During the height of the North Dakota’s oil boom, there was a news article about Williston. In that article, it stated that the cost for renting an apartment was almost as high, if not higher than New York City.

It’s a crying shame that a small state like North Dakota and not even the biggest city in the state could have as high rent as the biggest city in the United States.

Not only that, the cost of living in Minot, ND was way higher because of the oil boom. People who lived on a fixed income in Minot are struggling with paying their rent, buying groceries, paying their healthcare, etc.

Renting an apartment cost almost as much as buying a house. The reason why people rent is because they cannot afford to buy a house while starting out. So they rent and try to save up for the opportunity to buy a house in the future.

In Dickenson, ND, rent is so high for those working on the oil fields; even though they may get good pay. There’s stories of people buying campers/trailers and camping out in the Walmart’s parking lot because it’s cheaper than renting.

Those three cities are not as big as Fargo; but because of the oil boom, the cost of living there is rather high. Can you imagine what it’s like living in Fargo, ND then?

It all depends on where you are living, in how much your rent will be. The newer part of town such as by West Acres and even by the new Sanford Hospital, rent can goes up to almost $1000 or more depending on how many rooms. It’s almost double to what I pay in rent in South Fargo on South University.

Sometimes, it doesn’t include your heat. Believe me, winter is very hard and long in North Dakota. If you have to pay your heat as well as rent, the cost could goes even higher. So it’s vital to find an apartment with heat paid or you will struggle financially.

Sure those apartments over by the new Sanford is very nice looking. Some may even have your own washer/dryer in the unit. But is it worth it?

You could be working 24/7 just to pay your rent, and possible heat as well. You will have no life at all. Then you got your phone, electricity, groceries, clothes, internet, etc. No wonder people are working 2-3 jobs?

Sure you can have roommates, but sometimes that can be very scary when it comes to sharing your stuff. Who can you trust these days? Sometimes, a person can be stuck in their ways, making either yourself or others roommates from hell.

To get housing assistant can be very difficult as well. When welfare was set up it was meant as a good thing to help the poor working class. The good thing turn sour. You will have women getting pregnant just to get even more assistance.

There’s a law against housing discrimination but it does happen.

If you are a woman getting pregnant all time or a person of color or an illegal immigrants, you are more apt to get assistant much quicker. This is why the Progressive Left of the Democratic party don’t want the wall built. They are not for the true American people, the poor working class. They are more for the illegal immigrants in giving them free stuff. Now that’s not fair!

I have to admit fixing up downtown Broadway historical buildings looks very nice. The question is: who can afford to live downtown? The rent is rather high. They don’t just have apartments, they have penthouses. Who in the world can afford to live in these penthouses? Is Fargo trying to be like these bigger cities?

No wonder crime is up in Downtown Fargo. No wonder homelessness is up in Fargo-Moorhead. They cannot afford rent with the low-paying jobs they have or even day labors jobs.

The 1% group sees the trailer courts as being an eye sore to the community. But where are they to live? They cannot afford a nice home. They can’t even afford some apartments either.

I’m not saying a trailer is anything to write home about. It’s sometimes all a person can afford to live in.

Sometimes, if you are lucky enough, you can rent to buy a house. What kinds of house are you getting though?

When my folks were newly married, they were renting a house in North Fargo, and was offered the opportunity to buy that house. (I won’t go into details why they didn’t buy that house.)

At times, it makes me wonder if the bigwigs in Fargo would rather have the poor working class to be living in the outskirts of the city. They will be bussed into the city to work and shop, and then bussed home.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in the bigger cities there were places like that. Do they want Fargo-Moorhead to be the same way?

In some of these apartments, where rent is cheaper, you get what you pay for. You are living in a slum. Where crime is bad and the apartments are not the nicest. The only thing good is they are affordable and convenience.

If you ever wants to move, you need your rent for that apartment, the rent for your next apartment and a deposit as well. There’s no guarantee that you will even get back your deposit either.