Trying to find home

"Home" is a difficult thing to define.

Depending on how you use it, that word could mean a myriad of things, from a physical building to a group of people to a place of comfort — “Home is where the heart is.”

I’ve had many homes in the past 50 years, from the trailer my parents and I lived in when I was a baby and the house where I grew up with my mother and grandparents to a veritable parade of apartments and rental houses.

From the time I left home to go to college in the fall of 1990, I’ve moved 16 times. That’s an average of once every two years. Some of those moves were just from one house or apartment to another, but it’s pretty easy to see why I hate moving.

It also explains why it takes me forever to fully unpack.

I’ve lived in Berryville now for just over a year, and I’m finally starting to feel at home. There’s just one problem.

As that other old saying goes, “Home is where you hang your hat.” That’s fine, but no one mentions how hard it is to find a hook — especially here.

When I moved to Berryville, I was able to rent a room in a friend’s house for fairly cheap, a blessing since I was trying to pay for my mother’s funeral. I’m still there at the moment, but my friend just got married and it’s time for me to get out.

Since I moved in, I’ve been passively looking for a place of my home, but there was no rush. I figured I’d lay low, build my credit and then start looking for a house to buy.

I was warned it would be a bit difficult. The housing market in Carroll County is not very robust. The number of available houses is far outstripped by the number of people looking, with many houses selling before they even get properly listed.

Those that do get listed are far outside my price range, or that of a new family looking for their first home.

No worries, I thought. I’ll just get a rental and stick to my plan. I can get out of my friend’s and continue my plan. This was in November.

I can already hear some of you laughing. You can probably guess how that’s been going.

After months of searching, I’m still living in my friend’s back bedroom, occasionally getting side eye from his new wife and alerts from my friend every time a new listing pops on Facebook.

Some were completely unsuitable, others were way to expensive for what’s offered and some — well, some just had too many applicants.

I looked at an apartment in Green Forest recently — it was too small, so small my bed wouldn’t even fit in the bedroom — and after speaking with the landlord, found out that she’d had 55 applicants in less than 18 hours.

I also saw someone trying to rent a portable building as a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment for $975 a month — with an additional $100 a month for electricity in the winter. I mean, it was nice looking, but come on. Thing is, with the shortage of available housing, somebody will probably take it.

When the results of the 2020 census were released, area mayors seemed disappointed in the low amount of growth in the area. I think there’s a simple reason for that. There’s no place to call home.

Berryville — and Carroll County in general — has a housing shortage. Added to some of the other difficulties faced by the area, that’s the biggest inhibitor to growth.

You can’t attract new businesses if there are no workers and you can’t bring in more workers if there isn’t any place for them to live.

Couple that with the fact that there really isn’t any really easy way to get to Carroll County — we’re not near an interstate or even a major four-lane highway — and our area just isn’t as attractive as some others.

If Carroll County leaders really want to see positive growth, they need to start addressing the housing shortage. No new people make it difficult to attract business and no new business means a lack of new jobs, which leads to people leaving.

That’s the opposite of growth and it’s not good for anyone.

As for me, well, I’m still looking for a house or apartment to rent. My hat is hanging in someone else’s home and I need a hook of my own.