I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong. I live in supported housing, we pay our rent to the mental health agency that owns this building. We have a counselor who comes by every three weeks to discuss roommate problems or other issues with neighbors or making sure everybody does their fair share of cleaning.
I lived on my own from 1995-2015 in regular society, working and renting rooms in peoples house, then at the end of 2015 I had a small “break” when my mom died and I had to be hospitalized and I ended up in a board & care home and then eventually this apartment.
When I moved in I didn’t know it was transitional housing, I thought I could live here as long as I want.
So using my experience of living alone for 6 years I tried to make this into a neat, clean, normal apartment. When I moved in my step mother gave me three boxes of kitchen utensils, appliances and other kitchen needs. And she gave me a $100 to fix up the place nice. My first roommate didn’t give a damn about this; he was satisfied with a dirty, messy apartment and didn’t help me fix it up and he refused to clean. We had other issues, I liked the guy but he almost put me in the psyche ward with his actions and I was happy when he left.
The next roommate was a woman and luckily she saw things my way and she and her friend cleaned the entire apartment from top to bottom and wanted the living room and kitchen nice. Unfortunately she flaked out on me and accused me of pounding on her door when all I did was knock. That was the beginning of the end and a few nights later we got in a huge argument and she moved out, but not before accusing me of several things that were not even remotely true. Like she said I was violent and dangerous and had three restraining orders on me, none of which was true. I had kind of liked her too in the beginning and was surprised she moved out over a stupid argument. The counselors and my case manager all said she was screwed up and a flake and paranoid.
The next roommate was a Filipino guy my age. He was alright. He helped clean and always stayed in his room and he was here about 6 months. I got to live by myself for another 7 months and then my current roommate moved in. He’s not a slob, he helps clean but has taste for crap. When he moved in he thought it was perfectly OK to store cardboard boxes and bags full of junk and stuff that belonged in the kitchen in the living room. That crap stayed in the living room for a couple months until I finally brought it up and explained that food and kitchen appliances belong in the kitchen and not the living room. He finally got the picture and he moved that junk out. We cleaned the living room and moved some excess furniture out and now we have a nice livable common area.
Unfortunately the counselor suggested we move the kitchen table and chairs into the living room. WTF? I strongly opposed that and they gave up on the idea but that’s the kind of crap I have to deal with. And I don’t know if he’s trying to make a statement or he’s really that ignorant and out of it but he wants to keep a crock pot and big bottles of laundry detergent in the living room still. I’m getting tired of fighting this guy.
I bought a really nice plant for the living room last week. And today I spent $23 on another nice plant and a pot and repotted it and it will go in the living room too. So I think that gives me a little leverage in what I want in the living room or not. He already demonstrated he has no taste and like he said about living in a normal apartment, “I’m not picky and don’t care”. So why should I listen to him? My sisters taught me how to set up a household but this guys in his thirties and doesn’t know the most obvious things about what a normal apartment should look like. I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong.