He's always been a different type and has found an appropriate community in his apartment building. When we were younger he used to give away his stuff or shrug off "friends" stealing his stuff, which I have to admit was pretty frustrating as a bystander but has stood him well. He's gradually left those friends behind and found a community in an apartment building where he can walk to most services and has a short work commute. They share stuff and spend time socializing with their neighbours.
He asked about homelessness in my community and I said I don't think we have many. There are shelters, recovery centers, hotel rooms by the month, and most importantly, people aren't particularly anchored here. There also isn't gentrification which forces out long-term low-income residents.
In turn, I asked if he knew a lot of people who took CERB and what rent is like. He said he knew some and most knew to save 25% for taxes in the next year (so much for it being such a surprise to recipients). He's rented the same apartment for a decade so his rent is a lot lower than a newcomer as it's only been raised a few percent a year. As a result, moving from his place to a bigger place in the same building would double his rent and he doesn't really need the space. We also talked about work. I got stable in my late 30s and he did too. He works in lumber and worked his way up on the production side.
It's interesting the different places we all are in that fifth decade. I'm done working full time and was able to save enough to comfortably live debt-free by staying where we are. Youngest brother also lives debt-free by keeping stuff rather than upgrading unnecessarily (I wish I was like this). Middle sibling was laughing that he's nearing retirement age and in more debt than ever as he's become a business owner. He's way more of a busy personality than either of us who enjoyed going to work to make money then coming home to do other stuff or nothing.
I guess my youngest brother and I have more in common than I thought.
