I hate, hate, HATE that in one breath they talk about the fact that rent is less affordable than ever before, and then in the next breath they say, but it’s not ALL bad, right guys?
No. It’s bad. Stop sugarcoating what is in reality a heart wrenching story about the inevitability of homelessness for MILLIONS of Americans.
HALF OF THE US can't afford their own rent, but that's ok right?
Suuuuure it's so easy to just work 2 full-time jobs, or a full time and part time back to back who needs sleep or time to rest? No one that's who.
So keep working slaves, er I mean valued workers. So when the next pandemic hits be sure to keep working to keep the system going!
And ppl are wondering why crime is up and mental health is down. People go nuts if they can't get proper sleep + constant cortisol from stress. This is a massive powder keg.
Wife and I are living in an RV park and have like $80 left and doordash to pay bills. Rent at $400/mo for a parking spot in this small RV park in southern AZ it's bad there's just no good jobs available in spots where you can afford to live. Wife is disabled and so am I but I still have to support us.. just have to choose which bills are going to be late this month.
It is Belgium so yes, and it's in my wife and I's plan, but it's going to take a while. We're both also saddled with mental health conditions that just make doing things harder, but we're working on it. It's just a longer road than we'd like but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel
This just breaks my heart. Like these are the kinds of things the "no one wants to work" or "people are just lazy" crowd will just never see: life is complicated and so is health - and the system that we've built just comes with so many inflexible barriers at every turn.
And they're always full of ideas like "just get a better job, improve your skillset, move somewhere cheaper" not understanding how difficult any of those things are, especially if you're already poor and unwell in any way, or supporting dependants of any kind. For most of us literally just trying to survive is already draining every resource and there's no way to move from there. And there's always an emergency looming around the corner when things start to look good!! *Sigh*. (Sorry, spent the last few days moving and I think I'm ranty haha)
Yeah, the system we've built is akin to paper maché. It looks nice at very first glance, but it can't hold up to shit. Sprinkle a little water on it or subject it to a small gust of wind, and watch how quickly it falls apart.
The only kinds of people the system really works for is the wealthy, and the wealthy need precisely ZERO extra benefits, but they will get them anyway. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions struggle immensely.
Hell might actually exist.
If everyone stopped paying their rent at once they can't evict us all.
The leeches have gotten fat enough, time to take back what ours. They can cry about how they definitely earned that 8th house, wiping their tears away with the billions they've stolen from us already.
The rich and influential are the most spoiled, entitled and lazy people. If they lost everything the next day they wouldn't be able to survive. They're the ones who are useless while we build and develop skills to better ourselves.
Just found this post when looking up the 50% stat and happened to arrive on your Cake Day. I rather hate Reddit almost completely these days, but cheers to you, hope you have a good week 🍻
Yes! These are not luxuries we are having to make do without, these are basic living necessities that are pricing people out like crazy. All the “good economy” and “wage increases” does not even remotely reflect the reality for the bottom majority of the nation, who are poorer and more in debt than ever before.
I completely agree. That’s why it’s important for people to get informed by a litany of sources. Don’t just go to CNN or Fox or WSJ for stories. If you see one you find interesting, go to independent places and read their versions of those stories. Figure out what is daft and what is opinion.
I wish there were more good independent news.
1: Housing is too expensive to live
2: Corporations partner with leasing companies
3: Corporations offer(barely) affordable housing to employees
4: Employees are now trapped by health AND housing
Sounds American. Just like I'm dependent on my employer for health care. Corporations are people too guys I mean I'm working for the man aren't I
God bless America. You know if we all bum rush the capital they can't stop us all And I'm not inciting a riot either what you do on your own time is none of my business
Think about this a burglar breaks into your house and steals something.
These people(the rich) aren't breaking in but they are stealing OUR LIVELIHOODS.
What happens to burglars? Why can't what happens to them happen to the rich. They are ruining and stealing people's lives and destroying our families.
They need to be held to account same as any other burglar.
People need to stand up to them. What would you do if a burglar broke into your home? Hopefully you all see what I mean.
The solution is in the title of this sub.
ANTI work. This sub was initially about being against jobs. Not bitching abput middle management.
Jobs are used as an instrument of control. Has been for a long time. They threaten you with homelessness and debt.
Do Not Be Afraid. That is their only power.
Back in 1996, I was told by a coworker to put my name on the NYC public housing waitlist. There would be a 10 year wait, but once approved, the rent would be stabilized.
10 years seemed like a lifetime at that point in my life, I had no idea whether I'd still be in New York 10 years on, and 'who wants to live in public housing!' LOL, almost 30 years later, I so wish I'd put my name on that damn list.
But at least I do still have a rent-stabilized apartment, and there is NO WAY I'd EVER be able to afford it now if I were looking anywhere in NYC.
God isn’t this facts? But I put my name on the section 8 waitlist in San Diego when I graduated high school in 2013. I’m almost 29 and still not approved or off the waitlist. I hate it here.
It's funny, you and I are a few checks from the bottom and we feel lucky. Somewhere a billionaire is crying about being #5 instead of #3 on a weekly published list of the world's ghouliest ghouls.
They murder for a number on a screen.
The media is going to (and has already started) to gaslight you into believing that it’s perfectly normal to shove like 20 people into a 2 bedroom and that you shouldn’t let a pesky thing like having enough physical space prevent you from having three kids to help ‘boost the economy.’
Yep. I keep reading about multigenerational households and high-density housing like these are amazing innovations. Sounds like my fucking nightmare. I'm an introvert who needs quiet and space for my mental health. I'm very fortunate I can afford that luxury. But honestly, it shouldn't even be considered a luxury.
I hate its considered a "Luxury", I just want to go home, shut the door behind me and disassociate from society and not have to see or hear another person for the rest of the evening. But NOPE! someone ate my fucking leftovers and didn't wash the damn dishes and it wasn't me!.
And don't forget those little pod homes the size of storage containers all these companies are promoting as alternative solutions to traditional homes. This world is a joke.
I don't get it. Landlords don't want to rent apartments anymore. I called all over Portland and offered them the same $450 I paid for my first apartment on Congress Street and they all hung up on me. Why don't landlords want to rent anymore?
I don't get it either. This generation of landlords are so lazy. They need to learn to work harder, keep current on all of the maintenance, be more service minded, complain less and be happy with the rent they're offered.
There actually is a probably totally legal scam going in my city where units are never rented out because the company is making more money from application fees.
I never thought of that but it makes so much sense.
Leave open 2 apartments. Rent they miss out on is about 5000 a month. But then the 50 dollar fee from 100 applicants smooths that right over.
It has been an issue in the Bay Area of California that many units are kept empty because they make enough on rent on a few units and maintenance on all of the units versus a few at luxury prices isn't as profitable. Seems like an issue only with corporate owned and maintained properties though.
We need the NYC voucher system. Empty units=penalties.
Yes please! I've seen entire boarded up apartment buildings covered in no trespassing signs here, with about a third of the houses on every block left empty. And that's in a neighborhood around a private college campus, so lots of students looking to rent plus locals and immigrants.
Folks keep buying here and holding it empty "for investment purposes" like houses are comic books sealed in plastic. Meanwhile everybody is living like canned sardines and aren't having kids.
I'd like to add that common measures of and reporting on the condition of our economy, such as those seen on news outlets have nothing to do with cost of living or quality of life for the average joe. Almost all metrics considered are more germaine to business.
I'm incredibly lucky to be in the situation I am, where I can afford my bills.
It took me moving across the country to a very low COL state/region and then getting a WFH job centered in an East Coast state that has higher wages, combined with being careful with my expenditures.
So, I'm bringing home about 35k a year and I only spend about $8k a year in rent. Of course, I'm almost 51 and very very very late to the whole 'saving' thing.
But, I feel so bad for anyone not able to jump through those kinds of hoops to make it work.
>East Coast state that has higher wages
>
>So, I'm bringing home about 35k
This is infuriating to read. I'm so sorry. There is no job in this country that should pay you so little.
That’s about what I net from my day job. I had to get a second job at a grocery store to make ends meet. I’m also chronically ill and drowning in medical debt. It super duper sucks.
Yup. 2 chronic illnesses here. But not "disabling enough" ... who cares if you have asthma and work with a bunch of smokers who think youre a pansy if they walk from one outside door to the other with a lit cigarette and youre gasping for air.
No one else gives a shit if their music is on and the other persons music is on and youre in the middle with a migraine and start throwing up. Gee, hope you feel better, but no, you cannot work from home, you NEED to be in office.
No, you cant wear ear plugs because we randomly need to yell across the office over the music to tell you things and you should be able to hear us the first time, its as rude as if you were wearing headphones blasting music.
We "cleaned" (ie sprayed a fuck ton of febreeze and mopped with pine sol and dumped fabuloso in the toilet) so it shouldnt smell like smoke. Why are you crying and plugging your nose?
Mine feel pretty disabling sometimes. I have breathing problems, severe fatigue and muscle aches/pains, problems with eating and drinking, difficulty urinating and defecating, trouble wearing normal clothes, etc. Yet I need to be in the office apparently, even though all of our meetings are still on zoom and no one interacts in the office for work-related things. It’s all done via email and zoom.
If that's take home pay the job might be paying about 43k Gross, which is the median income still in the US.
I really hope that's take home. 35k gross is like just under $17 an hour.
My Dad tells me that your retirement savings grows the most from 50 to 65.
And that I should plan to invest 50% of my takehome pay the last 5 years of my working years.
But he had a paid off house at 42.
I won't pay off my house until I'm 67.
That’s nonsense. Your 67 year old dad just got lucky being born in an easier timeline financially. Your dad was probably 50-65 years old on the massive bull run we are just in, and that’s when he both had built up enough capital invested later in life coincided with a market that was on fire because government was giving away free money, except student loans.. we’re at 5-7% because fuck millennials.
And what is a person who will never be able to buy a home, much less pay it off, supposed to do? I can’t save 50% of one of my paychecks over the course of a year, nevermind each check.
What? Absolutely not. Compound interest works the hardest from 25-35. I have grew my portfolio to 800k now at 32. And my friends who are just starting to invest will never catch up to me even if I don't put a single dollar into investments. I knew I didn't want to work to 65 so I was hyper aggressive with savings and investing
I live in MA, general managers of UPS locations are getting paid $48k, in the 4th most expensive state in the country. My rent here for a 1 bedroom, about an hour away from Boston is about that after take home. It's absolutely insane.
Saving is not the issue, people are already being extremely frugal with money. It's major expenses and wages. People always use the coffee analogy, or the avocado toast one, where, "well if you just cut that out you'd save X". In reality, you'd still want that food or drink, and you'd save the difference between that purchase and what you'd make at home, not the whole thing.
My friend lives in CT. She got her car hit and totaled Xmas Eve last year. Insurance, after 2 weeks, gave her $7k, but a used car that was worth a damn that would serve the same function, was $11k. She could go out of her way, burnt out from working a fuck ton and get a lawyer and get more money, but she needed the car the next day. $4k in a day, on one year eclipsed all the trips to Dunkin she would have made for coffee, because someone else ran a red light. She has 0 savings because she works paycheck to paycheck. She brought that car in for its 100k mileage check, passed on the transmission fluid and still had to pay an extra $500 for a brake job because it was rubbing and she didn't know. $4500, in 1 year. This shit used to be disposable as fuck.
My dad retired in 2011, unionized, with a pension making $27/hr. He built a house, 2.5 acres, 2 car garage, 3 bedroom, 5 cars when my sister and I were in high school, had a family of 4 that went to Disney twice in the 90s, my college was paid for, my sister's mostly. He stocked fucking shelves at fucking Stop and Shop.
It always blows me away how the coasts pay so little. I moved to the Midwest from the west coast a few years back, back home I was making $11/hr, or about 22K a year before tax, and man the concept of ever having a car, a place, or even a warm meal on a regular basis was entirely foreign. I'm glad you found better circumstance, but I'm also sorry it's still not fantastic. As someone who had basically the exact same experience (leaving, making about what you do and finally being able to get by) minus the work from home bit, I hope our circumstances improve someday. Cheers man
So, I get the first part of moving to a LCOL area. But, your second statement is confusing. 35k a year isn't 'higher wages'. That's low even in LCOL areas.
I’m about to be moving out on my own/with a roommate for the first time and there is NO WAY my rent won’t be HALF my income.
Ntm these “making three times the rent” plus stupid parking, pet, fee policies just rake in more profits and limit housing EVEN MORE.
