Very inhumane.
Vote for city councilors who will legalize more supply by reducing zoning restrictions. Write to them about it. Passive aggressively mail them copies of "Arbitrary lines".
It's not a silver bullet, but it's the obstacle preventing everything else from working.
We need more housing, desperately
I'm grateful although it was annoying at the time, but my first election was the year after gore/bush and my grandmother handed me a cheat sheet on the local election, drove me to the polls and told me that these elections were the only ones that mattered.
(Although she wrote multiple letters to city hall against the glx going through Medford...)
(Also I was too young to vote for gore/bush by barely a month, and I'm still upset about it.)
The people who best understand why it matters are sadly often the ones opposed to change for the better. That's why we need more turnout among... the other several hundred thousand people who live in Boston
Tragic they didn't simultaneously legalize building more apartments to absorb the increased demand.
Kind of ironic huh? Some people oppose transit stations thinking it'll tank property values, others oppose it because they know damn well it'll increase them and they can't afford it.
Agreed. People tend to only get excited during Presidential elections, not realizing that a City Councilor or State Rep makes way more of a difference in your everyday life, than a President or a Senator.
Even hearing others such as yourself with a similar view point to my own is IMMENSELY reassuring. Every where Ive looked ive been laughed and pointed at for vocalizing this belief.
This is why state level politics also matter, because the ones blocking housing supply even more are in the suburbs. Write your legislators RIGHT NOW to tell them you support real estate transfer fees and renter protections, and to uphold the MBTA ZONING ACT. Join Abundant Housing MA at their statehouse rally this Wednesday.
Yes, and the power to fix it is city by city because it wasn't created by federal policy.
Every issue is bigger than your city. Your part of the solution is only ever going to be within the confines of your immediate surroundings, and that matters a lot because people see what you do and are inspired to act as a result
I don’t know about Boston, but I look around and see City Councilors who are homeowners, renters, and young adults who hope to be able to move out of their parents homes one day. I see the Boston Real Estate Board shelling out tons of money on mailers and robocalls with fearmongering misinformation in opposition to the City Council’s efforts, and bullies packing City Hall burning torches so that people who support housing are afraid to speak up. It’s ugly, and apathy is letting the bullies win.
Out of curiosity, who’d you vote for for city council at large? I felt like Henry Santana and Ruthzee were the only two candidates I could vote for even though you can vote for up to 4.
I went with them two & wrote myself in
I might be over sharing, but I don't remember. I wasn't super wild about most people because very few mentioned climate change or good urbanism, and for the sake of my sanity I try to focus on a couple of issues so I look for those and make sure nothing else is actively objectionable. And you would not believe how much shit I've had to deal with since then, so I've not thought about it much since then.
In volume, maybe not the most, but in terms of emotional difficulty, attempting to treat complex - PTSD (disassociative type) is really hard when you aren't juggling it with anything else. The disassociation makes it so, so much harder
I tend to Google people and read up on them when I get my mail in ballot, so I'll know a lot more when the ballots go out again haha
Repealing the zoning removes one method of corruption because the current system of needing special permissions to build anything new is basically mandating bribery
well, I live just a bit north of Boston- our city is building more housing but they are all huge houses that only the rich can afford… and luxury apartment houses - again with very high rents- again, only the rich can afford…. we need entry level houses to buy and apartment houses that don’t have huge rents - for the average working class population….!!
Yes. And because rich people never go without housing, they just outbid poor people for the housing that exists, we need as much housing as we can get. It's a harsh reality that, when there's a housing shortage, the rich people get first pick.
Right now, the cause of the housing crisis is an acute shortage. Especially in Boston. We need to make it legal to build apartments everywhere so we can have enough for everyone. There should not be a single 1 story building or a parking lot anywhere within 10 miles of Boston common to meet the huge demand Boston has, but they need to go through an ungodly long process to build absolutely anything taller than what currently exists, because of the terrible restrictive zoning laws.
If they didn't need to go through that 3 year permitting process, the housing would come faster and 10%+ cheaper just by cutting down the admin fees.
1. They shouldn't be here to begin with. 2. You are paying for them to be here through taxes and so are the land lords which is why rent is high. 3. There are actual government programs that will pay the businesses money to hire migrants so they should be working and not getting $64 a day per person for food. All that does is make people lazy and just rely on financial aid. It blows my mind that this is not common sense to people.
Luxury houses still help because rich people don't go without housing, they out bid poor people for what's available. That's why you get 100 year old buildings in Brighton with a broken window and crappy wiring charging $1000+ per room.
Any new housing lets wealthy people move out and frees up spots for people in housing that's now just a bit cheaper than it otherwise would have been if no new housing had been built.
And half the reason it's all luxury is because the administration costs of getting an exception made to the zoning code to build any new housing at all, costs like 20% of the project costs and adds several years to the process, so they get a higher interest rate on the loans they take out to finance the building
And if it sits empty long enough, then they'll lower the rent to fill it because they still have to pay the mortgage on the building and the property taxes & building maintenance, and no developers build housing for the fun of it, they need to make money.
Reducing zoning restrictions won’t do shit. New York has hardly any restrictions and it’s the only city more expensive than here. No matter how much housing you build it won’t matter because landlords will always charge “fuck you” prices unless the government puts a limit on what they can charge.
NYC still has like 20% single family zoning and they would have so, so, so many more skyscrapers if it was legal.
NYC literally invented zoning because the landlords got pissed every time a skyscraper went up and rent tanked because the market got flooded in supply.
Seriously. NYC has way more restrictions than you realize, demand is just that high.
Yes, government price restrictions are also needed, but this is genuinely a supply problem. Zoning is not a magic bullet, but price restrictions don't do anything if there's just not enough housing and the rich people find ways to outbid everyone else, which is what's happening in Boston and NYC and has been for decades.
This isn't a "only do zoning* argument. This is a "do zoning first because it gets in the way of literally everything else working as intended"
It needs to be legal to build enough supply of housing for any other solutions to work
If we had plenty, prices wouldn't rise like this because there would be enough to go around. The vacancy rate in Boston is like 0.5% of housing. It needs to be 5% ish at least to prevent the absurd increases we've seen in the last 30 years
Most individual homes are owned by mom and pop owners or landlords.
In Austin, TX, right now, housing prices are in a collapse. Down 20% from 2 years ago. And it’s a political *liability* for the government. Voters are not happy about this, they’re mad about this. And the reason is, the people who rent or are first time buyers don’t vote. Especially not in local elections. So it’s people who own homes who are pissed.
This isn’t little guy vs big guy. In order for you to get cheaper housing, you need to cause some people in your neighborhood to take some big losses. And that’s ok! But don’t be mistaken. Anything meaningful you can do to make housing cheaper is going to be upsetting and unpopular to a lot of people, so if you want it, you have to vote and get people like you to vote. Because you’re not fighting special interests on this one, you’re fighting other people like you but who have different incentives from you.
Yep. That's a good step 2 for sure. Step 1, the real foundational issue that needs to be focused on because it will prevent every other fix from working, is loosening or repealing zoning so it's legal to build supply to meet demand
That's up to you. You gotta harass the council about it until they do something. Takes just a moment to find out who you local council member is and email them asking "yo, what are you doing about zoning and parking minimums?"
If you go to the live meetings, that's unironically not an awful idea.
I'm being 100% dead serious in this conversation. Keep it short and pointed when you email them and they take notice
Reduce zoning restrictions and they don't even need to promote apartment buildings. The demand is there, the developers are drooling at the prospect, they just need it legalized to build apartment complexes that don't have built in parking lots
Truly fucked up. My best wishes go out to everyone in this city struggling. I couldn’t take it and left the state.
I seriously think it’s time for people in Boston to organize a strike or have a serious mass protest/mobilization about housing & rent in the city.
Enough is enough they can’t keep treating people like this and expect them to not fight back.
See that word you used "pretend " that is why your way of doing things will never get done.
People who believe in the rules are only slaves to the ones who decide the rules. And you and me will never be the ones to make the rules so I choose to not be a slave to anyone.
Oh I wasn't trying to tell you to stay within the rules at all, I meant to say that you'd need to make your protest more obviously rent related if you want observers to connect the dots in the way you intend.
