Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) on the price of homes in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) purchased by individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of Canada or by foreign corporations
The tax is ultimately aimed at curbing price increases in the GTA, which the Toronto Real Estate Board said climbed 33 per cent in March from a year ago. Will it work?
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets. “We estimate that the share of foreign buyers in the GTA is notably lower than in Vancouver.”
The problem is that if Vancouver is any example there will be a short period during which domestic buyers will sit on the sidelines before jumping right back six months later.
Shaun Hildebrand, senior-vice-president of Urbanation Inc., says if you are desperate to park your money offshore the 15 per cent tax probably doesn’t matter.
“If you are a foreign buyer with no connection to the region, you must have a pretty big motivation to move that money here,” he said.
2. Expanding rent control to all private rental units in Ontario, including those that were built after 1991
Sources indicate this was a last minute change.
The province had been lobbied heavily by the development community, which was hoping for a change that would have given those post-1991 buildings an annual increase of 1.5 per cent plus the rate of inflation.
Builders on Thursday where already threatening to cancel projects because of the limit on rental hikes and Tal says, from his conversations with developers that they need an average of 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent rent inflation to make projects work.
“While it will be favourable for renters that get rent-controlled properties, such action incents builders to shift away from constructing new rental projects,” said Craig Alexander, chief economist with the Conference Board of Canada.
3. Developing a standard lease for all tenants across the province
The standard lease for all tenants is being pitched as protecting tenants and providing predictability for landlords.
A key provision is tightening provisions for own-use evictions, and ensuring that tenants are adequately compensated. In the condominium market, individual investors have long used the tactic of moving into their own unit to evict tenants. The tenant leaves, the landlord temporarily moves in and then rents the unit again — this time at a higher price.
The province is keeping vacancy decontrol, which allows landlords to set rents at whatever price they want when an apartment is empty.
4. The province will look at at its own surplus land to see what can be used for development purposes
Brian Johnston, chief operating officer of Mattamy Homes Ltd., doesn’t think this will do much to address supply problems in the GTA.
“They can look at it but are they really going to do anything with those lands?” he asked. “Let’s see. I can go look at my backyard and see if I can build a high-rise, it’s not easy to do.”
5. Allowing the City of Toronto, and potentially other interested municipalities, to introduce a vacant homes property tax to encourage property owners to sell unoccupied units or rent them out
While Vancouver already has a vacancy tax that will go into effect this year, it is still unclear how such a levy will function in practice
“There are very few examples of such taxes,” said Beata Caranci, chief economist with Toronto-Dominion Bank, noting that Vancouver and Camden in the U.K. are the only two jurisdictions to implement them.
“Camden’s experience with an additional 50 per cent property tax in 2013 has led to approximately one-third of vacant properties being brought to the rental market,” she said. “However, the tracking of vacant properties can be difficult and often subjective.”
6. Ensuring that property tax for new multi-residential apartment buildings is charged at a similar rate as other residential properties
The province says the move, which applies across Ontario, will encourage developers to build more new purpose-built rental housing, but not all agree.
“It’s just nowhere near enough money. It’s an incredibly risky thing to build a $100 million or $200 million property, deliver it vacant (as opposed to pre-selling units like in a condominium) and then try to make money through all the future economic possibilities,” said Brad Lamb, a Toronto developer.
7. Introducing a targeted $125-million, five-year program to further encourage the construction of new rental apartment buildings by rebating a portion of development charges
Jim Murphy, president of Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario, said that money is not even going to come close to dealing with the shortfall created by rent control.
“We did a survey of 15 builders, a small sample, and it equated to $2.7 billion of planned new construction for rental, that’s a small sample. That money is now at risk, so $125 million is a very small amount.”
8. Allowing municipalities greater taxing tools, including a vacant land tax
With house prices rising quickly, there have been complaints about developers holding onto land and even hoarding it as they wait for prices to raise.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Tal. “It is not a secret that land hoarding (by land owners or developers) plays a (secondary) role in the lack of land supply in the GTA. At the margin, that tax might help to accelerate developments, but it might be very difficult to implement without a high level of co-operation with municipalities.”
9. Creating a new “housing supply team” with dedicated provincial employees to identify barriers to specific housing development projects and work with developers and municipalities to find solutions
Building industry officials noted there was nothing in the announcement Thursday about the Ontario Municipal Board, the provincial body that reviews planning issues. They say they are more concerned about changes to the OMB and maintain delays in appeals are costing time and money.
10. Understanding and tackling practices that may be contributing to tax avoidance and excessive speculation in the housing market
Assignment clauses were specifically mentioned by finance Charles Sousa in a press conference. Generally, buyers are “paper flipping” those properties before a deal even closes.
The province seems to want to make sure it is getting properly compensated under the land transfer tax when such arrangements take place and will share the information with the Canada Revenue Agency.
11. Reviewing the rules for real estate agents to ensure consumers are fairly represented in real estate transactions
The province wants to get tough on reports of phantom bids, whereby fake offers are used as a wedge to make people bid more. It also looking at double ending, whereby the same agent can be representing the buyer and the seller.
Phil Soper, chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., said doubling ending is legal in most provinces with some restrictions in British Columbia, but his own firm has instituted rules against it.
“We require in multiple offer situations that if an agent has their own buyer client (in addition to representing the seller), that a manager be involved to represent that client buyer’s offer,” said Soper. “The biggest issue in our industry is transparency.”
12. Establishing a housing advisory group which will meet quarterly to provide the government with ongoing advice about the state of the housing market
What if none of the changes actually work? This group may be busy coming up with new plans. It will be made up of economists, academics, developers, community groups and the real estate sector.
13. Educating consumers on their rights, particularly when it comes to the issue of one real estate professional representing more than one party in a real estate transaction
In most cases an agent acting on both sides of the deal is legally working for the seller. Some agents maintain this isn’t an issue when there is just one buyer — it comes down to agreeing on a price. In a multiple offer auction, the situation becomes more complex because consumers are caught in bidding wars.