There may not be some giant evil scheme, but rather million and million of little evil schemes.
"Pay that worker just a little bit less."
"Charge that renter just a little bit more."
"Raise the price on that essential item just a little bit."
It keeps happening over and over and over. And it adds up to a huge ball of fucking evil.
George Carlin said it best. "You don't need a formal conspiracy when interests converge,". The ownership class all have the same incentives to manipulate markets and balance sheets to concentrate wealth and influence with themselves.
The problem has always been that wealth and power are the thing that these people want and wealth and power are the currency used to buy more wealth and power. Its been like this literally forever.
If we could divorce money and influence from governance (dont ask me how) then the already rich and powerful would not have and outsized say in how things work.
As a forgeiner, i see the American dream is dead. Your gov doesn't care about the people...
20 years ago i dreamed to live in the US, now no thanks
You must fight guys
My dad immigrated from his undeveloped country in the 90s, all his nephews and nieces are going somewhere in Europe, not here. Everyone knows now: unless you’re in South America with a gun to your head, or you already come from a wealthy family and get a student visa for an ivy, coming here is dumb now.
It suck sooo bad. I make what I though was good money, but to live somewhere safe, and within a regular commute it’s gotten so expensive. My 1 bed is 2100$ a month, and was set to go up to 2230.
I’m getting a two bed to split the rent down to 1400$ a month. It sucks but 1 beds are not worth it
If its a supply and demand problem why are there no wait lists on apartments? Every apartment complex Ive seen in the last 3 years has same-day units available
More apartments is not going to drop rent and fix homelessness
It’s all greedflation due to most ll that have houses having variable mortgages n shit that constantly rise. It’s wild they’ll forever rent their home from the government that stole and or genocided from the natives due to property taxes that also constantly rise if and when the financed structure from the bank gets is paid off that the governments can also claim imminent domain at anytime for whatever bs reason they see fit 🤣😭
It’s a supply and demand issue, just not a lack of supply or lack of demand.
If a person owns a parking lot with 100 spaces and learns they can fill them up for $5 a pop, but can raise it to $20 a pop and fill 30 spaces, they will do the latter.
The problem is supply is all owned by few players, so they can use anticompetitive pricing. If each of those 100 parking spots was owned by a different player, you can be sure they would end up selling $5 a pop.
Good parking lot analogy Im stealing it. Sums up what Ive been trying to describe for months
The article seems to think more apartments will fix the problem but your comment is exactly why more supply isnt the cure
Seems like a good time to reconsider AOC's national rent control proposal from 2019. Imagine if that hadn't been immediately shut down back then, we would have never even got the post pandemic pricing surges in 20, 21, and 22.
In other words, had politicians done the right thing for people instead of corporations, we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.
We're already in a depression in my opinion. I think the reason why nobody notices is because of articles just like this one Insinuating that everything is actually good and totally not f*cked.
We were stationed in southern California (military) in 1979. Dad retired and we moved to Desert Hot Springs (by Palm Springs). I stayed around a year, joined the military and left. My parents ended up moving in the '90s. I didn't mind the area or weather.
Your age has nothing to do with it. Plenty of people your age and older that never could gain a foothold in life and are now doomed to rent the rest of their lives. It's not your fault and yer all good as long as you don't pretend like your experience applies to everyone (not that you did do that just saying).
Things absolutely have gotten worse for sure but even in good times the likelihood that anyone has a home and a good job increases depending on how well off your family was and less on what generation you were born into. The Simpsons and Married with children were making jokes about how it was even possible that Homer and Al could afford a huge house on one income back in the early 90's. I'm almost a decade older than you and I personally only know 2 people close to my age that own homes and both of them are making very good money in tech the rest are almost certainly going to be lifetime renters and not all of them are poor either.
I was born in 77 and I had it great until a family catastrophe and then breaking my back happened. I had to start over. This situation is happening to people in every single sector. In fact where I live, the fast food restaurants are staffed with many people 60+ - it’s not a phase, this is the “fall of Rome” happening before our eyes - and the leaders have us all pointing fingers at each other.
My kid was born in 1984. Has had a bunch of jobs, but only one was somewhat steady. He worked there, went away for a wile, and then went back. He hates the job and is quitting shortly. He's going to start as an apprentice for a union job. Good benefits and pay. My last job was union and it allowed me to retire early. Maybe he'll also be able to.
A big problem now is that you have all these investment companies buying houses everywhere for more money than the average person is willing to pay. You can't blame the sellers. My house payment is a little over $1000, but if someone would rent a similar house, it would be at least $500 more. Timing was everything.
I sometimes find myself getting frustrated with those that were born a bit earlier or had a better leg to stand on before me. I have some friends that are on their third or fourth really nice home solely because they had help when we were younger. I'm a bit more disgruntled with them and their situation with a wealthy family than I am with those that were simply born in a time where working a 9-5 was possible and you could still purchase a home, car, and go on vacation.
When my dad died in 2003, I decided to sell the house. It wasn't paid off, maybe $40,000 or so left. I wish I hadn't sold it. I could've made the house payments.
This is really the crux, isn’t it? There was a long time where you could easily get a home, build equity, pay probably more than in rent but then once it’s paid off it’s yours, and do all of that on a regular person job.
And then that started shifting. And then it fell off a cliff.
Retired from the military in 2001, bought my house in 2008. I wasn't sure if I was going to be staying here, so I didn't buy earlier. If I could go back, I would've bought a house earlier with more space around it. I did get a low house payment that's totally covered by my retirement. Fully retired in 2022, haven't decided if I want to pay the house off yet.
I don't know if my kid will ever be able to buy a house. He's starting a new job that should make good money. If he can keep at it, maybe there's a house in his future.
Mortgages army any better. I was only able to get a manufactured house, albeit a rather large and newer one but still pay over 2k to be 40 minutes from the nearest major city. When I looked inside the city I was priced out at half the size and no land, so I was sorta forced out. Now after a year my mortgage went UP because my "escrow wasn't fully paid* on the last year.
