By Lotus Chen
I woke up in the morning with the reflection on the good news I got yesterday on the housing issue. I have worked on the housing issue in Monterey for my practicum as well. I would like to share my opinions on the housing issue in Monterey Peninsula and in Beijing, China.
1. low-income housing for low-income students and families
I am very happy that MIIS will purchase a building with a third-party realtor and provide to students housing in fall 2021. Jeff Dayton-Johnson, Vice President for Academic Affairs & Dean of the Institute said in an email sent to students:
Middlebury has filed an application with the City of Monterey to assign a purchase contract of a building close to campus to a third-party property company. That company would develop the site, manage the construction, and then lease the property to Middlebury. This building could house up to 80 residents, starting in fall 2021 at the earliest.
Since I have enrolled in MIIS, I keep asking why there are no students dormitories here since the housing rate is insane expensive. I have received all different vague answers. Since I have lived here,I have been traumatized by my previous landladies. The first one was an old woman living alone on Monroe Street who had back injure, she thus cannot walk normally. She is very moody and emotional. She was particular and yelled at me for any small mistakes I made in her house. She sent me emails daily with accusations and blame. She said my clothes are knock-off. She forbade me to cook Chinese food because she did not like the smoke as the oven hood in her kitchen was not working. I felt that my basic human needs could not satisfied. She once threatened to beat me when I used hair dryer and made noise during the daytime. She deliberately turned off the hot water when I was showering. Even after the lease ended and I moved out, she sent me emails like “Top Ten Poisonous Food Imported from China’. I cried several times after she scolded me. I even thought of breaking the lease earlier. However, I could not find housing near campus with a cheaper rate because I do not have a car and driving license in California.
The second landlady was better as I live separately from her. My roommate and I rent a 2-bedroom apartment next to her house. My roommate was bitten by bedbugs and she was unhappy about the landlady’s attitude to blame her to bring bedbugs in the house, so she broke the lease and moved out. I lived alone there after I was hit by a car and my legs were injured, I could not walk for months. This landlady was very indifferent. She never came to visit me once to comfort me. She did not care about those house affairs like the broken bulbs or ants in the kitchen because she was busy. Most miserably for me was that she invited her friend, an old Mexican American woman to live with me for free. That woman was also very terrible to me. She got up at 5am, took shower, made breakfast loudly. I was woken up every morning since she moved in for a month. I felt terrible because I did not sleep well and my legs were injured then. I had to deal with finals and commencement in MIIS. Those were tough and terrible days.
My third landlady is a Russian who is teaching Russian here. She is kinder. She rented the whole 3 bed- room apartment about 12 years ago. She pays the least of the rate for the whole apartment, but she occupied most spaces, such as the big bedroom with her own bathroom, a balcony, the living room which is turned into her study, the dining room is hers as well—she occasionally allows me to use it. I pay most of the rent, but I only have my bedroom. I guess she is trying to create a dominate “paradigm” in this apartment by blaming me for this and that. For instance, she requires me to close the toilet cover all the time because she believes that if it is open, she will lose money. I have to follow her superstition.
All in all, I had bad experience of living as a poor student here.
So, you can see that I am so happy a dormitory for MIIS student finally is happening.
However, what I am now concerned about is: What are those rates for students? Will they be less expensive than average rates? Will staff who have intercultural intelligence and capabilities to manage these students’ dormitories among diverse students?
It is not easy. I am glad MIIS now welcomes the challenges, or else the enrollment will decrease.
2.Afforable Housing in the City of Monterey
Housing issue in Monterey is intractable.US, a capitalist society encourages competition and satisfaction derived from the whole day’s hard work, therefore people are not encouraged to apply for affordable housing if you can make a living. Some prefer to be the homeless on streets rather than working hard to earn a wage to pay their rent and paychecks. Therefore, the criteria for applicants in the City of Monterey are understandable.
The roots of lacking housing in Monterey is lacking water, now some new dams in Carmel are being built. Hopefully the housing tension will be eased in the future. However, the housing issue is quite complex as other issues that public policymakers are dealing with. Someone does not want pay rent and live in an affordable housing, someone is struggling with the application process due to lack of access to information, paperwork and Internet. They do not have capabilities to access affordable housing. How can we make transformative changes from all the details and nuances of such an intractable and complex issue?
3.Homelessness in China
I also very happy there is an organization to deal with homelessness in Beijing, China. Since I have lived in US for about 2 years, my opinion on China’s development turned to be more positive.A study in 1960s shows that Chinese international students’ opinions of Western countries are also closely linked to how long they spend abroad. We found that among long-term international students, views of China follow a U-shaped curve: At first, they tend to look down on China’s development and future prospects, but if they spend longer than a year and a half in their host country, their views gradually grow more positive again. These findings suggest that those students who are likely to idealize the host countries and shun China are those who superficially understand the West.
Feng Xiao, the director of Feng He Community said that Feng He is helping 30 “street sleepers ”(the homeless on streets)per year, improving their quality of life, or helping them get out of homelessness. For example, they distributed free sanitary pads, condoms and “Wolf alarms” (prevent them from sex harassment) for female street sleepers. They organized a “passion football game” for male street sleepers to dispel their hostility toward the staff at the shelter center, whom they assumed as same as those rude and tough government officials and workers.
Feng suggests stopping asking silly questions to them like, “Why don't you call the police and contact your family?” “Why don't you get a job?” and do not take a picture of them and update them on social media to friends, asking “how no one cares for them? How does our society leave them alone?
He gives a To-Do list:
Ask them whether they need a cup of hot water, a bowl of hot rice, don't disturb their sleep.
Really come into their lives to understand their lives.
Respect their decision, even if they intend to make no changes of their lives.
Do not send them aid they don't even need.
In his perspective, street sleepers, are just our neighbors, but they just do not their own houses.
More creative, humantarian and thoughtful public policies regarding housing and homelessness are welcomed in China and the US.
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