14. Partnering with the Canada Revenue Agency to explore more comprehensive reporting requirements so that correct federal and provincial taxes, including income and sales taxes, are paid on purchases and sales of real estate in Ontario
Flippers beware. The province could provide the CRA with information to follow up on capital gains taxes that have not been paid.
Through the changes to the collection of the land transfer tax, which go into effect April 24, Ontario will require buyers to declare whether a unit is being used as principal residence and therefore eligible for a tax exemption. Ontario is also demanding to know if you are leasing and the CRA could be armed with information about your rental income.
15. Making elevators in Ontario buildings more reliable by establishing timelines for elevator repair in consultation with the sector
It’s a constant complaint of some tenants in downtown condominiums that they are always waiting for elevators.
Upgrading the number of elevators after the fact would prove to be very difficult if not impossible, but hard rules on repair time lines would at least provide some relief.
16. The province will work with municipalities to better reflect the needs of the growing Greater Golden Horseshoe through an updated Growth Plan. New provisions will include requiring that municipalities consider the appropriate range of unit sizes in higher density residential buildings to accommodate a diverse range of household sizes and incomes
This could ultimately mean more density coming to a suburb near you and potentially stall development in projects where the economics simply don’t work for the building industry.
“Higher provincial intensity targets for municipalities?” asks Mattamy’s Johnston. “The municipalities favour low-rise over high-rise. Generally, they don’t like high rises in their bedroom communities.”
Inclusionary zoning, which requires a share of housing be dedicated to low income, will kill many projects. “It just makes some some high-rises unfeasible thus further restricting supply,” he said.
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Deconstructed: The good, the bad and the ugly of Ontario’s 16-point plan to tame housing
On Thursday, the Ontario government introduced measures intended to cool the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area. Here’s a breakdown of all 16 and the impact housing markets experts believe they will or will not have.
1. A 15-per-cent Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) on the price of homes in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) purchased by individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of Canada or by foreign corporations
The tax is ultimately aimed at curbing price increases in the GTA, which the Toronto Real Estate Board said climbed 33 per cent in March from a year ago. Will it work?
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets. “We estimate that the share of foreign buyers in the GTA is notably lower than in Vancouver.”
The problem is that if Vancouver is any example there will be a short period during which domestic buyers will sit on the sidelines before jumping right back six months later.
Shaun Hildebrand, senior-vice-president of Urbanation Inc., says if you are desperate to park your money offshore the 15 per cent tax probably doesn’t matter.
“If you are a foreign buyer with no connection to the region, you must have a pretty big motivation to move that money here,” he said.
2. Expanding rent control to all private rental units in Ontario, including those that were built after 1991
Sources indicate this was a last minute change.
The province had been lobbied heavily by the development community, which was hoping for a change that would have given those post-1991 buildings an annual increase of 1.5 per cent plus the rate of inflation.
Builders on Thursday where already threatening to cancel projects because of the limit on rental hikes and Tal says, from his conversations with developers that they need an average of 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent rent inflation to make projects work.
“While it will be favourable for renters that get rent-controlled properties, such action incents builders to shift away from constructing new rental projects,” said Craig Alexander, chief economist with the Conference Board of Canada.
3. Developing a standard lease for all tenants across the province
The standard lease for all tenants is being pitched as protecting tenants and providing predictability for landlords.
A key provision is tightening provisions for own-use evictions, and ensuring that tenants are adequately compensated. In the condominium market, individual investors have long used the tactic of moving into their own unit to evict tenants. The tenant leaves, the landlord temporarily moves in and then rents the unit again — this time at a higher price.
The province is keeping vacancy decontrol, which allows landlords to set rents at whatever price they want when an apartment is empty.
4. The province will look at at its own surplus land to see what can be used for development purposes
Brian Johnston, chief operating officer of Mattamy Homes Ltd., doesn’t think this will do much to address supply problems in the GTA.
“They can look at it but are they really going to do anything with those lands?” he asked. “Let’s see. I can go look at my backyard and see if I can build a high-rise, it’s not easy to do.”
5. Allowing the City of Toronto, and potentially other interested municipalities, to introduce a vacant homes property tax to encourage property owners to sell unoccupied units or rent them out
While Vancouver already has a vacancy tax that will go into effect this year, it is still unclear how such a levy will function in practice
“There are very few examples of such taxes,” said Beata Caranci, chief economist with Toronto-Dominion Bank, noting that Vancouver and Camden in the U.K. are the only two jurisdictions to implement them.
“Camden’s experience with an additional 50 per cent property tax in 2013 has led to approximately one-third of vacant properties being brought to the rental market,” she said. “However, the tracking of vacant properties can be difficult and often subjective.”
6. Ensuring that property tax for new multi-residential apartment buildings is charged at a similar rate as other residential properties
The province says the move, which applies across Ontario, will encourage developers to build more new purpose-built rental housing, but not all agree.
“It’s just nowhere near enough money. It’s an incredibly risky thing to build a $100 million or $200 million property, deliver it vacant (as opposed to pre-selling units like in a condominium) and then try to make money through all the future economic possibilities,” said Brad Lamb, a Toronto developer.
7. Introducing a targeted $125-million, five-year program to further encourage the construction of new rental apartment buildings by rebating a portion of development charges
Jim Murphy, president of Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario, said that money is not even going to come close to dealing with the shortfall created by rent control.
“We did a survey of 15 builders, a small sample, and it equated to $2.7 billion of planned new construction for rental, that’s a small sample. That money is now at risk, so $125 million is a very small amount.”
8. Allowing municipalities greater taxing tools, including a vacant land tax
With house prices rising quickly, there have been complaints about developers holding onto land and even hoarding it as they wait for prices to raise.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Tal. “It is not a secret that land hoarding (by land owners or developers) plays a (secondary) role in the lack of land supply in the GTA. At the margin, that tax might help to accelerate developments, but it might be very difficult to implement without a high level of co-operation with municipalities.”