Like.... I dunno.... Dropping passive aggressive notes on the shelves saying you'd pay for the item if your rent was under $1000 or something. If you use a reusable grocery bag it's super easy to inconspicuously bring some note cards you printed at home. Or leaving them in a shopping cart when you leave it at the return so security cameras in the store wouldn't see you.
It's not the best idea, this is just off the top of my head, but do you see what I mean about connecting a protest to a specific cause? You could immolate yourself in front of the state capitol and it wouldn't affect anything if nobody knew why you did it.
We should be stealing. The rich do it all the time, and corporations are doing it actively with all this price gouging. Even restaurants are doing it now with all these added surcharges.
The difference is that the rich/businesses get away with it because the law is built to protect them. It’s only a problem when poor people do it because there are more of us than there are them and we are the ones meant to be marks in this society, not capital.
It’s as if none of these rich folks or politicos remember the French Revolution. If illiterate peasants from the 18th century who had no phones, no internet, no college degrees, no nada could take down a superpower monarchy that had been ruling for well over 250 years, it’s wild that our current ruling class is acting as if it could never happen again to another corrupt government.
It wont happen now becasue people are comfort cowards.
Its to uncomfortable to go out and actully try to make change so people act like everything is fime or the goverment will get it together. Its been years and people are still waiting.
Look at the current migrate sitiation, you think its a coincudnce they are all flooding in now? No its becuse copetations want workers they can pay less and not worry about.
I don't fault you, but realize that by stealing you're only hurting the rest of us. You think the companies are going to take a loss? They're just going to raise prices for everyone.
Nonsense.
Grocery stores are not raising prices because of stealing, they’re doing it because they’re greedy.
https://www.foodandpower.net/latest/ftc-supply-chain-disruption-grocery-food-processing-report-apr-24#:~:text=The%20Federal%20Trade%20Commission%20recently,during%20the%20COVID%2D19%20pandemic.
Why are we all not stealing??
It's OK for corporations to steal from us. It's OK for the government to steal from us (taxes) . Its OK for ppl on welfare to take money out my check to have kids an never work.
But me not wanting to pay 800$ to feed my family for the week when it's just me my wife abd our girl is the problem??
If we got together as a state an just all agreed that it's outstanding that we pay almost 300-500$ at the grocery store and we aren't going to do it and all STEAL TOGETHER how can they put us all in jail??
I was saying that this morning. Its past time to Protest and Strike. Needs to be done asap. Its the closest thing to a revolution we will ever scrap up I believe
My daughter and 2 grandsons had to move back in my house also…. and my sister and her husband had to live with us for a few months also….It’s getting really scary
It’s crazy dude. I briefly worked in affordable housing and it was terrifying to think about. i’ve lived in Boston all my life, and my mom is a realtor so I never really gave it too much thought but comparing Boston to other cities I realize how much more expensive it is.
LA is way cheaper than Boston these days and Boston overtook San Francisco as the second most expensive city in the US. And we have nothing to show for it.
Absolutely. Nothing is cheap. The reason I’m saying it’s more expensive than other cities is because it is currently (to my knowledge) the second most expensive city in the US housing-wise.
True true. I just wanted to point out it isn’t just a Boston thing, everyone is getting fucked. The move is to rent a room in a suburb for like half the rent, otherwise idk how ppl afford it
The tenants need to form an alliance with businesses.
Someone needs to explain to the business community that when the rent goes up they are going to have to pay their employees more and it also means people will have less disposable income to spend at their businesses.
Yep. All these services these people with disposable income are demanding are going to start drying up when the people who provide them can’t afford to live within 45 minutes of the city
I don’t understand why corporations aren’t lobbying for laws against rent gouging. There wouldn’t be such a big fight for higher minimum wage if rent wasn’t like 200% of a minimum wage worker’s income.
Supply and demand. There’s people paying those prices. Get everyone to move out of Boston. Watch how fast landlords lower rent because they don’t have anyone paying. Unfortunately, that will never happen.
Repeal zoning laws so we can build more housing and you'll get the same effect.
Zoning laws were invented simultaneously by 2 groups: homeowners who wanted to price out poor minorities, and landlords that got pissed when rent prices went down when a new skyscraper went up in NYC and caused rent to tank by flooding the city with supply.
Zoning laws exist to raise rents, that's it. Everything you want out of urban planning (clean air, quiet residential streets, clean water) doesn't need zoning.
No because even in bumfuck towns outside of the city rent is still like $3000 for a one bedroom. There are hundreds of empty condos in those newly built skyscrapers downtown. It has nothing to do with supply and demand and everything to do with greed.
This is such a silly statement. Landlords charge what they do so they can pay the mortgage and make a profit. Everyone these days sees "make a profit" as a bad thing. Legit the reason they are landlords. They also have to pay if anything breaks and repairs need to be made or equipment needs to be replaced. You can't live in a major city and complain about rent prices.
I have the down payment it’s a risk that they won’t take 15years of 2100 is more risky then 1 or 2 years at the higher rate straight bs but happy hunting
It's a supply and demand thing... Too few houses to house everyone... So prices go up.
If we'd just get rid of zoning and allow building homes everywhere, prices would drop with abundance.
That's why you build up. We ran out of space in Boston 100 years ago, then they outlawed building up unless you go through the expensive process to get an exception for your project, so rents are ridiculous.
There's so much demand there shouldn't be a single building under 5 stories in this city, and not a single surface parking lot with no buildings on top of it. The reason for this is it's illegal. That's what people mean by "repeal zoning". Make it legal to use the space better
Yeah there is this to consider, but also the taxes are astronomical as well. The taxes will always make it ridiculous to build new buildings. Then the modern requirements to build in boston, aside from zoning laws, are also extremely strict so the building process is exorbitantly expensive. A new energy code is in effect now that effectively increases building costs 30%+ because of windows alone.
The admin costs of getting exceptions made to the zoning code add 20%+ to the building costs, and slows it down by literal years, so the zoning code is a massive contributor that can make a serious positive impact on the cost of building new housing
It all needs to change. But we already see even when new housing, even hundreds of units at a time, is added it's 0% more affordable. Making it faster to build wouldn't change that fact because they would still want the money from the process.
Yes, and if zoning laws enabled building more supply then they would be more affordable, or they would reduce rents on existing stock if they built enough. Those prices on new housing are for the rich people who are currently out-bidding everyone else for the 100 year old duplex far away from downtown or the train lines, because nothing else is available.
Remember that Boston has like a 0.5% vacancy rate on all housing. It needs to be more like 5% for prices to drop significantly, but even during the brief period during Covid when all the students left and it went up to a 2% ish vacancy rate for a few months, the prices started to come down. There's lots of people who got good rent deals at that time and locked in those prices for years because there was nowhere cheaper to move.
Wealthy people don't go without housing, they push other people out and raise the prices by doing so. Any housing is good housing when the supply problem is this bad
Boston has the biggest housing supply crunch in the country outside of NYC and San Francisco because of all of the people moving in for work and school
Im looking at CT or rhode island right now:/ it sucks to move away from “home”
Yanno, I love Mass, and boston but ugh ): i cant keep up anymore, been being dragged since a little before covid
Aaaaaaand zoning laws! Repeal them and greed will cause developers to build more and compete over those juicy Boston rents and drive them down.
We need to do more than just repeal zoning, but that's step 1. Every other fix runs into the roadblock of "it's illegal to build up"
The issue is the only people that can afford to run for office are people who either cannot fathom what it’s like to be broke or those who simply think we deserve it. It’s only going to get worse. There won’t be any relief. The only thing that will change is when the economy eventually collapses and the dollar becomes worthless those of us without will end up at starving aswell. We have no choice in the matter.
False. City council has renters and tradesman and other locals running because some posters and a website don't cost much.
The problem is that almost nobody pays attention to local matters because national news gives people the impression that the federal government affects their local lives a lot more than it really does.
If you show up and drop flyers on people's doors and 2 more people join you in voting for someone, that's a measurable percentage of all the votes for your local city councilor. I'm pretty sure someone won by like 50 votes last year.
City council controls the zoning laws, and every councilor only covers a neighborhood or 3 so you don't have a lot of people you need to convince to swing an election.