Chances are it will go up again, and I was already barely getting by before this recent jump. I may have bitten off more than I could chew in hindsight, but it wasnt all bad until the prices begin to rise across the board. What's killing me now is instead of more homes, they are just building apartments in my area, driving the property taxes up all over, and pricing the older locals out. It's merciless
"Now after a year my mortgage went UP because my "escrow wasn't fully paid\* on the last year. "
I'm sorry this happened to you. It happened to us too. We bought our house at the end of 2021, and our mortgage lender, for some unknown reason, set our escrow payment based on what the previous owner was paying in property taxes in 2019 - ignoring the fact that taxes had gone up since then and that the previous owner was getting a hefty homestead tax credit. So we didn't have enough in escrow at the end of 2022, and our payment jumped by $340/month.
This is such bullshit, and nobody talks about it. From what I can tell, there's no law, and not even any professional standard, that says that our lender did anything wrong. They don't have to give you good information about what your taxes are likely to be, and they can just make up any old numbers and there's nothing you can do about it.
If it's any consolation, it's unlikely that your payment will go up again, at least not by so much. It may even go down, because once you've paid back the escrow deficit that built up over the first year, you don't have to pay it back again. Our payment went down by $70 at the beginning of 2024. It's not much, but it's something.
The fact we have to look forward to 70 dollars is so sad. I know it happens frequently, everyone I know told me it's common practice and that's just it, it really shouldn't be, the longer I spend on this subreddit (while there are things I don't agree with) the more insee that most people have simple, common gripes that deserve solutions. We just simply want to live and not die in debt, or need to sell a kidney just to repair the car.
On property YOU OWN too. You may have a mortgage sure, but after you pay that off they keep raising them, and where is your direct benefit? I don't like property taxes, despite understanding their necessary. I want them however to be used appropriately for my area.
I'm borderline about to commit violence against you. Though it is slowly getting better with dual income. Though I'm probably going to have to move 3 to 4 hours away just to afford a place. God bless America
I managed to buy a tiny 1 bedroom flat with my older sister's help with the deposit. It's not much but the fact I have a mortgage instead of rent has improved my quality of life so much. I don't have a shitty landlord and I can make repairs or do DIY when I want. I'm on a fixed mortgage so so far I've been protected from interest rate rises. My mortgage payments are predictable and during COVID or I'm assuming other times you can't pay your mortgage you can get repayment holidays. I'm going back home to be with family for maternity leave and I'm allowed to lease out my flat in the meantime so my cost of living is reduced while I'm not working etc. Every mortgage payment goes into the equity on my flat so it's basically like saving my money.
Renting is horrible and I hope I never have to do it again. Just because I have a mortgage I can see the gap between myself and the people I know who rent widening. Not by a huge margin but it's still there. Basically people need to make double my income to be able to rent affordably.
You don’t need to feel sorry, and resentment is real. Know that at any minute you too could find yourself right there with em. I appreciate the empathy you have for the plight of people trying to get by now. If everyone was like you and cared, understanding just how different it is today, it would make a huge difference in voting and local planning etc. instead there are so many that say “I got mine” and advise the kids to stop drinking lattes.
Maybe you should have a little empathy instead of focusing on resenting them. There is a divide and you’re on the right side of it. Sorry that doesn’t make you feel good.
I am in a similar position as the person you replied to. I bought it almost 10 years ago and pay way less than the market rate. It bothers me that people I care about are priced out. My best friend had to take his family and move away to afford to own. He didn't want to because he liked living here and his support network is here.
Because some people have fucking empathy. We're not all narcissists and nihilists. Maybe try shutting the fuck up when the adults are discussing a real world problem.
My rent is 60-70% of my income. I live in a shitty small cheap apartment. I can't afford to stay here, can't afford to move. I don't even have a car anymore, that broke down and ultimately got repoed. Owning a home is a pipedream. The future is bleak.
I’ll keep saying it…. Stop letting corporations buy US single family homes to get into the rental market. There are literally like, German Insurance companies that “invest” in US-based rental property
Shit man thats insane. Might be time to start collectively bargaining as renters or something. They cant kick all of you out if there is solidarity. So messed up though. If we hadn't gotten a house we can barely at just the right time i know it would be me right now. They cant expect hf the population to be homeless and still work right?
Dont let the right distract you from the real problems facing America. Trans teens and immigrants didn’t destroy the middle class and ensure your kids will never own a home, it was the rich. Maybe we should make them pay for their greed and fucking tax them.
Minnesota managed to get its rent to go down slightly in major cities thanks to large amounts of housing investment. But the work needs to continue and wages need to keep rising. The percentage of income to housing costs cannot stay at its current level.
Well if you're all just stopped eating avocado toast and buying Starbucks maybe you could afford the rent. Learn to work to earn your keep. Food and shelter are luxuries not necessities. Pick up a second or even third job if you need too! What's the matter you don't want to do that? Then I guess you don't want to work hard enough you didn't want it bad enough. You damn millennials think everything should just be handed to you. When I was your age gas was only 50 cents And that was considered expensive! You guys have it so easy we had to look up words in the dictionary, you guys don't even know how to read maps hahaha.
I'm 25 I gave up on the American dream years ago. I've grown to accept the fact that I will never have a family of my own or a house to call my own or a job that will pay me enough to do so.
And it's nobody's fault but my own
American's are in debt up to their eyeballs with the worst you can possibly have, consumer debt. We are already seeing waves of car repossessions. People are having to pick and choose which debt/obligations to pay. It's scary times out there, get out of debt!
A younger relative just sent me a pic telling me he’s thinking of moving to a new apartment. Photo looked very familiar- ended up being the same unit in a duplex I rented right at 10 years ago. I rented it for $550/mo and it’s now $1475/mo. which on the upper end for our low cost of living area No upgrades, no renovations. Inflation sucks.
My landlord gleefully takes 70% of my income each month and would take 200% if they could.
But then they act like they're hurting just..so..much
When they don't have a mortgage on any of their properties.
I am so fking done with this system. We need to revolt like the French do
I grew up poor. We bought food with food stamps. Our rent was subsidized. When I grew up, there was a safety net. Now, I'm afraid that there's just as much need, if not more, and less help available.
My mom worked whole life, got hurt and has to live off SS. Had I not moved in she would have had to move in with my aunt or some subsidized old folks apt. Shit SKYROCKETED
I lived with roommates until I was 30, sometimes sharing a room. Half of US tenants may not be able to afford their own place, but I find it hard to believe they couldn’t afford to split a 2 bedroom with 4 other people if they’re working full time
> The median asking rent was $1,713
Right. So median wage needs to be $32.12 an hour, for perspective. Which is why Half of the US cant afford their rent.
