The Rent For A Two-Bedroom Is Too High Just About Everywhere
This excellent analysis
by CityLab's Tanvi Misra of a recent report by the National Low Income
Housing reveals a few alarming findings about the current real estate
market.
The first is that, on average, you will need to make $20.30 per
hour to "comfortably" afford a two-bedroom apartment.
The average hourly
wage in the country is $15.42.
Why is this?
Well, there was that whole
subprime mortgage crisis, which limited access to credit to lower-income
folks. This led to a rise in demand for rental properties, which is not
easy to meet since, well, you either need to convert existing
properties or build anew.
Which, like most things in capitalism, costs
money.
Still, while the higher income brackets
have seen the boons of an ever-improving economy, minorities and other
low-income citizens have yet to see a boost in their pay.
In short,
rents are skyrocketing and the people who need rentals the most cannot
afford them.
The only solution, even after raising the minimum wage to
$15, is to expand the amount of available affordable housing.
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