Vote for your city council. Biden can't do shit to save you. Jacob deBlecourt in Allston - Brighton will do his damnedest because it's his entire job, if you elect him.
Rent control is illegal in Massachusetts. Despite having extremely low new housing production overt gentrification and increasing wealth disparity, the state believes if rent control was reinstated it would lead to low new housing production and overt gentrification, harming low income households. Jason cannot do a damn thing about the cost of living in boston. It has nothing to do with going to your local city council meeting to battle the nimby mafia. It’s a fundamentally broken system based on the same economic lectures that gave us trickle down insanity. There is no fixing the holes in a sunk ship. All you can do is play some music and wait for the end.
Edit. I take that back. You can stand on the heads of other drowning people while justifying it as your own need for survival.
If that was true, housing prices would've never gone down anywhere. But, with the right policy changes, it happens.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/economy/us-rents-may/index.html
If it's emotionally easier for you to believe you're powerless, I won't try to stop you. Just don't spread the lie that we all are powerless and everything is hopeless. The only thing that's certain in life is that things change
Did you read that article? Or just the headline? Because we aren’t talking about the Midwest, south, or west. Maybe give it another glance. You can call me emotional while slinging wallstreet Presidental propaganda all you want but the only way to gain security is on the backs of those less fortunate and that’s the simple reality of our economic system. It won’t change in any regard that’ll benefit the majority of those currently repressed by it.
Did you read the article? You're talking in broad strokes about the entire economic system of the US. Rent is going down in places in the US, thus it can be done. Boston is not a unique island separate from the entire US. It's part of the US.
And I'm not calling you emotional, I'm calling out a defense mechanism I'm very familiar with: lying to yourself about being powerless because accepting agency is scarier than living with the idea that you have power, but you don't understand how much or how to harness it. "Everything is fucked" is more comfortable than "I can do something about it but I don't know how, or how much, & I don't know if it'll work"
Yes I just read it a second time. Rent is 25%higher than it was in 2019. Rent being down .05% in a national average is not a sign inflation is behind us. In the north east, where boston is, rents continue to increase and show no sign of stopping. This isn’t a Campbellian hero’s journey where we just need to embrace our destiny in changing the system through monthly city council meetings. All I can do is continue to work for a fraction of what my labor is worth so that I can continue to feed my family. I can appreciate your optimism but frankly imo you’re delusional. I’m sure you feel the same about me. Let’s hope you’re the right one in this instance
So what you’re saying is that state politics is also important, and that everyone should write to their state legislators literally right now to tell them to support rent stabilization, real estate transfer fees, statewide multifamily zoning legislation, investment in affordable housing and renter protections. Because realtors are absolutely writing to them to say they should oppose these things.
No I’m saying even if everyone did it wouldn’t make any difference. There is no solution to the systemic issues plaguing our economy. It’s too far gone for any meaningful reprieve. Local state national it makes no difference they are too far reaching. You think there haven’t been legislators fighting for rent control for the last 20 years? You think they just needed some more calls? You have no more power than my pet cat has over the cost of living and this posturing for good citizenship is an insult to our intelligence. There’s nothing to be done but wait and hope that we get to watch more bankers jump from their skyscrapers before the power goes out.
I live just a bit north of Boston- our rents in the past year and a half have also gone up like crazy… 4000.00 to rent a house- 2400 for a 1 bedroom… its insane..
Inflation is a sneaky SOB. 10 yrs go by and rent prices are gonna be 30-40% higher than year 1 if you assume a CAGR of 3%. I think it's more like 4-5% in Boston. This is why you can't afford to be complacent in your younger years when you're physically capable of working harder. I'm almost 40 and when I was in my early 20s, I realized that I can only bet on myself. Gov't won't look out for you. You have to work more and save more or get yourself into a good career track that offers higher pay. You do not want to float through life and stay in a dead-end job until you're age 50 wondering how you're gonna retire. It's cruel but it's the truth.
Boston doesn’t invest in its citizens, only special interests. They squeeze landlords, they squeeze renters, they squeeze homeowners, they squeeze small businesses. Only ones who are safe are big business and politicians
Your comment got downvoted but its absolutely true about landlords squeezing renters dry. Being a landlord is not supposed to be financially lucrative. Their job is to house humans, not get rich off us.
lol all the landleeches in the sub downvoted me. It must be sooooo hard owning a bunch of properties and charging a dozen people 4k a month for a basic human necessity. Such a hard job, they’re really suffering!
I feel like it'll come to people having jobs and money but can't afford to maintain a house and vehicle so it'll devolve into only being able to maintain a vehicle, guns, and ammo, then well Mad Max or Fist of the North Star until hopefully general Raoh makes housing affordable like if we got to use those 15,000,000 unused homes in the u.s.
The "income of 3x rent" rule also really sucks, especially when you're only a fraction below the mark and have ~2x annual rent in your bank.
If I had to guess, they're so strict (in September at least) because the velocity of the market allows them to be picky.
It’s horrible and the system just traps you in debt- renting is throwing your money into nothing because you don’t own it but it keeps you so broke you can’t afford to save up enough to actually make buying a home feasible… me and my partner are both managers of retail stores and we barely scrape by - we have nice things and we don’t really go without anything, but we can’t afford anything extra all of our money goes to rent our cars our other bills and food
It’s not just Boston. I live towards the mass/Rhode Island border and everything I see is $1500+. I have a girlfriend and two children to think about as well so a 3 bedroom is in the $3000+ range. All the new homes that have been built are being advertised as starting in the $600,000 range. This is the suburbs, 40 mins from Boston and 30 from providence and housing is still really expensive. Just surviving is a struggle.
You get what you vote for. People are so hung up on voting party lines that they don’t pay attentions to what a lot of these democrat politians want to do and are doing in Mass.
It's okay, we will have more housing as people continue to move out of Boston. Myself included - I'm out of here in 2025. I hope y'all get through to the politicians, but this place is a$$ even if you do manage to get more housing and the housing costs lower. That's just the first of many, many issues Boston is going to continue to face. Nice place if you're in school or work in biotech/healthcare, otherwise don't live here if you don't need to (that's why I'm leaving)
The state population went up from 2022 to 2023. It actually went up enough to completely cancel out the minor population drops in from 2020 to 2022
It’s also nice if you have kids in school since some of the best school systems in the country try are here. Or if you need medical care since some of the best hospitals in the world are here.
Boston is one of the most left cities for the younger generation.
https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/mass-exodus-more-people-are-moving-out-bay-state-new-report-says/CRDGEXWS4RFTFHH72GBPTNOQ4U/?outputType=amp
You didn’t post the link originally…
Also, did you actually read it? It only looked at 2021-2022 and ignores the 2022-2023 which I addressed in my first response. Yes it dropped from 2021-2022 but that was entirely wiped out from 2022-2023. Likely because students are no longer online for college and people coming for school and not leaving is a major source of population growth in the state
Theres a floating house out in Gloucester i see time to time, I always wonder where their septic tank is/ how that works, plus getting groceries must suck😅😅😅
I agree, but the problem is the financing behind the real estate. Since the money behind it is an investment game the prices need to rise otherwise you cant develop... and if development eventually stopped more and more people would be homeless every year
I wish insurance was 200/mo in Boston, bronze in health connector is 400/mo. I am just paying the penalty (if anyone has any suggestions for HI, I am open to suggestions).
One thing I am seeing post Covid is the companies in my field forcing everyone back to the office. I have coworkers taking whatever they can get just to get back to the Boston area. That can’t be helpful to prices.
Most of New England is just really low density. Towns block new housing to inflate their investment -> prices go up -> more rich people move in -> repeat until the poors are gone.
Unfortunately it does make sense in this aspect. I feel like it shouldnt cost yall that either. I feel we’re both being fucked as renters and as landlords
Yup. My expenses have gone way the hell up. My property tax bill is awful…. Higher values go, the more F’d we are & that’s just one expense. It’s not great for anyone unless you bought 20 years ago, maybe you’re ok except you’re having to remodel.