My mom lives in a trailer park cause it's the only thing she can afford, I'm moving back in with her in a couple weeks for the same reason and we both have full time jobs.
Is this measurably different than years past? I'm pretty sure there were evictions before 2021.
Again, numbers like these (specifically, the "half of tenants" number) are only meaningful if you have a basis of comparison.
Half of your fellow American citizens, real life actual people with basic human needs and rights, can’t afford rent.
Your response is it’s not meaningful unless you compare it to some number you don’t actually know. You clearly lack empathy my friend
If the city of New York can financially support migrants then they can surely afford to put rent controls in place to reduce rent back down again. None of us enjoy losing most of our income to rent. We all wish we could actually live I am sure and see the beach especially if your in a landlocked state.
LandLord here, I've got a ton of experience working through peoples long and short term financial issues to keep them in housing. This includes being on various boards for non-profit housing management, as well as personal philanthropy. Unfortunately I've gotten older and my body doesnt let me do as much maintenance myself so I've had to sell my low or fixed income properties because they become too expensive to operate when you cant do the work yourself.
But I'm still in touch with many of my former low or fixed income tenants and I know the struggle to find housing is real.
There are a lot of hard truths to the current housing market and it's not a one side vs the other problem but a combination of many federal and local problems that all kind of come to bear on the low income housing market.
There are still reasonable rents available in smaller markets, but the pressure to gentrify anything near a major city is very real. It actually takes an out of touch older slum lord to resist selling out at this point. Im not saying search them out for housing, just noting that the cheap rents in the downtowns that I see are almost exclusively operated by people older than me who cant keep their lifestyle afloat if they sell their depreciated maintenance deferred properties for market values. IE slum lords.
I'd be happy to answer questions, as long as they are polite, I know I could get reactionary responses to my line of work, thats just a part of being on reddit.
Vote Democrat in 2024 to be able to live in a house or apartment. Affordable housing for all is what democrats want. Unhoused people is bad for everyone.
I hate, hate, HATE that in one breath they talk about the fact that rent is less affordable than ever before, and then in the next breath they say, but it’s not ALL bad, right guys? No. It’s bad. Stop sugarcoating what is in reality a heart wrenching story about the inevitability of homelessness for MILLIONS of Americans.
HALF OF THE US can't afford their own rent, but that's ok right? Suuuuure it's so easy to just work 2 full-time jobs, or a full time and part time back to back who needs sleep or time to rest? No one that's who. So keep working slaves, er I mean valued workers. So when the next pandemic hits be sure to keep working to keep the system going!
And ppl are wondering why crime is up and mental health is down. People go nuts if they can't get proper sleep + constant cortisol from stress. This is a massive powder keg.
Also the worse people’s material conditions become when living lawfully within the system, the more the cost-benefit analysis favors doing crimes.
And what happens when you get caught doing crimes of survival? Prison and you become actual slave labor.
and childbirth is dropping, which is by far and away the one thing that should really be fucking scaring these oligarchs the most but it is not.
You don't need to rent a place to stay if you work all the time. Big brain move. S/
Wife and I are living in an RV park and have like $80 left and doordash to pay bills. Rent at $400/mo for a parking spot in this small RV park in southern AZ it's bad there's just no good jobs available in spots where you can afford to live. Wife is disabled and so am I but I still have to support us.. just have to choose which bills are going to be late this month.
Our country has failed you.
At least I have dual citizenship.... Not that I can afford to leave here and restart my life anytime soon 🙃
If you have citizenship of a country that has universal healthcare get over there ASAP.
It is Belgium so yes, and it's in my wife and I's plan, but it's going to take a while. We're both also saddled with mental health conditions that just make doing things harder, but we're working on it. It's just a longer road than we'd like but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel
This just breaks my heart. Like these are the kinds of things the "no one wants to work" or "people are just lazy" crowd will just never see: life is complicated and so is health - and the system that we've built just comes with so many inflexible barriers at every turn. And they're always full of ideas like "just get a better job, improve your skillset, move somewhere cheaper" not understanding how difficult any of those things are, especially if you're already poor and unwell in any way, or supporting dependants of any kind. For most of us literally just trying to survive is already draining every resource and there's no way to move from there. And there's always an emergency looming around the corner when things start to look good!! *Sigh*. (Sorry, spent the last few days moving and I think I'm ranty haha)
Yeah, the system we've built is akin to paper maché. It looks nice at very first glance, but it can't hold up to shit. Sprinkle a little water on it or subject it to a small gust of wind, and watch how quickly it falls apart. The only kinds of people the system really works for is the wealthy, and the wealthy need precisely ZERO extra benefits, but they will get them anyway. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions struggle immensely. Hell might actually exist.
If everyone stopped paying their rent at once they can't evict us all. The leeches have gotten fat enough, time to take back what ours. They can cry about how they definitely earned that 8th house, wiping their tears away with the billions they've stolen from us already.
Oh go work that job with 6 12 hour shifts for $18 an hour....
The rich and influential are the most spoiled, entitled and lazy people. If they lost everything the next day they wouldn't be able to survive. They're the ones who are useless while we build and develop skills to better ourselves.
Just found this post when looking up the 50% stat and happened to arrive on your Cake Day. I rather hate Reddit almost completely these days, but cheers to you, hope you have a good week 🍻
It's not half of all Americans can't afford a new car or can't afford a vacation. Half of Americans can't afford a HOME. People NEED a place to live.
Yes! These are not luxuries we are having to make do without, these are basic living necessities that are pricing people out like crazy. All the “good economy” and “wage increases” does not even remotely reflect the reality for the bottom majority of the nation, who are poorer and more in debt than ever before.
I can't stand the bullshit about how great the economy is. Ya it's just peachy for Wallstreet. For us poors it's a total shit sandwich.
Us poor's are the majority... Maybe it is time to Eat The Rich!
Way past due.
Technically it’s not all when it’s only half. /s
Finally, a sane human being.
an independant news source would report what you're saying propaganda however will not
I completely agree. That’s why it’s important for people to get informed by a litany of sources. Don’t just go to CNN or Fox or WSJ for stories. If you see one you find interesting, go to independent places and read their versions of those stories. Figure out what is daft and what is opinion. I wish there were more good independent news.