9. Creating a new “housing supply team” with dedicated provincial employees to identify barriers to specific housing development projects and work with developers and municipalities to find solutions
Building industry officials noted there was nothing in the announcement Thursday about the Ontario Municipal Board, the provincial body that reviews planning issues. They say they are more concerned about changes to the OMB and maintain delays in appeals are costing time and money.
10. Understanding and tackling practices that may be contributing to tax avoidance and excessive speculation in the housing market
Assignment clauses were specifically mentioned by finance Charles Sousa in a press conference. Generally, buyers are “paper flipping” those properties before a deal even closes.
The province seems to want to make sure it is getting properly compensated under the land transfer tax when such arrangements take place and will share the information with the Canada Revenue Agency.
11. Reviewing the rules for real estate agents to ensure consumers are fairly represented in real estate transactions
The province wants to get tough on reports of phantom bids, whereby fake offers are used as a wedge to make people bid more. It also looking at double ending, whereby the same agent can be representing the buyer and the seller.
Phil Soper, chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., said doubling ending is legal in most provinces with some restrictions in British Columbia, but his own firm has instituted rules against it.
“We require in multiple offer situations that if an agent has their own buyer client (in addition to representing the seller), that a manager be involved to represent that client buyer’s offer,” said Soper. “The biggest issue in our industry is transparency.”
12. Establishing a housing advisory group which will meet quarterly to provide the government with ongoing advice about the state of the housing market
What if none of the changes actually work? This group may be busy coming up with new plans. It will be made up of economists, academics, developers, community groups and the real estate sector.
13. Educating consumers on their rights, particularly when it comes to the issue of one real estate professional representing more than one party in a real estate transaction
In most cases an agent acting on both sides of the deal is legally working for the seller. Some agents maintain this isn’t an issue when there is just one buyer — it comes down to agreeing on a price. In a multiple offer auction, the situation becomes more complex because consumers are caught in bidding wars.
14. Partnering with the Canada Revenue Agency to explore more comprehensive reporting requirements so that correct federal and provincial taxes, including income and sales taxes, are paid on purchases and sales of real estate in Ontario
Flippers beware. The province could provide the CRA with information to follow up on capital gains taxes that have not been paid.
Through the changes to the collection of the land transfer tax, which go into effect April 24, Ontario will require buyers to declare whether a unit is being used as principal residence and therefore eligible for a tax exemption. Ontario is also demanding to know if you are leasing and the CRA could be armed with information about your rental income.
15. Making elevators in Ontario buildings more reliable by establishing timelines for elevator repair in consultation with the sector
It’s a constant complaint of some tenants in downtown condominiums that they are always waiting for elevators.
Upgrading the number of elevators after the fact would prove to be very difficult if not impossible, but hard rules on repair time lines would at least provide some relief.
16. The province will work with municipalities to better reflect the needs of the growing Greater Golden Horseshoe through an updated Growth Plan. New provisions will include requiring that municipalities consider the appropriate range of unit sizes in higher density residential buildings to accommodate a diverse range of household sizes and incomes
This could ultimately mean more density coming to a suburb near you and potentially stall development in projects where the economics simply don’t work for the building industry.
“Higher provincial intensity targets for municipalities?” asks Mattamy’s Johnston. “The municipalities favour low-rise over high-rise. Generally, they don’t like high rises in their bedroom communities.”
Inclusionary zoning, which requires a share of housing be dedicated to low income, will kill many projects. “It just makes some some high-rises unfeasible thus further restricting supply,” he said.
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http://twitter.com/dustywallet
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2pKs0tM
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Text
Deconstructed: The good, the bad and the ugly of Ontario’s 16-point plan to tame housing
On Thursday, the Ontario government introduced measures intended to cool the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area. Here’s a breakdown of all 16 and the impact housing markets experts believe they will or will not have.
1. A 15-per-cent Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) on the price of homes in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) purchased by individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of Canada or by foreign corporations
The tax is ultimately aimed at curbing price increases in the GTA, which the Toronto Real Estate Board said climbed 33 per cent in March from a year ago. Will it work?
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets. “We estimate that the share of foreign buyers in the GTA is notably lower than in Vancouver.”
The problem is that if Vancouver is any example there will be a short period during which domestic buyers will sit on the sidelines before jumping right back six months later.
Shaun Hildebrand, senior-vice-president of Urbanation Inc., says if you are desperate to park your money offshore the 15 per cent tax probably doesn’t matter.
“If you are a foreign buyer with no connection to the region, you must have a pretty big motivation to move that money here,” he said.
2. Expanding rent control to all private rental units in Ontario, including those that were built after 1991
Sources indicate this was a last minute change.
The province had been lobbied heavily by the development community, which was hoping for a change that would have given those post-1991 buildings an annual increase of 1.5 per cent plus the rate of inflation.
Builders on Thursday where already threatening to cancel projects because of the limit on rental hikes and Tal says, from his conversations with developers that they need an average of 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent rent inflation to make projects work.
“While it will be favourable for renters that get rent-controlled properties, such action incents builders to shift away from constructing new rental projects,” said Craig Alexander, chief economist with the Conference Board of Canada.
3. Developing a standard lease for all tenants across the province
The standard lease for all tenants is being pitched as protecting tenants and providing predictability for landlords.
A key provision is tightening provisions for own-use evictions, and ensuring that tenants are adequately compensated. In the condominium market, individual investors have long used the tactic of moving into their own unit to evict tenants. The tenant leaves, the landlord temporarily moves in and then rents the unit again — this time at a higher price.
The province is keeping vacancy decontrol, which allows landlords to set rents at whatever price they want when an apartment is empty.
4. The province will look at at its own surplus land to see what can be used for development purposes
Brian Johnston, chief operating officer of Mattamy Homes Ltd., doesn’t think this will do much to address supply problems in the GTA.