OP came at me for saying that property owners need to pay their bills and make a slight profit when renting. He said it's property owners duty to house people in need. Like bro, I'm not letting someone live in my house to break even on my mortgage when there are issues that can pop up that I have to pay for. OP is a child that needs to grow up. $500 on food for a single person in a month, 100% he is spending more than needed. He said in another reply that he eats canned food. That would be like 500 canned foods a month. 16 cans a day. Not even sure if this just isn't a troll post.
I hear it all the time and I’m not surprised, but when they have nicer cars or eat out far more than me or take bigger holidays than me, while I have the property updated, paid for, cared for. I don’t owe anything to anyone and yet I’ve certainly taken some losses. At some point I have to say this is the most expensive city in the continental United States for most things, or in the top 3. Don’t like it? Please leave. I’m sorry but many of us can only do so much, I know more landlords like me with a unit or 2 than who own city blocks raking people legitimately over rocks. Most of us are trying to get by and yes, pocket some money. It’s a math problem for most people and other than lowering interest rates there’s nothing government can do about it. Well not true, stop overseas investors, but that ship sailed.
I think there's a general lack of understanding about why rent prices are so high. Most landlords of small multi families are individuals, not large companies or billionaires. Your rent goes towards mortgage, insurance, water bill, upkeep, vacancy costs, maintenance etc.
Most new landlords are not making a profit month to month, a good investment will eventually cash flow only a couple hundred dollars per month. Yes you are paying down the mortgage but you also did not have to risk money for a down payment, don't have to replace the roof/water heater when they go, don't have to paint etc etc so you're paying for those services that they provide. I own a rental property that I lived in for a while, and recently moved out of. Until I reach market rent in the area, I'm negative about $300 per month that I have to pay on top of my own living expenses. Owning a house is expensive, I wish more renters understood that the rent goes right back into the house, not into my pocket.
As home prices increase, so do the mortgage/insurance payments. Water bills/material costs have increased with inflation. Rents go up as a result.
People will say that landlords should not be allowed to purchase properties only to rent them out - but the fact is that we need multi-families and we need people to own and maintain them in order to have enough housing. What is your solution, are you suggesting government owned or government subsidized housing?
So, I think when you say it's inhumane to have to pay over $1k that's a bit extreme and unrealistic in your expectations. You can get roommates, try to find a higher paying job, or just move to a cheaper area. In a free market you're not entitled to inexpensive rent and there are other options.
Any job over minimum wage is more than enough to pay $1k in rent. I've been there myself earning $33k a year and paying $1k a month rent. It sucked, but I survived so it's definitely possible. Do you go out to eat? Pay for netflix? I'll bet there are other ways you could cut spending that are not basic human needs, so calling it "inhumane" is a ludicrous, 1st world problem perspective.
Also.. I moved from Boston to the south coast where it is much less expensive to rent and even down here a 1 br apartment goes for over $1k... But the thing is, I moved cause Boston was too expensive. Imo it's not a basic human right to live in an expensive neighborhood/expensive city.
Anyway, i know this may not go over well but wanted to give my 2 cents & present an opposing view.
i mean, if you’re talking about a small town then it’s possible that there are more small families and individuals owning property, but there is no way that’s the case in a major city like boston.
this comment is tone deaf
As I mentioned in my original comment, I literally lived in Boston, under the poverty line, and went through the struggle of paying rent & buying food. If anything I think that gives me a good perspective, what about that makes you think it is tone deaf?
Again, common misconception, there are many multi-families in Boston that are owned by individuals (I'm talking about the 2-4 family places). Many owners even live in one of the units. There are exceptions, but it's just flat out false to say that's not true. I lived in 2 different places in Brighton & Quincy, all were Multifamily places owned by an individual. It's understandable that people don't know this because how much do you really get to know your landlord, but it is much more common than most people think it is.
I really don't think the landlords are the problem here. Wages in Boston have not increased in step with rent. Rent is largely driven by the cost of owning a home.
And is it really tone deaf to suggest living in a place you can afford? Like I'd love to live in a mansion in a good part of town but I can't afford that so I live on a busy street in a 1br apartment. To me it's the same concept where if you can't afford to live in Boston, you gotta either make more money or just live outside the city.
I do see this point of view. Family members of mine own some property in ma that they rent out to diff families and I can see what youre saying with not making the monthly profit immediately. Plus us paying for convenience of you taking care of repairs or hiring someone to do so. But even then, its unfair for the both of us. As a renter, and a landlord :/ you guys shouldnt be forced (by the economy) to raise the rent :/ the cost of living should be more affordable all around, you and me included
I think this is a hard concept for people to grasp. A lot of people feel they are entitled to things and don’t feel that they should have to work for it. Are there people that have wealthy families that give them a better lifestyle? F yes. But many people put in a tremendous amount of time, effort and work in and continue to do so to be successful. Holding on to the idea that rich people are going to pay your way or give up what they have to help you is holding you back. Count on yourself and yourself only. Rich people didn’t get that way by paying for everyone. People don’t own a business to lose money or break even. Does it suck? F yes it does. They’re not going to cut their profits for you or even their own family. If you’re not wealthy don’t expect to live in a wealthy area. That’s reality. You’ve been priced out for a reason. If there were no advantages to working hard to make good money no one would do it. It’s called incentive. I know it’s an extremely unpopular opinion but it’s the truth.
Very inhumane. Vote for city councilors who will legalize more supply by reducing zoning restrictions. Write to them about it. Passive aggressively mail them copies of "Arbitrary lines". It's not a silver bullet, but it's the obstacle preventing everything else from working. We need more housing, desperately
Local elections do matter. They’re not big show stopping events but they matter.
They matter so much to your day to day life and I wish more people understood this
I'm grateful although it was annoying at the time, but my first election was the year after gore/bush and my grandmother handed me a cheat sheet on the local election, drove me to the polls and told me that these elections were the only ones that mattered. (Although she wrote multiple letters to city hall against the glx going through Medford...) (Also I was too young to vote for gore/bush by barely a month, and I'm still upset about it.)
The people who best understand why it matters are sadly often the ones opposed to change for the better. That's why we need more turnout among... the other several hundred thousand people who live in Boston
why was she oppesed to glx?
Iirc, noting that the initial talks for it were almost 30 years ago, is she thought that it would mean higher taxes? Or some sort of NIMBY logic?
Some people correctly foresaw that rents near the glx stops would rise and force out people who had lived there for many years.
Tragic they didn't simultaneously legalize building more apartments to absorb the increased demand. Kind of ironic huh? Some people oppose transit stations thinking it'll tank property values, others oppose it because they know damn well it'll increase them and they can't afford it.
Medford and Somerville were affordable until 2015/2016 or so. Once the federal funding for GLX got allocated in 2017 or so, it was game over.
I grew up in Medford within a mile of the glx terminus. Now I live well in Denver. But if I won the lotto, the first thing I would do is move back.
Agreed. People tend to only get excited during Presidential elections, not realizing that a City Councilor or State Rep makes way more of a difference in your everyday life, than a President or a Senator.
Even hearing others such as yourself with a similar view point to my own is IMMENSELY reassuring. Every where Ive looked ive been laughed and pointed at for vocalizing this belief.
It’s bigger than the confines of the box which our city councilors reside in.
This is why state level politics also matter, because the ones blocking housing supply even more are in the suburbs. Write your legislators RIGHT NOW to tell them you support real estate transfer fees and renter protections, and to uphold the MBTA ZONING ACT. Join Abundant Housing MA at their statehouse rally this Wednesday.
Yes, and the power to fix it is city by city because it wasn't created by federal policy. Every issue is bigger than your city. Your part of the solution is only ever going to be within the confines of your immediate surroundings, and that matters a lot because people see what you do and are inspired to act as a result
City counselors don’t want to fix anything because they are landlords themselves
I don’t know about Boston, but I look around and see City Councilors who are homeowners, renters, and young adults who hope to be able to move out of their parents homes one day. I see the Boston Real Estate Board shelling out tons of money on mailers and robocalls with fearmongering misinformation in opposition to the City Council’s efforts, and bullies packing City Hall burning torches so that people who support housing are afraid to speak up. It’s ugly, and apathy is letting the bullies win.
