Housing

So, a collegue and I decided to rent an apartment. There was an add on Craig's List for a three bedroom three level penthouse apartment with wrap around views of the Mississippi. It rents for $4200 a month. The only problem is that it is on the West Bank of the Mississippi, too far out of the way.

The good news is that our housing reimbursement rates are based on staying at a hotel and that the rates are insanely high because it is hard to find a hotel room because of the disaster. Currently, the maximum we can spend per day is $300. On a monthly basis that is $9000 per person!!!

So, my colleague and I joked that I could rent the penthouse and he could rent a two-bedroom place close to work. We both would have a bedroom in both. Depending on how he or I felt, we would sleep at the apartment of our choosing: the penthouse away from the city ot the in-town apartment, a short hop from work. All paid for by the government. After work, we might go and relax at the in-town place. Later that night or on the weekend, we could go to the penthouse.

But, the penthouse was not that nice, so we are still looking.

Another idea we had was to go to someone that had a nice apartment and offer them a couple of thousand dollars on top of their rent to move out and let us have their apartment.

Oh, the luxury of a fat government housing voucher!

For another perspective:
http://icedcoffeeandabagel.blogspot.com/2006/04/dropping-rents.html