“They can look at it but are they really going to do anything with those lands?” he asked. “Let’s see. I can go look at my backyard and see if I can build a high-rise, it’s not easy to do.”
5. Allowing the City of Toronto, and potentially other interested municipalities, to introduce a vacant homes property tax to encourage property owners to sell unoccupied units or rent them out
While Vancouver already has a vacancy tax that will go into effect this year, it is still unclear how such a levy will function in practice
“There are very few examples of such taxes,” said Beata Caranci, chief economist with Toronto-Dominion Bank, noting that Vancouver and Camden in the U.K. are the only two jurisdictions to implement them.
“Camden’s experience with an additional 50 per cent property tax in 2013 has led to approximately one-third of vacant properties being brought to the rental market,” she said. “However, the tracking of vacant properties can be difficult and often subjective.”
6. Ensuring that property tax for new multi-residential apartment buildings is charged at a similar rate as other residential properties
The province says the move, which applies across Ontario, will encourage developers to build more new purpose-built rental housing, but not all agree.
“It’s just nowhere near enough money. It’s an incredibly risky thing to build a $100 million or $200 million property, deliver it vacant (as opposed to pre-selling units like in a condominium) and then try to make money through all the future economic possibilities,” said Brad Lamb, a Toronto developer.
7. Introducing a targeted $125-million, five-year program to further encourage the construction of new rental apartment buildings by rebating a portion of development charges
Jim Murphy, president of Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario, said that money is not even going to come close to dealing with the shortfall created by rent control.
“We did a survey of 15 builders, a small sample, and it equated to $2.7 billion of planned new construction for rental, that’s a small sample. That money is now at risk, so $125 million is a very small amount.”
8. Allowing municipalities greater taxing tools, including a vacant land tax
With house prices rising quickly, there have been complaints about developers holding onto land and even hoarding it as they wait for prices to raise.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Tal. “It is not a secret that land hoarding (by land owners or developers) plays a (secondary) role in the lack of land supply in the GTA. At the margin, that tax might help to accelerate developments, but it might be very difficult to implement without a high level of co-operation with municipalities.”
9. Creating a new “housing supply team” with dedicated provincial employees to identify barriers to specific housing development projects and work with developers and municipalities to find solutions
Building industry officials noted there was nothing in the announcement Thursday about the Ontario Municipal Board, the provincial body that reviews planning issues. They say they are more concerned about changes to the OMB and maintain delays in appeals are costing time and money.
10. Understanding and tackling practices that may be contributing to tax avoidance and excessive speculation in the housing market
Assignment clauses were specifically mentioned by finance Charles Sousa in a press conference. Generally, buyers are “paper flipping” those properties before a deal even closes.
The province seems to want to make sure it is getting properly compensated under the land transfer tax when such arrangements take place and will share the information with the Canada Revenue Agency.
11. Reviewing the rules for real estate agents to ensure consumers are fairly represented in real estate transactions
The province wants to get tough on reports of phantom bids, whereby fake offers are used as a wedge to make people bid more. It also looking at double ending, whereby the same agent can be representing the buyer and the seller.
Phil Soper, chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., said doubling ending is legal in most provinces with some restrictions in British Columbia, but his own firm has instituted rules against it.
“We require in multiple offer situations that if an agent has their own buyer client (in addition to representing the seller), that a manager be involved to represent that client buyer’s offer,” said Soper. “The biggest issue in our industry is transparency.”
12. Establishing a housing advisory group which will meet quarterly to provide the government with ongoing advice about the state of the housing market
What if none of the changes actually work? This group may be busy coming up with new plans. It will be made up of economists, academics, developers, community groups and the real estate sector.
13. Educating consumers on their rights, particularly when it comes to the issue of one real estate professional representing more than one party in a real estate transaction
In most cases an agent acting on both sides of the deal is legally working for the seller. Some agents maintain this isn’t an issue when there is just one buyer — it comes down to agreeing on a price. In a multiple offer auction, the situation becomes more complex because consumers are caught in bidding wars.
14. Partnering with the Canada Revenue Agency to explore more comprehensive reporting requirements so that correct federal and provincial taxes, including income and sales taxes, are paid on purchases and sales of real estate in Ontario
Flippers beware. The province could provide the CRA with information to follow up on capital gains taxes that have not been paid.
Through the changes to the collection of the land transfer tax, which go into effect April 24, Ontario will require buyers to declare whether a unit is being used as principal residence and therefore eligible for a tax exemption. Ontario is also demanding to know if you are leasing and the CRA could be armed with information about your rental income.
15. Making elevators in Ontario buildings more reliable by establishing timelines for elevator repair in consultation with the sector
It’s a constant complaint of some tenants in downtown condominiums that they are always waiting for elevators.
Upgrading the number of elevators after the fact would prove to be very difficult if not impossible, but hard rules on repair time lines would at least provide some relief.
16. The province will work with municipalities to better reflect the needs of the growing Greater Golden Horseshoe through an updated Growth Plan. New provisions will include requiring that municipalities consider the appropriate range of unit sizes in higher density residential buildings to accommodate a diverse range of household sizes and incomes
This could ultimately mean more density coming to a suburb near you and potentially stall development in projects where the economics simply don’t work for the building industry.
“Higher provincial intensity targets for municipalities?” asks Mattamy’s Johnston. “The municipalities favour low-rise over high-rise. Generally, they don’t like high rises in their bedroom communities.”
Inclusionary zoning, which requires a share of housing be dedicated to low income, will kill many projects. “It just makes some some high-rises unfeasible thus further restricting supply,” he said.
[email protected]
http://twitter.com/dustywallet
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2pKs0tM
0 notes
Text
Deconstructed: The good, the bad and the ugly of Ontario’s 16-point plan to tame housing
On Thursday, the Ontario government introduced measures intended to cool the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area. Here’s a breakdown of all 16 and the impact housing markets experts believe they will or will not have.