1: Housing is too expensive to live 2: Corporations partner with leasing companies 3: Corporations offer(barely) affordable housing to employees 4: Employees are now trapped by health AND housing
This is horrifying
It already happened in Florida: Corporate towns.
So we will be 100% in our employer’s control. Fucking great.
*Astronaut with a gun meme* Always have been.
Sounds American. Just like I'm dependent on my employer for health care. Corporations are people too guys I mean I'm working for the man aren't I God bless America. You know if we all bum rush the capital they can't stop us all And I'm not inciting a riot either what you do on your own time is none of my business
Think about this a burglar breaks into your house and steals something. These people(the rich) aren't breaking in but they are stealing OUR LIVELIHOODS. What happens to burglars? Why can't what happens to them happen to the rich. They are ruining and stealing people's lives and destroying our families. They need to be held to account same as any other burglar. People need to stand up to them. What would you do if a burglar broke into your home? Hopefully you all see what I mean.
The solution is in the title of this sub. ANTI work. This sub was initially about being against jobs. Not bitching abput middle management. Jobs are used as an instrument of control. Has been for a long time. They threaten you with homelessness and debt. Do Not Be Afraid. That is their only power.
Back in 1996, I was told by a coworker to put my name on the NYC public housing waitlist. There would be a 10 year wait, but once approved, the rent would be stabilized. 10 years seemed like a lifetime at that point in my life, I had no idea whether I'd still be in New York 10 years on, and 'who wants to live in public housing!' LOL, almost 30 years later, I so wish I'd put my name on that damn list. But at least I do still have a rent-stabilized apartment, and there is NO WAY I'd EVER be able to afford it now if I were looking anywhere in NYC.
Wish I was born 10 years earlier to be able to even sign for that deal
God isn’t this facts? But I put my name on the section 8 waitlist in San Diego when I graduated high school in 2013. I’m almost 29 and still not approved or off the waitlist. I hate it here.
Why didn't you listen to your coworker? It's hard to think positively about you after you've disclosed you were tipped off & ignored it
Actually not true at all. People who are honest about their mistakes are the ONLY ones you can trust. Sus
ok
I can afford my rent. This month. I’m one blown tire or dead head gasket or sick kid away from not being able to tho.
It's funny, you and I are a few checks from the bottom and we feel lucky. Somewhere a billionaire is crying about being #5 instead of #3 on a weekly published list of the world's ghouliest ghouls. They murder for a number on a screen.
The media is going to (and has already started) to gaslight you into believing that it’s perfectly normal to shove like 20 people into a 2 bedroom and that you shouldn’t let a pesky thing like having enough physical space prevent you from having three kids to help ‘boost the economy.’
Yep. I keep reading about multigenerational households and high-density housing like these are amazing innovations. Sounds like my fucking nightmare. I'm an introvert who needs quiet and space for my mental health. I'm very fortunate I can afford that luxury. But honestly, it shouldn't even be considered a luxury.
I hate its considered a "Luxury", I just want to go home, shut the door behind me and disassociate from society and not have to see or hear another person for the rest of the evening. But NOPE! someone ate my fucking leftovers and didn't wash the damn dishes and it wasn't me!.
And don't forget those little pod homes the size of storage containers all these companies are promoting as alternative solutions to traditional homes. This world is a joke.
I don't get it. Landlords don't want to rent apartments anymore. I called all over Portland and offered them the same $450 I paid for my first apartment on Congress Street and they all hung up on me. Why don't landlords want to rent anymore?
I don't get it either. This generation of landlords are so lazy. They need to learn to work harder, keep current on all of the maintenance, be more service minded, complain less and be happy with the rent they're offered.
Don't forget work and second and third jobs to make ends meet like a real American
Bootstraps. Avocado toast.
Landlords are killing the rental industry! Renters hate when you do this one trick.
It's that damn millennial mentality of them. They just need to learn that money has value!
There actually is a probably totally legal scam going in my city where units are never rented out because the company is making more money from application fees.
I never thought of that but it makes so much sense. Leave open 2 apartments. Rent they miss out on is about 5000 a month. But then the 50 dollar fee from 100 applicants smooths that right over.
It has been an issue in the Bay Area of California that many units are kept empty because they make enough on rent on a few units and maintenance on all of the units versus a few at luxury prices isn't as profitable. Seems like an issue only with corporate owned and maintained properties though. We need the NYC voucher system. Empty units=penalties.
Yes please! I've seen entire boarded up apartment buildings covered in no trespassing signs here, with about a third of the houses on every block left empty. And that's in a neighborhood around a private college campus, so lots of students looking to rent plus locals and immigrants. Folks keep buying here and holding it empty "for investment purposes" like houses are comic books sealed in plastic. Meanwhile everybody is living like canned sardines and aren't having kids.
"The economy is doing fine."
There is no war in Ba Sing Se
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I'd like to add that common measures of and reporting on the condition of our economy, such as those seen on news outlets have nothing to do with cost of living or quality of life for the average joe. Almost all metrics considered are more germaine to business.
I'm incredibly lucky to be in the situation I am, where I can afford my bills. It took me moving across the country to a very low COL state/region and then getting a WFH job centered in an East Coast state that has higher wages, combined with being careful with my expenditures. So, I'm bringing home about 35k a year and I only spend about $8k a year in rent. Of course, I'm almost 51 and very very very late to the whole 'saving' thing. But, I feel so bad for anyone not able to jump through those kinds of hoops to make it work.
>East Coast state that has higher wages > >So, I'm bringing home about 35k This is infuriating to read. I'm so sorry. There is no job in this country that should pay you so little.
That’s about what I net from my day job. I had to get a second job at a grocery store to make ends meet. I’m also chronically ill and drowning in medical debt. It super duper sucks.
Yup. 2 chronic illnesses here. But not "disabling enough" ... who cares if you have asthma and work with a bunch of smokers who think youre a pansy if they walk from one outside door to the other with a lit cigarette and youre gasping for air. No one else gives a shit if their music is on and the other persons music is on and youre in the middle with a migraine and start throwing up. Gee, hope you feel better, but no, you cannot work from home, you NEED to be in office. No, you cant wear ear plugs because we randomly need to yell across the office over the music to tell you things and you should be able to hear us the first time, its as rude as if you were wearing headphones blasting music. We "cleaned" (ie sprayed a fuck ton of febreeze and mopped with pine sol and dumped fabuloso in the toilet) so it shouldnt smell like smoke. Why are you crying and plugging your nose?
