#this town doesn't have any homeless people sleeping in the streets (but undoubtedly has some in shelters or couchsurfing)

[yardsards]

the other day i was on the way to meet a friend from out of town and i saw a billboard by the highway that read "YOUR ADVERTISEMENT HERE: JUST $16 A DAY!"

the town i live in has very little going for it except the local university. there are permanent residents, families and retirees and businesses, but the place just seems to hollow out when the school year ends and the summer begins and swathes of college students go back to their hometowns and parents, or just to travel to places more with more prospects. not to mention all the graduates. (though this small, dwindling town still feels like a bustling metropolis to me, who grew up in the middle of the woods)

many leases you can find here don't last a full year and don't charge monthly. they just last the school year and charge by the semester (and usually include all your utilities in the rent). if you wanna stay for the summer, you need to sign a special addendum. and normally they charge just by the week or even by the day (often at a cheaper rate than staying during the school year) because usually people don't even want to stay the *whole* summer. (i stay the whole summer in this town every year. (though almost yearly i move apartments, finding better places a couple blocks away instead of renewing my lease for another year). my parents' house in the woods has never been a true home to me, and i avoid returning there at all costs.)

my previous apartment calculated costs by the day over summer breaks. they charged me exactly $15 daily to live there (including the essential utilities like electric and water, but not non-essentials like internet)

that's $1 cheaper than it was to rent that fucking billboard

and that had me Feeling some sort of way

i could look at it purely optimistically and say "yay! affordable rent!". i certainly don't think the rent should cost *more*

but it's like. seeing that sign just felt so... is kafkaesque the right word for it? i don't know

it's just like. we all know money is Fake in a way and that all prices are pretty arbitrary. and rent prices are ESPECIALLY arbitrary, (as is the concept of renting in general). but that exact one dollar difference just. emphasized it in a way that's so hard to describe.

that billboard was surrounded by 3 identical ones, all of which had their ad-space in use. so 3 businesses presumably pay that daily $16, to put up an eyesore by the side of the road in hopes that it'll make them more money. enough money to rent a home for a human being used to rent a home for an ad. economics is so nonsensical.