1. A 15-per-cent Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) on the price of homes in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) purchased by individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of Canada or by foreign corporations
The tax is ultimately aimed at curbing price increases in the GTA, which the Toronto Real Estate Board said climbed 33 per cent in March from a year ago. Will it work?
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets. “We estimate that the share of foreign buyers in the GTA is notably lower than in Vancouver.”
The problem is that if Vancouver is any example there will be a short period during which domestic buyers will sit on the sidelines before jumping right back six months later.
Shaun Hildebrand, senior-vice-president of Urbanation Inc., says if you are desperate to park your money offshore the 15 per cent tax probably doesn’t matter.
“If you are a foreign buyer with no connection to the region, you must have a pretty big motivation to move that money here,” he said.
2. Expanding rent control to all private rental units in Ontario, including those that were built after 1991
Sources indicate this was a last minute change.
The province had been lobbied heavily by the development community, which was hoping for a change that would have given those post-1991 buildings an annual increase of 1.5 per cent plus the rate of inflation.
Builders on Thursday where already threatening to cancel projects because of the limit on rental hikes and Tal says, from his conversations with developers that they need an average of 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent rent inflation to make projects work.
“While it will be favourable for renters that get rent-controlled properties, such action incents builders to shift away from constructing new rental projects,” said Craig Alexander, chief economist with the Conference Board of Canada.
3. Developing a standard lease for all tenants across the province
The standard lease for all tenants is being pitched as protecting tenants and providing predictability for landlords.
A key provision is tightening provisions for own-use evictions, and ensuring that tenants are adequately compensated. In the condominium market, individual investors have long used the tactic of moving into their own unit to evict tenants. The tenant leaves, the landlord temporarily moves in and then rents the unit again — this time at a higher price.
The province is keeping vacancy decontrol, which allows landlords to set rents at whatever price they want when an apartment is empty.
4. The province will look at at its own surplus land to see what can be used for development purposes
Brian Johnston, chief operating officer of Mattamy Homes Ltd., doesn’t think this will do much to address supply problems in the GTA.
“They can look at it but are they really going to do anything with those lands?” he asked. “Let’s see. I can go look at my backyard and see if I can build a high-rise, it’s not easy to do.”
5. Allowing the City of Toronto, and potentially other interested municipalities, to introduce a vacant homes property tax to encourage property owners to sell unoccupied units or rent them out
While Vancouver already has a vacancy tax that will go into effect this year, it is still unclear how such a levy will function in practice
“There are very few examples of such taxes,” said Beata Caranci, chief economist with Toronto-Dominion Bank, noting that Vancouver and Camden in the U.K. are the only two jurisdictions to implement them.
“Camden’s experience with an additional 50 per cent property tax in 2013 has led to approximately one-third of vacant properties being brought to the rental market,” she said. “However, the tracking of vacant properties can be difficult and often subjective.”
6. Ensuring that property tax for new multi-residential apartment buildings is charged at a similar rate as other residential properties
The province says the move, which applies across Ontario, will encourage developers to build more new purpose-built rental housing, but not all agree.
“It’s just nowhere near enough money. It’s an incredibly risky thing to build a $100 million or $200 million property, deliver it vacant (as opposed to pre-selling units like in a condominium) and then try to make money through all the future economic possibilities,” said Brad Lamb, a Toronto developer.
7. Introducing a targeted $125-million, five-year program to further encourage the construction of new rental apartment buildings by rebating a portion of development charges
Jim Murphy, president of Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario, said that money is not even going to come close to dealing with the shortfall created by rent control.
“We did a survey of 15 builders, a small sample, and it equated to $2.7 billion of planned new construction for rental, that’s a small sample. That money is now at risk, so $125 million is a very small amount.”
8. Allowing municipalities greater taxing tools, including a vacant land tax
With house prices rising quickly, there have been complaints about developers holding onto land and even hoarding it as they wait for prices to raise.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Tal. “It is not a secret that land hoarding (by land owners or developers) plays a (secondary) role in the lack of land supply in the GTA. At the margin, that tax might help to accelerate developments, but it might be very difficult to implement without a high level of co-operation with municipalities.”
9. Creating a new “housing supply team” with dedicated provincial employees to identify barriers to specific housing development projects and work with developers and municipalities to find solutions
Building industry officials noted there was nothing in the announcement Thursday about the Ontario Municipal Board, the provincial body that reviews planning issues. They say they are more concerned about changes to the OMB and maintain delays in appeals are costing time and money.
10. Understanding and tackling practices that may be contributing to tax avoidance and excessive speculation in the housing market
Assignment clauses were specifically mentioned by finance Charles Sousa in a press conference. Generally, buyers are “paper flipping” those properties before a deal even closes.
The province seems to want to make sure it is getting properly compensated under the land transfer tax when such arrangements take place and will share the information with the Canada Revenue Agency.
11. Reviewing the rules for real estate agents to ensure consumers are fairly represented in real estate transactions
The province wants to get tough on reports of phantom bids, whereby fake offers are used as a wedge to make people bid more. It also looking at double ending, whereby the same agent can be representing the buyer and the seller.
Phil Soper, chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., said doubling ending is legal in most provinces with some restrictions in British Columbia, but his own firm has instituted rules against it.
“We require in multiple offer situations that if an agent has their own buyer client (in addition to representing the seller), that a manager be involved to represent that client buyer’s offer,” said Soper. “The biggest issue in our industry is transparency.”
12. Establishing a housing advisory group which will meet quarterly to provide the government with ongoing advice about the state of the housing market
What if none of the changes actually work? This group may be busy coming up with new plans. It will be made up of economists, academics, developers, community groups and the real estate sector.