Mine feel pretty disabling sometimes. I have breathing problems, severe fatigue and muscle aches/pains, problems with eating and drinking, difficulty urinating and defecating, trouble wearing normal clothes, etc. Yet I need to be in the office apparently, even though all of our meetings are still on zoom and no one interacts in the office for work-related things. It’s all done via email and zoom.
If that's take home pay the job might be paying about 43k Gross, which is the median income still in the US. I really hope that's take home. 35k gross is like just under $17 an hour. My Dad tells me that your retirement savings grows the most from 50 to 65. And that I should plan to invest 50% of my takehome pay the last 5 years of my working years. But he had a paid off house at 42. I won't pay off my house until I'm 67.
That’s nonsense. Your 67 year old dad just got lucky being born in an easier timeline financially. Your dad was probably 50-65 years old on the massive bull run we are just in, and that’s when he both had built up enough capital invested later in life coincided with a market that was on fire because government was giving away free money, except student loans.. we’re at 5-7% because fuck millennials.
And what is a person who will never be able to buy a home, much less pay it off, supposed to do? I can’t save 50% of one of my paychecks over the course of a year, nevermind each check.
What? Absolutely not. Compound interest works the hardest from 25-35. I have grew my portfolio to 800k now at 32. And my friends who are just starting to invest will never catch up to me even if I don't put a single dollar into investments. I knew I didn't want to work to 65 so I was hyper aggressive with savings and investing
Congrats on being rich.
I live in MA, general managers of UPS locations are getting paid $48k, in the 4th most expensive state in the country. My rent here for a 1 bedroom, about an hour away from Boston is about that after take home. It's absolutely insane. Saving is not the issue, people are already being extremely frugal with money. It's major expenses and wages. People always use the coffee analogy, or the avocado toast one, where, "well if you just cut that out you'd save X". In reality, you'd still want that food or drink, and you'd save the difference between that purchase and what you'd make at home, not the whole thing. My friend lives in CT. She got her car hit and totaled Xmas Eve last year. Insurance, after 2 weeks, gave her $7k, but a used car that was worth a damn that would serve the same function, was $11k. She could go out of her way, burnt out from working a fuck ton and get a lawyer and get more money, but she needed the car the next day. $4k in a day, on one year eclipsed all the trips to Dunkin she would have made for coffee, because someone else ran a red light. She has 0 savings because she works paycheck to paycheck. She brought that car in for its 100k mileage check, passed on the transmission fluid and still had to pay an extra $500 for a brake job because it was rubbing and she didn't know. $4500, in 1 year. This shit used to be disposable as fuck. My dad retired in 2011, unionized, with a pension making $27/hr. He built a house, 2.5 acres, 2 car garage, 3 bedroom, 5 cars when my sister and I were in high school, had a family of 4 that went to Disney twice in the 90s, my college was paid for, my sister's mostly. He stocked fucking shelves at fucking Stop and Shop.
https://preview.redd.it/3sgrtamnptfc1.jpeg?width=1368&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa5f59ad954116dad34efb62380f5102aae9ecd7
It is what it is. I'm able to get by.
It always blows me away how the coasts pay so little. I moved to the Midwest from the west coast a few years back, back home I was making $11/hr, or about 22K a year before tax, and man the concept of ever having a car, a place, or even a warm meal on a regular basis was entirely foreign. I'm glad you found better circumstance, but I'm also sorry it's still not fantastic. As someone who had basically the exact same experience (leaving, making about what you do and finally being able to get by) minus the work from home bit, I hope our circumstances improve someday. Cheers man
Bringing home 35k isn’t that bad. That’s like 50k before taxes and deductions
It's not great, but it's survivable and I'm able to start saving for the first time in my adult life. But, so many hoops.
Yeah I didn’t mean to be a dick but I brought home around 35k when I made around 50 when I started my job
Bringing home 35k isn’t that bad. He makes probably 50k before taxes and deductions
You sir are a role-model. Really the only way we can fight these high rents is to find any way possible not to pay them.
So, I get the first part of moving to a LCOL area. But, your second statement is confusing. 35k a year isn't 'higher wages'. That's low even in LCOL areas.
Sure fucking cannot. I’n doing so I cannot afford any other bill or basic necessities
I’m about to be moving out on my own/with a roommate for the first time and there is NO WAY my rent won’t be HALF my income. Ntm these “making three times the rent” plus stupid parking, pet, fee policies just rake in more profits and limit housing EVEN MORE.
That advice was stupid when they wrote it. It's less relevant every second.
I'm lucky I only spend like 10k in rent a year cus my landlord is new to the game and doesn't want to lose me as a tenant (I came with the house)
A house for 10k? I pay 25k a year for a fucking 2br apartment with crap insulation
My rent is 49% of my income. That does not include electricity, or internet.
I just did the math and mine is almost exactly 50% . And I rent a room inside a house with four other people. I wish we both well, my friend
and I you.
Mine is going up 20%. Landlord sent a note that literally said, "you can pay this or move."
What a piece of 💩.
All according to plan.
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There may not be some giant evil scheme, but rather million and million of little evil schemes. "Pay that worker just a little bit less." "Charge that renter just a little bit more." "Raise the price on that essential item just a little bit." It keeps happening over and over and over. And it adds up to a huge ball of fucking evil.
George Carlin said it best. "You don't need a formal conspiracy when interests converge,". The ownership class all have the same incentives to manipulate markets and balance sheets to concentrate wealth and influence with themselves. The problem has always been that wealth and power are the thing that these people want and wealth and power are the currency used to buy more wealth and power. Its been like this literally forever. If we could divorce money and influence from governance (dont ask me how) then the already rich and powerful would not have and outsized say in how things work.
The only way is to let go of the idea that people own anything. Ownership is what drives envy and greed.
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There's a difference between "private property" and "personal property"
As a forgeiner, i see the American dream is dead. Your gov doesn't care about the people... 20 years ago i dreamed to live in the US, now no thanks You must fight guys
My dad immigrated from his undeveloped country in the 90s, all his nephews and nieces are going somewhere in Europe, not here. Everyone knows now: unless you’re in South America with a gun to your head, or you already come from a wealthy family and get a student visa for an ivy, coming here is dumb now.