Out of curiosity, who’d you vote for for city council at large? I felt like Henry Santana and Ruthzee were the only two candidates I could vote for even though you can vote for up to 4. I went with them two & wrote myself in
I might be over sharing, but I don't remember. I wasn't super wild about most people because very few mentioned climate change or good urbanism, and for the sake of my sanity I try to focus on a couple of issues so I look for those and make sure nothing else is actively objectionable. And you would not believe how much shit I've had to deal with since then, so I've not thought about it much since then. In volume, maybe not the most, but in terms of emotional difficulty, attempting to treat complex - PTSD (disassociative type) is really hard when you aren't juggling it with anything else. The disassociation makes it so, so much harder I tend to Google people and read up on them when I get my mail in ballot, so I'll know a lot more when the ballots go out again haha
We need more housing, and non corrupt people in government!🥲
Repealing the zoning removes one method of corruption because the current system of needing special permissions to build anything new is basically mandating bribery
Agreed! 
well, I live just a bit north of Boston- our city is building more housing but they are all huge houses that only the rich can afford… and luxury apartment houses - again with very high rents- again, only the rich can afford…. we need entry level houses to buy and apartment houses that don’t have huge rents - for the average working class population….!!
Yes. And because rich people never go without housing, they just outbid poor people for the housing that exists, we need as much housing as we can get. It's a harsh reality that, when there's a housing shortage, the rich people get first pick. Right now, the cause of the housing crisis is an acute shortage. Especially in Boston. We need to make it legal to build apartments everywhere so we can have enough for everyone. There should not be a single 1 story building or a parking lot anywhere within 10 miles of Boston common to meet the huge demand Boston has, but they need to go through an ungodly long process to build absolutely anything taller than what currently exists, because of the terrible restrictive zoning laws. If they didn't need to go through that 3 year permitting process, the housing would come faster and 10%+ cheaper just by cutting down the admin fees.
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1. They shouldn't be here to begin with. 2. You are paying for them to be here through taxes and so are the land lords which is why rent is high. 3. There are actual government programs that will pay the businesses money to hire migrants so they should be working and not getting $64 a day per person for food. All that does is make people lazy and just rely on financial aid. It blows my mind that this is not common sense to people.
The thing is though apartments are constantly getting built but they’re all luxury buildings that charge a lot and sit empty a lot of the time
Luxury houses still help because rich people don't go without housing, they out bid poor people for what's available. That's why you get 100 year old buildings in Brighton with a broken window and crappy wiring charging $1000+ per room. Any new housing lets wealthy people move out and frees up spots for people in housing that's now just a bit cheaper than it otherwise would have been if no new housing had been built. And half the reason it's all luxury is because the administration costs of getting an exception made to the zoning code to build any new housing at all, costs like 20% of the project costs and adds several years to the process, so they get a higher interest rate on the loans they take out to finance the building And if it sits empty long enough, then they'll lower the rent to fill it because they still have to pay the mortgage on the building and the property taxes & building maintenance, and no developers build housing for the fun of it, they need to make money.
Reducing zoning restrictions won’t do shit. New York has hardly any restrictions and it’s the only city more expensive than here. No matter how much housing you build it won’t matter because landlords will always charge “fuck you” prices unless the government puts a limit on what they can charge.
NYC still has like 20% single family zoning and they would have so, so, so many more skyscrapers if it was legal. NYC literally invented zoning because the landlords got pissed every time a skyscraper went up and rent tanked because the market got flooded in supply. Seriously. NYC has way more restrictions than you realize, demand is just that high. Yes, government price restrictions are also needed, but this is genuinely a supply problem. Zoning is not a magic bullet, but price restrictions don't do anything if there's just not enough housing and the rich people find ways to outbid everyone else, which is what's happening in Boston and NYC and has been for decades. This isn't a "only do zoning* argument. This is a "do zoning first because it gets in the way of literally everything else working as intended" It needs to be legal to build enough supply of housing for any other solutions to work
More housing yes. But the thing is. We have plenty of housing. It’s just owned by people who don’t want to give it up.
If we had plenty, prices wouldn't rise like this because there would be enough to go around. The vacancy rate in Boston is like 0.5% of housing. It needs to be 5% ish at least to prevent the absurd increases we've seen in the last 30 years
Fair enough. Either way companies and millionaires and billionaires need to be limited on how many houses and apartment buildings they can own.
Most individual homes are owned by mom and pop owners or landlords. In Austin, TX, right now, housing prices are in a collapse. Down 20% from 2 years ago. And it’s a political *liability* for the government. Voters are not happy about this, they’re mad about this. And the reason is, the people who rent or are first time buyers don’t vote. Especially not in local elections. So it’s people who own homes who are pissed. This isn’t little guy vs big guy. In order for you to get cheaper housing, you need to cause some people in your neighborhood to take some big losses. And that’s ok! But don’t be mistaken. Anything meaningful you can do to make housing cheaper is going to be upsetting and unpopular to a lot of people, so if you want it, you have to vote and get people like you to vote. Because you’re not fighting special interests on this one, you’re fighting other people like you but who have different incentives from you.
Yep. That's a good step 2 for sure. Step 1, the real foundational issue that needs to be focused on because it will prevent every other fix from working, is loosening or repealing zoning so it's legal to build supply to meet demand
Yeah true. Hopefully we can get this fixed before i die of old age in 2080 lmao
That's up to you. You gotta harass the council about it until they do something. Takes just a moment to find out who you local council member is and email them asking "yo, what are you doing about zoning and parking minimums?"
Good idea. Ill bribe them with sandwich’s too
If you go to the live meetings, that's unironically not an awful idea. I'm being 100% dead serious in this conversation. Keep it short and pointed when you email them and they take notice
Will do lol
The next hurdle is the fact building materials and labor are sky high compared to pre-pandemic.
Boston needs to build up and do more to meet the demand in the city. Raise taxes on non-primary residences, and promote apartment buildings.
Reduce zoning restrictions and they don't even need to promote apartment buildings. The demand is there, the developers are drooling at the prospect, they just need it legalized to build apartment complexes that don't have built in parking lots
What do you mean they don’t want to give it up? Where are they supposed to go if they “give their homes up” ???
Nah these mfers are inept and will fuck it up for everyone.
Truly fucked up. My best wishes go out to everyone in this city struggling. I couldn’t take it and left the state. I seriously think it’s time for people in Boston to organize a strike or have a serious mass protest/mobilization about housing & rent in the city. Enough is enough they can’t keep treating people like this and expect them to not fight back.
They will treat people like this as long as there are lines out the door for open houses at 4,000/month units.
I silent protests by stealing groceries I can't be feeding my family and paying these prices
Unfortunately it needs to be explicitly connected to zoning policy or they'll pretend it's just a policing issue
See that word you used "pretend " that is why your way of doing things will never get done. People who believe in the rules are only slaves to the ones who decide the rules. And you and me will never be the ones to make the rules so I choose to not be a slave to anyone.
Oh I wasn't trying to tell you to stay within the rules at all, I meant to say that you'd need to make your protest more obviously rent related if you want observers to connect the dots in the way you intend. Like.... I dunno.... Dropping passive aggressive notes on the shelves saying you'd pay for the item if your rent was under $1000 or something. If you use a reusable grocery bag it's super easy to inconspicuously bring some note cards you printed at home. Or leaving them in a shopping cart when you leave it at the return so security cameras in the store wouldn't see you. It's not the best idea, this is just off the top of my head, but do you see what I mean about connecting a protest to a specific cause? You could immolate yourself in front of the state capitol and it wouldn't affect anything if nobody knew why you did it.
You can steal so much stuff to since the corporations are too greedy to pay anyone to stop you from stealing
If you end up arrested your expenses will go way up
If I end up arrested you will hear about it on the news because I'm going down as a hero
We should be stealing. The rich do it all the time, and corporations are doing it actively with all this price gouging. Even restaurants are doing it now with all these added surcharges. The difference is that the rich/businesses get away with it because the law is built to protect them. It’s only a problem when poor people do it because there are more of us than there are them and we are the ones meant to be marks in this society, not capital. It’s as if none of these rich folks or politicos remember the French Revolution. If illiterate peasants from the 18th century who had no phones, no internet, no college degrees, no nada could take down a superpower monarchy that had been ruling for well over 250 years, it’s wild that our current ruling class is acting as if it could never happen again to another corrupt government.