13. Educating consumers on their rights, particularly when it comes to the issue of one real estate professional representing more than one party in a real estate transaction
In most cases an agent acting on both sides of the deal is legally working for the seller. Some agents maintain this isn’t an issue when there is just one buyer — it comes down to agreeing on a price. In a multiple offer auction, the situation becomes more complex because consumers are caught in bidding wars.
14. Partnering with the Canada Revenue Agency to explore more comprehensive reporting requirements so that correct federal and provincial taxes, including income and sales taxes, are paid on purchases and sales of real estate in Ontario
Flippers beware. The province could provide the CRA with information to follow up on capital gains taxes that have not been paid.
Through the changes to the collection of the land transfer tax, which go into effect April 24, Ontario will require buyers to declare whether a unit is being used as principal residence and therefore eligible for a tax exemption. Ontario is also demanding to know if you are leasing and the CRA could be armed with information about your rental income.
15. Making elevators in Ontario buildings more reliable by establishing timelines for elevator repair in consultation with the sector
It’s a constant complaint of some tenants in downtown condominiums that they are always waiting for elevators.
Upgrading the number of elevators after the fact would prove to be very difficult if not impossible, but hard rules on repair time lines would at least provide some relief.
16. The province will work with municipalities to better reflect the needs of the growing Greater Golden Horseshoe through an updated Growth Plan. New provisions will include requiring that municipalities consider the appropriate range of unit sizes in higher density residential buildings to accommodate a diverse range of household sizes and incomes
This could ultimately mean more density coming to a suburb near you and potentially stall development in projects where the economics simply don’t work for the building industry.
“Higher provincial intensity targets for municipalities?” asks Mattamy’s Johnston. “The municipalities favour low-rise over high-rise. Generally, they don’t like high rises in their bedroom communities.”
Inclusionary zoning, which requires a share of housing be dedicated to low income, will kill many projects. “It just makes some some high-rises unfeasible thus further restricting supply,” he said.
[email protected]
http://twitter.com/dustywallet
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2pKs0tM
0 notes
Text
Deconstructed: The good, the bad and the ugly of Ontario’s 16-point plan to tame housing
On Thursday, the Ontario government introduced measures intended to cool the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area. Here’s a breakdown of all 16 and the impact housing markets experts believe they will or will not have.
1. A 15-per-cent Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) on the price of homes in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) purchased by individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of Canada or by foreign corporations
The tax is ultimately aimed at curbing price increases in the GTA, which the Toronto Real Estate Board said climbed 33 per cent in March from a year ago. Will it work?
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets. “We estimate that the share of foreign buyers in the GTA is notably lower than in Vancouver.”
The problem is that if Vancouver is any example there will be a short period during which domestic buyers will sit on the sidelines before jumping right back six months later.
Shaun Hildebrand, senior-vice-president of Urbanation Inc., says if you are desperate to park your money offshore the 15 per cent tax probably doesn’t matter.
“If you are a foreign buyer with no connection to the region, you must have a pretty big motivation to move that money here,” he said.
2. Expanding rent control to all private rental units in Ontario, including those that were built after 1991
Sources indicate this was a last minute change.
The province had been lobbied heavily by the development community, which was hoping for a change that would have given those post-1991 buildings an annual increase of 1.5 per cent plus the rate of inflation.
Builders on Thursday where already threatening to cancel projects because of the limit on rental hikes and Tal says, from his conversations with developers that they need an average of 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent rent inflation to make projects work.
“While it will be favourable for renters that get rent-controlled properties, such action incents builders to shift away from constructing new rental projects,” said Craig Alexander, chief economist with the Conference Board of Canada.
3. Developing a standard lease for all tenants across the province
The standard lease for all tenants is being pitched as protecting tenants and providing predictability for landlords.
A key provision is tightening provisions for own-use evictions, and ensuring that tenants are adequately compensated. In the condominium market, individual investors have long used the tactic of moving into their own unit to evict tenants. The tenant leaves, the landlord temporarily moves in and then rents the unit again — this time at a higher price.
The province is keeping vacancy decontrol, which allows landlords to set rents at whatever price they want when an apartment is empty.
4. The province will look at at its own surplus land to see what can be used for development purposes
Brian Johnston, chief operating officer of Mattamy Homes Ltd., doesn’t think this will do much to address supply problems in the GTA.
“They can look at it but are they really going to do anything with those lands?” he asked. “Let’s see. I can go look at my backyard and see if I can build a high-rise, it’s not easy to do.”
5. Allowing the City of Toronto, and potentially other interested municipalities, to introduce a vacant homes property tax to encourage property owners to sell unoccupied units or rent them out
While Vancouver already has a vacancy tax that will go into effect this year, it is still unclear how such a levy will function in practice
“There are very few examples of such taxes,” said Beata Caranci, chief economist with Toronto-Dominion Bank, noting that Vancouver and Camden in the U.K. are the only two jurisdictions to implement them.
“Camden’s experience with an additional 50 per cent property tax in 2013 has led to approximately one-third of vacant properties being brought to the rental market,” she said. “However, the tracking of vacant properties can be difficult and often subjective.”
6. Ensuring that property tax for new multi-residential apartment buildings is charged at a similar rate as other residential properties
The province says the move, which applies across Ontario, will encourage developers to build more new purpose-built rental housing, but not all agree.
“It’s just nowhere near enough money. It’s an incredibly risky thing to build a $100 million or $200 million property, deliver it vacant (as opposed to pre-selling units like in a condominium) and then try to make money through all the future economic possibilities,” said Brad Lamb, a Toronto developer.
7. Introducing a targeted $125-million, five-year program to further encourage the construction of new rental apartment buildings by rebating a portion of development charges
Jim Murphy, president of Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario, said that money is not even going to come close to dealing with the shortfall created by rent control.
“We did a survey of 15 builders, a small sample, and it equated to $2.7 billion of planned new construction for rental, that’s a small sample. That money is now at risk, so $125 million is a very small amount.”
