The county of Kauai considers my condo to be a "homestead" which I think is very odd.

I live in a condo building with mostly vacation rental units, but a few of us live in our units year round. Owners who rent their condos to vacationers pay a higher tax, so when I moved into my condo full time after renting it out for years, I went to the county to have my tax rate changed... They changed it to "homestead." I'm good with that since it saves me thousands in taxes each year.

Of course I'm still paying more taxes than those who who are just camping in tents permanently along the beach instead of paying rent or making mortgage payment.

When a member of ZPG we often gave activity lessons in schools (gdes. 1-12 + college). In one lesson I spoke to a 5th grade class and said the US story needs to be changed. Originally cowboys were the mode and the theme was go west. Now there is no more western lands and the new theme needs to be Space. The planet is a spaceship and the theme needs to be what we need to practice when in a spaceship.

in terms of government requirements for various benefits, ,loans, etc., homestead means that the property in question is where you live, and that rental properties (owned by you and rented to someone else) do not count. if, for example, you own two properties and rent one out, and want a certain kind of benefit connected with a property, there are some that apply only if the property is NOT a homestead (for example, if you want to be paid by section 8 to rent a property to someone at a section 8 rate, it cannot be a homestead; you cannot live there and rent a room and be part of section 8. at the same time, there are loans or grants you can get to fix up a property but it MUST be a homestead -- that is, it must be your residence).

g

Pardon me for pointing this out, BUT, if they're so interested in the whole
homesteading thing (and all that that implies and entails), what the hell
are they doing in a nail salon?
What goes on in a nail salon is symbolic of the waste and unnecessary nature
of business. Even without getting fake nails (which is one of the biggest environmental polluters on a scale which is mind-boggling), the level of toxic chemicals used in those businesses is something most people don't even think about.
Even with regulations, most of those chemicals go right down the drain, and into
the waste-water system. Most of those chemicals are never removed and go
straight back into the eco-system.

I'm not telling anyone not to get their nails done, but if they're going to lament the
scarcity of available land for "homesteading", they might want to check their hypocrisy for contributing to the problem of available land able to sustain life.

Just my two cents.

The more overpopulated we become, the less free land there is for camping.

If clean, I rather like dreads. But there is a spectrum of people that like to wear them, and not all are appealing. Though I don't find them bothersome.

It means excately what you implied: they want a home in exchange for thier sweat instead of money. Probably because they have an abundance of one and a lack of the other.

The costs of things like homes are going up. I have a friend who is building his own tiny house along with his wife and son. They have spent about ten grand so far, the home is not done, there is a lot more work to go. I am thinking of selling our house and getting into a tiny home. Two of them built by a local contractor along with land is going for about two hundred grand. That is a lot of money for a home, but I think it is worth it as they are very well built and will last longer than we will be alive. So land is the problem, there is much that has nothing on it but the people who own it are apparently looking to make a killing. What was for sale maybe twenty years ago for several thousand dollars is now worth more than that. The costs of everything is going up and from my point of view it is easy to see why there are so many homeless. It is not because of them being lazy or bad people it is because they are priced out of being able to live in a home. Back at the beginning of the last recession jobs were disappearing quickly. People were losing jobs faster than they could find ones that once were there, then not. People were living in their homes until they were rejected and the banks took them over. Some people went back as the banks could not sell them and so they were empty. The banks did not care about the house as it became a liability to care for the many they had. Homelessness is a problem that is endemic in this level of capitalism. Profit over people, property over people, money over people. The real problem is that all these people become a lost repository of skills that were once needed for the economy to work. They are now not a part of the population in many people view, this will come to bite us in the ass, all that wasted talent and all the wasted resources of the people affected. This is a waste that has a great cost.

Here's something else that originated in Indianapolis: the rear-view mirror. Things that were once unusual and innovative become mainstream. I'd call that guy a gentrified hippie.