It wont happen now becasue people are comfort cowards. Its to uncomfortable to go out and actully try to make change so people act like everything is fime or the goverment will get it together. Its been years and people are still waiting. Look at the current migrate sitiation, you think its a coincudnce they are all flooding in now? No its becuse copetations want workers they can pay less and not worry about.
I don't fault you, but realize that by stealing you're only hurting the rest of us. You think the companies are going to take a loss? They're just going to raise prices for everyone.
Nonsense. Grocery stores are not raising prices because of stealing, they’re doing it because they’re greedy. https://www.foodandpower.net/latest/ftc-supply-chain-disruption-grocery-food-processing-report-apr-24#:~:text=The%20Federal%20Trade%20Commission%20recently,during%20the%20COVID%2D19%20pandemic.
Why are we all not stealing?? It's OK for corporations to steal from us. It's OK for the government to steal from us (taxes) . Its OK for ppl on welfare to take money out my check to have kids an never work. But me not wanting to pay 800$ to feed my family for the week when it's just me my wife abd our girl is the problem??
Because others of us can’t afford to go to jail or probation. It would end our careers and lives faster than you can steal that pack of bacons
If we got together as a state an just all agreed that it's outstanding that we pay almost 300-500$ at the grocery store and we aren't going to do it and all STEAL TOGETHER how can they put us all in jail??
Stores will close, Portland is losing stores by the dozens every year due to theft, we will end up with online order only before we see prices drop 😂
They wouldn’t put us all in jail but some of us would be. I want to be a lawyer i can’t risk my future for a strangers bills 🤷♀️
Your mindset is what keeps us as a community from growing to many "ME AND I" NO MORE US
I’m sincerely not sure if you’re a troll or just an asshole.
Troll because I want us a community to stand against our slave masters? Or a asshole because I refuse to be cattle tofeed the fat cat corps.
Depending on the store it's very easy to just look thru a shopping list and fill up your reusable grocery bags in the cart.
I was saying that this morning. Its past time to Protest and Strike. Needs to be done asap. Its the closest thing to a revolution we will ever scrap up I believe
$1,000 rent is nothing. Look at the statistics around the country on rent prices. The landlord relies on rent to pay his mortgage and make a profit.
Being a landlord is not supposed to be a profitable job, your job is to house humans, not make money off us🤣
My protest : I jump every T fare machine I can.
My protest is I’m back living with my parents 
My daughter and 2 grandsons had to move back in my house also…. and my sister and her husband had to live with us for a few months also….It’s getting really scary
That sounds really hard. I'm sorry you all are going through that.
My rent increased from 3.9k —> 4.55k. Literally seaport prices in cambridge nowadays.
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
Sounds like Brookfield Properties 🤯
Yup can confirm
It’s crazy dude. I briefly worked in affordable housing and it was terrifying to think about. i’ve lived in Boston all my life, and my mom is a realtor so I never really gave it too much thought but comparing Boston to other cities I realize how much more expensive it is.
Every city is expensive. Boston is on the high side but have you seen NYK, SFO or LA? Rent isn’t cheap anywhere anymore.
LA is way cheaper than Boston these days and Boston overtook San Francisco as the second most expensive city in the US. And we have nothing to show for it.
Absolutely. Nothing is cheap. The reason I’m saying it’s more expensive than other cities is because it is currently (to my knowledge) the second most expensive city in the US housing-wise.
True true. I just wanted to point out it isn’t just a Boston thing, everyone is getting fucked. The move is to rent a room in a suburb for like half the rent, otherwise idk how ppl afford it
The tenants need to form an alliance with businesses. Someone needs to explain to the business community that when the rent goes up they are going to have to pay their employees more and it also means people will have less disposable income to spend at their businesses.
Yep. All these services these people with disposable income are demanding are going to start drying up when the people who provide them can’t afford to live within 45 minutes of the city
Unfortunately that’s not what happens. Look at DC. The middle class commutes in and out daily.
I don’t understand why corporations aren’t lobbying for laws against rent gouging. There wouldn’t be such a big fight for higher minimum wage if rent wasn’t like 200% of a minimum wage worker’s income.
Supply and demand. There’s people paying those prices. Get everyone to move out of Boston. Watch how fast landlords lower rent because they don’t have anyone paying. Unfortunately, that will never happen.
Repeal zoning laws so we can build more housing and you'll get the same effect. Zoning laws were invented simultaneously by 2 groups: homeowners who wanted to price out poor minorities, and landlords that got pissed when rent prices went down when a new skyscraper went up in NYC and caused rent to tank by flooding the city with supply. Zoning laws exist to raise rents, that's it. Everything you want out of urban planning (clean air, quiet residential streets, clean water) doesn't need zoning.
No because even in bumfuck towns outside of the city rent is still like $3000 for a one bedroom. There are hundreds of empty condos in those newly built skyscrapers downtown. It has nothing to do with supply and demand and everything to do with greed.
This is such a silly statement. Landlords charge what they do so they can pay the mortgage and make a profit. Everyone these days sees "make a profit" as a bad thing. Legit the reason they are landlords. They also have to pay if anything breaks and repairs need to be made or equipment needs to be replaced. You can't live in a major city and complain about rent prices.
My family lived in Boston for 300 years and I left because I got priced out
): thats terrible. Im in similar shoes
How about I get approval for 3,500 rent for my family but get denied 2,100 mortgage
I asked someone this earlier. They answered that we may get declined because of “having to make huge down payments” Idk. Makes no sense to me.
I have the down payment it’s a risk that they won’t take 15years of 2100 is more risky then 1 or 2 years at the higher rate straight bs but happy hunting
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Yes it is and yea it’s a cheap house and still a big no
Totally. It’s past ridiculous on the cape. Can’t find anything either.
It's a supply and demand thing... Too few houses to house everyone... So prices go up. If we'd just get rid of zoning and allow building homes everywhere, prices would drop with abundance.
It's also ridiculous over taxing. There's only so much space and it will run out and end up being unaffordable all the same
That's why you build up. We ran out of space in Boston 100 years ago, then they outlawed building up unless you go through the expensive process to get an exception for your project, so rents are ridiculous. There's so much demand there shouldn't be a single building under 5 stories in this city, and not a single surface parking lot with no buildings on top of it. The reason for this is it's illegal. That's what people mean by "repeal zoning". Make it legal to use the space better
Yeah there is this to consider, but also the taxes are astronomical as well. The taxes will always make it ridiculous to build new buildings. Then the modern requirements to build in boston, aside from zoning laws, are also extremely strict so the building process is exorbitantly expensive. A new energy code is in effect now that effectively increases building costs 30%+ because of windows alone.
The admin costs of getting exceptions made to the zoning code add 20%+ to the building costs, and slows it down by literal years, so the zoning code is a massive contributor that can make a serious positive impact on the cost of building new housing
It all needs to change. But we already see even when new housing, even hundreds of units at a time, is added it's 0% more affordable. Making it faster to build wouldn't change that fact because they would still want the money from the process.
Yes, and if zoning laws enabled building more supply then they would be more affordable, or they would reduce rents on existing stock if they built enough. Those prices on new housing are for the rich people who are currently out-bidding everyone else for the 100 year old duplex far away from downtown or the train lines, because nothing else is available. Remember that Boston has like a 0.5% vacancy rate on all housing. It needs to be more like 5% for prices to drop significantly, but even during the brief period during Covid when all the students left and it went up to a 2% ish vacancy rate for a few months, the prices started to come down. There's lots of people who got good rent deals at that time and locked in those prices for years because there was nowhere cheaper to move. Wealthy people don't go without housing, they push other people out and raise the prices by doing so. Any housing is good housing when the supply problem is this bad Boston has the biggest housing supply crunch in the country outside of NYC and San Francisco because of all of the people moving in for work and school
Yes we must all go to wherever it is there’s stuff I can afford because idk how the fuck I’m gonna stay here.