8. Allowing municipalities greater taxing tools, including a vacant land tax
With house prices rising quickly, there have been complaints about developers holding onto land and even hoarding it as they wait for prices to raise.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Tal. “It is not a secret that land hoarding (by land owners or developers) plays a (secondary) role in the lack of land supply in the GTA. At the margin, that tax might help to accelerate developments, but it might be very difficult to implement without a high level of co-operation with municipalities.”
9. Creating a new “housing supply team” with dedicated provincial employees to identify barriers to specific housing development projects and work with developers and municipalities to find solutions
Building industry officials noted there was nothing in the announcement Thursday about the Ontario Municipal Board, the provincial body that reviews planning issues. They say they are more concerned about changes to the OMB and maintain delays in appeals are costing time and money.
10. Understanding and tackling practices that may be contributing to tax avoidance and excessive speculation in the housing market
Assignment clauses were specifically mentioned by finance Charles Sousa in a press conference. Generally, buyers are “paper flipping” those properties before a deal even closes.
The province seems to want to make sure it is getting properly compensated under the land transfer tax when such arrangements take place and will share the information with the Canada Revenue Agency.
11. Reviewing the rules for real estate agents to ensure consumers are fairly represented in real estate transactions
The province wants to get tough on reports of phantom bids, whereby fake offers are used as a wedge to make people bid more. It also looking at double ending, whereby the same agent can be representing the buyer and the seller.
Phil Soper, chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., said doubling ending is legal in most provinces with some restrictions in British Columbia, but his own firm has instituted rules against it.
“We require in multiple offer situations that if an agent has their own buyer client (in addition to representing the seller), that a manager be involved to represent that client buyer’s offer,” said Soper. “The biggest issue in our industry is transparency.”
12. Establishing a housing advisory group which will meet quarterly to provide the government with ongoing advice about the state of the housing market
What if none of the changes actually work? This group may be busy coming up with new plans. It will be made up of economists, academics, developers, community groups and the real estate sector.
13. Educating consumers on their rights, particularly when it comes to the issue of one real estate professional representing more than one party in a real estate transaction
In most cases an agent acting on both sides of the deal is legally working for the seller. Some agents maintain this isn’t an issue when there is just one buyer — it comes down to agreeing on a price. In a multiple offer auction, the situation becomes more complex because consumers are caught in bidding wars.
14. Partnering with the Canada Revenue Agency to explore more comprehensive reporting requirements so that correct federal and provincial taxes, including income and sales taxes, are paid on purchases and sales of real estate in Ontario
Flippers beware. The province could provide the CRA with information to follow up on capital gains taxes that have not been paid.
Through the changes to the collection of the land transfer tax, which go into effect April 24, Ontario will require buyers to declare whether a unit is being used as principal residence and therefore eligible for a tax exemption. Ontario is also demanding to know if you are leasing and the CRA could be armed with information about your rental income.
15. Making elevators in Ontario buildings more reliable by establishing timelines for elevator repair in consultation with the sector
It’s a constant complaint of some tenants in downtown condominiums that they are always waiting for elevators.
Upgrading the number of elevators after the fact would prove to be very difficult if not impossible, but hard rules on repair time lines would at least provide some relief.
16. The province will work with municipalities to better reflect the needs of the growing Greater Golden Horseshoe through an updated Growth Plan. New provisions will include requiring that municipalities consider the appropriate range of unit sizes in higher density residential buildings to accommodate a diverse range of household sizes and incomes
This could ultimately mean more density coming to a suburb near you and potentially stall development in projects where the economics simply don’t work for the building industry.
“Higher provincial intensity targets for municipalities?” asks Mattamy’s Johnston. “The municipalities favour low-rise over high-rise. Generally, they don’t like high rises in their bedroom communities.”
Inclusionary zoning, which requires a share of housing be dedicated to low income, will kill many projects. “It just makes some some high-rises unfeasible thus further restricting supply,” he said.
[email protected]
http://twitter.com/dustywallet
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2pKs0tM
0 notes
Text
Deconstructed: The good, the bad and the ugly of Ontario’s 16-point plan to tame housing
On Thursday, the Ontario government introduced measures intended to cool the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area. Here’s a breakdown of all 16 and the impact housing markets experts believe they will or will not have.
1. A 15-per-cent Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) on the price of homes in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) purchased by individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of Canada or by foreign corporations
The tax is ultimately aimed at curbing price increases in the GTA, which the Toronto Real Estate Board said climbed 33 per cent in March from a year ago. Will it work?
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets. “We estimate that the share of foreign buyers in the GTA is notably lower than in Vancouver.”
The problem is that if Vancouver is any example there will be a short period during which domestic buyers will sit on the sidelines before jumping right back six months later.
Shaun Hildebrand, senior-vice-president of Urbanation Inc., says if you are desperate to park your money offshore the 15 per cent tax probably doesn’t matter.
“If you are a foreign buyer with no connection to the region, you must have a pretty big motivation to move that money here,” he said.
2. Expanding rent control to all private rental units in Ontario, including those that were built after 1991
Sources indicate this was a last minute change.
The province had been lobbied heavily by the development community, which was hoping for a change that would have given those post-1991 buildings an annual increase of 1.5 per cent plus the rate of inflation.
Builders on Thursday where already threatening to cancel projects because of the limit on rental hikes and Tal says, from his conversations with developers that they need an average of 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent rent inflation to make projects work.
“While it will be favourable for renters that get rent-controlled properties, such action incents builders to shift away from constructing new rental projects,” said Craig Alexander, chief economist with the Conference Board of Canada.
3. Developing a standard lease for all tenants across the province
The standard lease for all tenants is being pitched as protecting tenants and providing predictability for landlords.
A key provision is tightening provisions for own-use evictions, and ensuring that tenants are adequately compensated. In the condominium market, individual investors have long used the tactic of moving into their own unit to evict tenants. The tenant leaves, the landlord temporarily moves in and then rents the unit again — this time at a higher price.