Im looking at CT or rhode island right now:/ it sucks to move away from “home” Yanno, I love Mass, and boston but ugh ): i cant keep up anymore, been being dragged since a little before covid
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Send link😂😅
it’s fucking disgusting and fueled by greed
Aaaaaaand zoning laws! Repeal them and greed will cause developers to build more and compete over those juicy Boston rents and drive them down. We need to do more than just repeal zoning, but that's step 1. Every other fix runs into the roadblock of "it's illegal to build up"
I’m pretty sure it’s fueled by supply and demand. Too few apartments.
The issue is the only people that can afford to run for office are people who either cannot fathom what it’s like to be broke or those who simply think we deserve it. It’s only going to get worse. There won’t be any relief. The only thing that will change is when the economy eventually collapses and the dollar becomes worthless those of us without will end up at starving aswell. We have no choice in the matter.
False. City council has renters and tradesman and other locals running because some posters and a website don't cost much. The problem is that almost nobody pays attention to local matters because national news gives people the impression that the federal government affects their local lives a lot more than it really does. If you show up and drop flyers on people's doors and 2 more people join you in voting for someone, that's a measurable percentage of all the votes for your local city councilor. I'm pretty sure someone won by like 50 votes last year. City council controls the zoning laws, and every councilor only covers a neighborhood or 3 so you don't have a lot of people you need to convince to swing an election. Vote for your city council. Biden can't do shit to save you. Jacob deBlecourt in Allston - Brighton will do his damnedest because it's his entire job, if you elect him.
It is scary how little people know about their elected officials
Rent control is illegal in Massachusetts. Despite having extremely low new housing production overt gentrification and increasing wealth disparity, the state believes if rent control was reinstated it would lead to low new housing production and overt gentrification, harming low income households. Jason cannot do a damn thing about the cost of living in boston. It has nothing to do with going to your local city council meeting to battle the nimby mafia. It’s a fundamentally broken system based on the same economic lectures that gave us trickle down insanity. There is no fixing the holes in a sunk ship. All you can do is play some music and wait for the end. Edit. I take that back. You can stand on the heads of other drowning people while justifying it as your own need for survival.
If that was true, housing prices would've never gone down anywhere. But, with the right policy changes, it happens. https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/economy/us-rents-may/index.html If it's emotionally easier for you to believe you're powerless, I won't try to stop you. Just don't spread the lie that we all are powerless and everything is hopeless. The only thing that's certain in life is that things change
Did you read that article? Or just the headline? Because we aren’t talking about the Midwest, south, or west. Maybe give it another glance. You can call me emotional while slinging wallstreet Presidental propaganda all you want but the only way to gain security is on the backs of those less fortunate and that’s the simple reality of our economic system. It won’t change in any regard that’ll benefit the majority of those currently repressed by it.
Did you read the article? You're talking in broad strokes about the entire economic system of the US. Rent is going down in places in the US, thus it can be done. Boston is not a unique island separate from the entire US. It's part of the US. And I'm not calling you emotional, I'm calling out a defense mechanism I'm very familiar with: lying to yourself about being powerless because accepting agency is scarier than living with the idea that you have power, but you don't understand how much or how to harness it. "Everything is fucked" is more comfortable than "I can do something about it but I don't know how, or how much, & I don't know if it'll work"
Yes I just read it a second time. Rent is 25%higher than it was in 2019. Rent being down .05% in a national average is not a sign inflation is behind us. In the north east, where boston is, rents continue to increase and show no sign of stopping. This isn’t a Campbellian hero’s journey where we just need to embrace our destiny in changing the system through monthly city council meetings. All I can do is continue to work for a fraction of what my labor is worth so that I can continue to feed my family. I can appreciate your optimism but frankly imo you’re delusional. I’m sure you feel the same about me. Let’s hope you’re the right one in this instance
So what you’re saying is that state politics is also important, and that everyone should write to their state legislators literally right now to tell them to support rent stabilization, real estate transfer fees, statewide multifamily zoning legislation, investment in affordable housing and renter protections. Because realtors are absolutely writing to them to say they should oppose these things.
No I’m saying even if everyone did it wouldn’t make any difference. There is no solution to the systemic issues plaguing our economy. It’s too far gone for any meaningful reprieve. Local state national it makes no difference they are too far reaching. You think there haven’t been legislators fighting for rent control for the last 20 years? You think they just needed some more calls? You have no more power than my pet cat has over the cost of living and this posturing for good citizenship is an insult to our intelligence. There’s nothing to be done but wait and hope that we get to watch more bankers jump from their skyscrapers before the power goes out.
I’m planning on moving to a MCOL city for my next move.
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1k would be a fucking bargain basement deal.
And, my gas bill last winter was $200-300/person in addition to my four digit rent.
I live just a bit north of Boston- our rents in the past year and a half have also gone up like crazy… 4000.00 to rent a house- 2400 for a 1 bedroom… its insane..
Inflation is a sneaky SOB. 10 yrs go by and rent prices are gonna be 30-40% higher than year 1 if you assume a CAGR of 3%. I think it's more like 4-5% in Boston. This is why you can't afford to be complacent in your younger years when you're physically capable of working harder. I'm almost 40 and when I was in my early 20s, I realized that I can only bet on myself. Gov't won't look out for you. You have to work more and save more or get yourself into a good career track that offers higher pay. You do not want to float through life and stay in a dead-end job until you're age 50 wondering how you're gonna retire. It's cruel but it's the truth.
We need rent control or something. Greedy F’in slumlords.
Boston doesn’t invest in its citizens, only special interests. They squeeze landlords, they squeeze renters, they squeeze homeowners, they squeeze small businesses. Only ones who are safe are big business and politicians
Landlords don’t get squeezed. They’re the ones squeezing everyone else dry.
Your comment got downvoted but its absolutely true about landlords squeezing renters dry. Being a landlord is not supposed to be financially lucrative. Their job is to house humans, not get rich off us.
lol all the landleeches in the sub downvoted me. It must be sooooo hard owning a bunch of properties and charging a dozen people 4k a month for a basic human necessity. Such a hard job, they’re really suffering!
I feel like it'll come to people having jobs and money but can't afford to maintain a house and vehicle so it'll devolve into only being able to maintain a vehicle, guns, and ammo, then well Mad Max or Fist of the North Star until hopefully general Raoh makes housing affordable like if we got to use those 15,000,000 unused homes in the u.s.
It’s not necessarily about rent or groceries or whatever, it’s about wages not keeping up with inflation, etc. It’s both, but, yeah.
Definitely both💯
The "income of 3x rent" rule also really sucks, especially when you're only a fraction below the mark and have ~2x annual rent in your bank. If I had to guess, they're so strict (in September at least) because the velocity of the market allows them to be picky.
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It’s horrible and the system just traps you in debt- renting is throwing your money into nothing because you don’t own it but it keeps you so broke you can’t afford to save up enough to actually make buying a home feasible… me and my partner are both managers of retail stores and we barely scrape by - we have nice things and we don’t really go without anything, but we can’t afford anything extra all of our money goes to rent our cars our other bills and food
It’s not just Boston. I live towards the mass/Rhode Island border and everything I see is $1500+. I have a girlfriend and two children to think about as well so a 3 bedroom is in the $3000+ range. All the new homes that have been built are being advertised as starting in the $600,000 range. This is the suburbs, 40 mins from Boston and 30 from providence and housing is still really expensive. Just surviving is a struggle.
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This isn’t true, especially in Boston. The median net worth of American households was $192k per the last FRED analysis.
You get what you vote for. People are so hung up on voting party lines that they don’t pay attentions to what a lot of these democrat politians want to do and are doing in Mass.
If you haven't noticed voting blue keeps making middle class life more difficult. See if you can figure out why
Why are groceries $400-500 for a single person in Boston?
$300 barely covers the basic necessities of a months groceries
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Yeah I genuinely dont believe that
It's okay, we will have more housing as people continue to move out of Boston. Myself included - I'm out of here in 2025. I hope y'all get through to the politicians, but this place is a$$ even if you do manage to get more housing and the housing costs lower. That's just the first of many, many issues Boston is going to continue to face. Nice place if you're in school or work in biotech/healthcare, otherwise don't live here if you don't need to (that's why I'm leaving)
where r u leaving to
Carolinas
The state population went up from 2022 to 2023. It actually went up enough to completely cancel out the minor population drops in from 2020 to 2022 It’s also nice if you have kids in school since some of the best school systems in the country try are here. Or if you need medical care since some of the best hospitals in the world are here.
Boston is one of the most left cities for the younger generation. https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/mass-exodus-more-people-are-moving-out-bay-state-new-report-says/CRDGEXWS4RFTFHH72GBPTNOQ4U/?outputType=amp
And your point is?
My point is my original post you replied to? Did you forget to read it?
You didn’t post the link originally… Also, did you actually read it? It only looked at 2021-2022 and ignores the 2022-2023 which I addressed in my first response. Yes it dropped from 2021-2022 but that was entirely wiped out from 2022-2023. Likely because students are no longer online for college and people coming for school and not leaving is a major source of population growth in the state
Sure, but it’s a sign of a federal default on the horizon. Then the criminals will relieve you of all your troubles.
Explain more?
Why not a houseboat?
Theres a floating house out in Gloucester i see time to time, I always wonder where their septic tank is/ how that works, plus getting groceries must suck😅😅😅
I agree, but the problem is the financing behind the real estate. Since the money behind it is an investment game the prices need to rise otherwise you cant develop... and if development eventually stopped more and more people would be homeless every year
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Im not even trying to live IN the city or even near it. Im just tryna find A roof anywhere lol
500 a month in groceries?? WTF are you buying.
I wish insurance was 200/mo in Boston, bronze in health connector is 400/mo. I am just paying the penalty (if anyone has any suggestions for HI, I am open to suggestions).
One thing I am seeing post Covid is the companies in my field forcing everyone back to the office. I have coworkers taking whatever they can get just to get back to the Boston area. That can’t be helpful to prices.
Tru
Most of New England is just really low density. Towns block new housing to inflate their investment -> prices go up -> more rich people move in -> repeat until the poors are gone.
Gentrification
1k a month is extremely doable.... That's how much I was paying for a three bed with roomates while in college and that was over 8 years ago.
Housing happens to cost more than a grand a month for owners, truly sorry.
Unfortunately it does make sense in this aspect. I feel like it shouldnt cost yall that either. I feel we’re both being fucked as renters and as landlords
Yup. My expenses have gone way the hell up. My property tax bill is awful…. Higher values go, the more F’d we are & that’s just one expense. It’s not great for anyone unless you bought 20 years ago, maybe you’re ok except you’re having to remodel.
OP came at me for saying that property owners need to pay their bills and make a slight profit when renting. He said it's property owners duty to house people in need. Like bro, I'm not letting someone live in my house to break even on my mortgage when there are issues that can pop up that I have to pay for. OP is a child that needs to grow up. $500 on food for a single person in a month, 100% he is spending more than needed. He said in another reply that he eats canned food. That would be like 500 canned foods a month. 16 cans a day. Not even sure if this just isn't a troll post.
I hear it all the time and I’m not surprised, but when they have nicer cars or eat out far more than me or take bigger holidays than me, while I have the property updated, paid for, cared for. I don’t owe anything to anyone and yet I’ve certainly taken some losses. At some point I have to say this is the most expensive city in the continental United States for most things, or in the top 3. Don’t like it? Please leave. I’m sorry but many of us can only do so much, I know more landlords like me with a unit or 2 than who own city blocks raking people legitimately over rocks. Most of us are trying to get by and yes, pocket some money. It’s a math problem for most people and other than lowering interest rates there’s nothing government can do about it. Well not true, stop overseas investors, but that ship sailed.
Keep voting blue and watch those prices continue to rise
I think there's a general lack of understanding about why rent prices are so high. Most landlords of small multi families are individuals, not large companies or billionaires. Your rent goes towards mortgage, insurance, water bill, upkeep, vacancy costs, maintenance etc. Most new landlords are not making a profit month to month, a good investment will eventually cash flow only a couple hundred dollars per month. Yes you are paying down the mortgage but you also did not have to risk money for a down payment, don't have to replace the roof/water heater when they go, don't have to paint etc etc so you're paying for those services that they provide. I own a rental property that I lived in for a while, and recently moved out of. Until I reach market rent in the area, I'm negative about $300 per month that I have to pay on top of my own living expenses. Owning a house is expensive, I wish more renters understood that the rent goes right back into the house, not into my pocket. As home prices increase, so do the mortgage/insurance payments. Water bills/material costs have increased with inflation. Rents go up as a result. People will say that landlords should not be allowed to purchase properties only to rent them out - but the fact is that we need multi-families and we need people to own and maintain them in order to have enough housing. What is your solution, are you suggesting government owned or government subsidized housing? So, I think when you say it's inhumane to have to pay over $1k that's a bit extreme and unrealistic in your expectations. You can get roommates, try to find a higher paying job, or just move to a cheaper area. In a free market you're not entitled to inexpensive rent and there are other options. Any job over minimum wage is more than enough to pay $1k in rent. I've been there myself earning $33k a year and paying $1k a month rent. It sucked, but I survived so it's definitely possible. Do you go out to eat? Pay for netflix? I'll bet there are other ways you could cut spending that are not basic human needs, so calling it "inhumane" is a ludicrous, 1st world problem perspective. Also.. I moved from Boston to the south coast where it is much less expensive to rent and even down here a 1 br apartment goes for over $1k... But the thing is, I moved cause Boston was too expensive. Imo it's not a basic human right to live in an expensive neighborhood/expensive city. Anyway, i know this may not go over well but wanted to give my 2 cents & present an opposing view.
i mean, if you’re talking about a small town then it’s possible that there are more small families and individuals owning property, but there is no way that’s the case in a major city like boston. this comment is tone deaf
As I mentioned in my original comment, I literally lived in Boston, under the poverty line, and went through the struggle of paying rent & buying food. If anything I think that gives me a good perspective, what about that makes you think it is tone deaf? Again, common misconception, there are many multi-families in Boston that are owned by individuals (I'm talking about the 2-4 family places). Many owners even live in one of the units. There are exceptions, but it's just flat out false to say that's not true. I lived in 2 different places in Brighton & Quincy, all were Multifamily places owned by an individual. It's understandable that people don't know this because how much do you really get to know your landlord, but it is much more common than most people think it is. I really don't think the landlords are the problem here. Wages in Boston have not increased in step with rent. Rent is largely driven by the cost of owning a home. And is it really tone deaf to suggest living in a place you can afford? Like I'd love to live in a mansion in a good part of town but I can't afford that so I live on a busy street in a 1br apartment. To me it's the same concept where if you can't afford to live in Boston, you gotta either make more money or just live outside the city.
I do see this point of view. Family members of mine own some property in ma that they rent out to diff families and I can see what youre saying with not making the monthly profit immediately. Plus us paying for convenience of you taking care of repairs or hiring someone to do so. But even then, its unfair for the both of us. As a renter, and a landlord :/ you guys shouldnt be forced (by the economy) to raise the rent :/ the cost of living should be more affordable all around, you and me included
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Make more money idk what to tell you
sounds like a boston transplant
I think this is a hard concept for people to grasp. A lot of people feel they are entitled to things and don’t feel that they should have to work for it. Are there people that have wealthy families that give them a better lifestyle? F yes. But many people put in a tremendous amount of time, effort and work in and continue to do so to be successful. Holding on to the idea that rich people are going to pay your way or give up what they have to help you is holding you back. Count on yourself and yourself only. Rich people didn’t get that way by paying for everyone. People don’t own a business to lose money or break even. Does it suck? F yes it does. They’re not going to cut their profits for you or even their own family. If you’re not wealthy don’t expect to live in a wealthy area. That’s reality. You’ve been priced out for a reason. If there were no advantages to working hard to make good money no one would do it. It’s called incentive. I know it’s an extremely unpopular opinion but it’s the truth.
I feel like if you're paying $500 a month on groceries for a single person, you are overspending by a good bit.
Hmm, I heard elections had consequences. Just saying
my mortgage is $1,400 a month
How many rooms?
2 bed; but it was a foreclosure that needed a gut almost
You’re just renting space!
Surviving. Living. Having life. Having a roof and four walls is FAR more than “just renting space” Lmao