The province is keeping vacancy decontrol, which allows landlords to set rents at whatever price they want when an apartment is empty.
4. The province will look at at its own surplus land to see what can be used for development purposes
Brian Johnston, chief operating officer of Mattamy Homes Ltd., doesn’t think this will do much to address supply problems in the GTA.
“They can look at it but are they really going to do anything with those lands?” he asked. “Let’s see. I can go look at my backyard and see if I can build a high-rise, it’s not easy to do.”
5. Allowing the City of Toronto, and potentially other interested municipalities, to introduce a vacant homes property tax to encourage property owners to sell unoccupied units or rent them out
While Vancouver already has a vacancy tax that will go into effect this year, it is still unclear how such a levy will function in practice
“There are very few examples of such taxes,” said Beata Caranci, chief economist with Toronto-Dominion Bank, noting that Vancouver and Camden in the U.K. are the only two jurisdictions to implement them.
“Camden’s experience with an additional 50 per cent property tax in 2013 has led to approximately one-third of vacant properties being brought to the rental market,” she said. “However, the tracking of vacant properties can be difficult and often subjective.”
6. Ensuring that property tax for new multi-residential apartment buildings is charged at a similar rate as other residential properties
The province says the move, which applies across Ontario, will encourage developers to build more new purpose-built rental housing, but not all agree.
“It’s just nowhere near enough money. It’s an incredibly risky thing to build a $100 million or $200 million property, deliver it vacant (as opposed to pre-selling units like in a condominium) and then try to make money through all the future economic possibilities,” said Brad Lamb, a Toronto developer.
7. Introducing a targeted $125-million, five-year program to further encourage the construction of new rental apartment buildings by rebating a portion of development charges
Jim Murphy, president of Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario, said that money is not even going to come close to dealing with the shortfall created by rent control.
“We did a survey of 15 builders, a small sample, and it equated to $2.7 billion of planned new construction for rental, that’s a small sample. That money is now at risk, so $125 million is a very small amount.”
8. Allowing municipalities greater taxing tools, including a vacant land tax
With house prices rising quickly, there have been complaints about developers holding onto land and even hoarding it as they wait for prices to raise.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Tal. “It is not a secret that land hoarding (by land owners or developers) plays a (secondary) role in the lack of land supply in the GTA. At the margin, that tax might help to accelerate developments, but it might be very difficult to implement without a high level of co-operation with municipalities.”
9. Creating a new “housing supply team” with dedicated provincial employees to identify barriers to specific housing development projects and work with developers and municipalities to find solutions
Building industry officials noted there was nothing in the announcement Thursday about the Ontario Municipal Board, the provincial body that reviews planning issues. They say they are more concerned about changes to the OMB and maintain delays in appeals are costing time and money.
10. Understanding and tackling practices that may be contributing to tax avoidance and excessive speculation in the housing market
Assignment clauses were specifically mentioned by finance Charles Sousa in a press conference. Generally, buyers are “paper flipping” those properties before a deal even closes.
The province seems to want to make sure it is getting properly compensated under the land transfer tax when such arrangements take place and will share the information with the Canada Revenue Agency.
11. Reviewing the rules for real estate agents to ensure consumers are fairly represented in real estate transactions
The province wants to get tough on reports of phantom bids, whereby fake offers are used as a wedge to make people bid more. It also looking at double ending, whereby the same agent can be representing the buyer and the seller.
Phil Soper, chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., said doubling ending is legal in most provinces with some restrictions in British Columbia, but his own firm has instituted rules against it.
“We require in multiple offer situations that if an agent has their own buyer client (in addition to representing the seller), that a manager be involved to represent that client buyer’s offer,” said Soper. “The biggest issue in our industry is transparency.”
12. Establishing a housing advisory group which will meet quarterly to provide the government with ongoing advice about the state of the housing market
What if none of the changes actually work? This group may be busy coming up with new plans. It will be made up of economists, academics, developers, community groups and the real estate sector.
13. Educating consumers on their rights, particularly when it comes to the issue of one real estate professional representing more than one party in a real estate transaction
In most cases an agent acting on both sides of the deal is legally working for the seller. Some agents maintain this isn’t an issue when there is just one buyer — it comes down to agreeing on a price. In a multiple offer auction, the situation becomes more complex because consumers are caught in bidding wars.
14. Partnering with the Canada Revenue Agency to explore more comprehensive reporting requirements so that correct federal and provincial taxes, including income and sales taxes, are paid on purchases and sales of real estate in Ontario
Flippers beware. The province could provide the CRA with information to follow up on capital gains taxes that have not been paid.
Through the changes to the collection of the land transfer tax, which go into effect April 24, Ontario will require buyers to declare whether a unit is being used as principal residence and therefore eligible for a tax exemption. Ontario is also demanding to know if you are leasing and the CRA could be armed with information about your rental income.
15. Making elevators in Ontario buildings more reliable by establishing timelines for elevator repair in consultation with the sector
It’s a constant complaint of some tenants in downtown condominiums that they are always waiting for elevators.
Upgrading the number of elevators after the fact would prove to be very difficult if not impossible, but hard rules on repair time lines would at least provide some relief.
16. The province will work with municipalities to better reflect the needs of the growing Greater Golden Horseshoe through an updated Growth Plan. New provisions will include requiring that municipalities consider the appropriate range of unit sizes in higher density residential buildings to accommodate a diverse range of household sizes and incomes
This could ultimately mean more density coming to a suburb near you and potentially stall development in projects where the economics simply don’t work for the building industry.
“Higher provincial intensity targets for municipalities?” asks Mattamy’s Johnston. “The municipalities favour low-rise over high-rise. Generally, they don’t like high rises in their bedroom communities.”
Inclusionary zoning, which requires a share of housing be dedicated to low income, will kill many projects. “It just makes some some high-rises unfeasible thus further restricting supply,” he said.
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