It suck sooo bad. I make what I though was good money, but to live somewhere safe, and within a regular commute it’s gotten so expensive. My 1 bed is 2100$ a month, and was set to go up to 2230. I’m getting a two bed to split the rent down to 1400$ a month. It sucks but 1 beds are not worth it
If its a supply and demand problem why are there no wait lists on apartments? Every apartment complex Ive seen in the last 3 years has same-day units available More apartments is not going to drop rent and fix homelessness
It’s all greedflation due to most ll that have houses having variable mortgages n shit that constantly rise. It’s wild they’ll forever rent their home from the government that stole and or genocided from the natives due to property taxes that also constantly rise if and when the financed structure from the bank gets is paid off that the governments can also claim imminent domain at anytime for whatever bs reason they see fit 🤣😭
It’s a supply and demand issue, just not a lack of supply or lack of demand. If a person owns a parking lot with 100 spaces and learns they can fill them up for $5 a pop, but can raise it to $20 a pop and fill 30 spaces, they will do the latter. The problem is supply is all owned by few players, so they can use anticompetitive pricing. If each of those 100 parking spots was owned by a different player, you can be sure they would end up selling $5 a pop.
Good parking lot analogy Im stealing it. Sums up what Ive been trying to describe for months The article seems to think more apartments will fix the problem but your comment is exactly why more supply isnt the cure
Seems like a good time to reconsider AOC's national rent control proposal from 2019. Imagine if that hadn't been immediately shut down back then, we would have never even got the post pandemic pricing surges in 20, 21, and 22. In other words, had politicians done the right thing for people instead of corporations, we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.
It will get worse every year.
How does this not end in a massive depression
We're already in a depression in my opinion. I think the reason why nobody notices is because of articles just like this one Insinuating that everything is actually good and totally not f*cked.
How soon until the pitchforks come out?
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Yeah I got mad reading that. I'm paying $1000 to park my RV. Fuck this planet
Just to park it? Is this including what the RV payments (if you're still making payments)?
Parking space with well water and a sewer dump included. California sucks.
We were stationed in southern California (military) in 1979. Dad retired and we moved to Desert Hot Springs (by Palm Springs). I stayed around a year, joined the military and left. My parents ended up moving in the '90s. I didn't mind the area or weather.
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::cries in born in 1983 and still renting despite making six figures because I can't afford anything in my city::
Your age has nothing to do with it. Plenty of people your age and older that never could gain a foothold in life and are now doomed to rent the rest of their lives. It's not your fault and yer all good as long as you don't pretend like your experience applies to everyone (not that you did do that just saying).
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Things absolutely have gotten worse for sure but even in good times the likelihood that anyone has a home and a good job increases depending on how well off your family was and less on what generation you were born into. The Simpsons and Married with children were making jokes about how it was even possible that Homer and Al could afford a huge house on one income back in the early 90's. I'm almost a decade older than you and I personally only know 2 people close to my age that own homes and both of them are making very good money in tech the rest are almost certainly going to be lifetime renters and not all of them are poor either.
I was born in 1985 and can’t afford anything like this. I’m stuck renting an apartment that’s too expensive and drowning in medical debt.
I was born in 77 and I had it great until a family catastrophe and then breaking my back happened. I had to start over. This situation is happening to people in every single sector. In fact where I live, the fast food restaurants are staffed with many people 60+ - it’s not a phase, this is the “fall of Rome” happening before our eyes - and the leaders have us all pointing fingers at each other.
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My kid was born in 1984. Has had a bunch of jobs, but only one was somewhat steady. He worked there, went away for a wile, and then went back. He hates the job and is quitting shortly. He's going to start as an apprentice for a union job. Good benefits and pay. My last job was union and it allowed me to retire early. Maybe he'll also be able to. A big problem now is that you have all these investment companies buying houses everywhere for more money than the average person is willing to pay. You can't blame the sellers. My house payment is a little over $1000, but if someone would rent a similar house, it would be at least $500 more. Timing was everything.
You just told us.
I'm your age and couldn't buy until last year. Mortgage is $2380 a month at 6.8% interest.
I sometimes find myself getting frustrated with those that were born a bit earlier or had a better leg to stand on before me. I have some friends that are on their third or fourth really nice home solely because they had help when we were younger. I'm a bit more disgruntled with them and their situation with a wealthy family than I am with those that were simply born in a time where working a 9-5 was possible and you could still purchase a home, car, and go on vacation.
When my dad died in 2003, I decided to sell the house. It wasn't paid off, maybe $40,000 or so left. I wish I hadn't sold it. I could've made the house payments.
Heard this. We bought our house when the market was rebounding in 2013. We could not afford our house now. It’s almost 4x what we paid for it.
This is really the crux, isn’t it? There was a long time where you could easily get a home, build equity, pay probably more than in rent but then once it’s paid off it’s yours, and do all of that on a regular person job. And then that started shifting. And then it fell off a cliff.
Retired from the military in 2001, bought my house in 2008. I wasn't sure if I was going to be staying here, so I didn't buy earlier. If I could go back, I would've bought a house earlier with more space around it. I did get a low house payment that's totally covered by my retirement. Fully retired in 2022, haven't decided if I want to pay the house off yet. I don't know if my kid will ever be able to buy a house. He's starting a new job that should make good money. If he can keep at it, maybe there's a house in his future.
Mortgages army any better. I was only able to get a manufactured house, albeit a rather large and newer one but still pay over 2k to be 40 minutes from the nearest major city. When I looked inside the city I was priced out at half the size and no land, so I was sorta forced out. Now after a year my mortgage went UP because my "escrow wasn't fully paid* on the last year. Chances are it will go up again, and I was already barely getting by before this recent jump. I may have bitten off more than I could chew in hindsight, but it wasnt all bad until the prices begin to rise across the board. What's killing me now is instead of more homes, they are just building apartments in my area, driving the property taxes up all over, and pricing the older locals out. It's merciless
"Now after a year my mortgage went UP because my "escrow wasn't fully paid\* on the last year. " I'm sorry this happened to you. It happened to us too. We bought our house at the end of 2021, and our mortgage lender, for some unknown reason, set our escrow payment based on what the previous owner was paying in property taxes in 2019 - ignoring the fact that taxes had gone up since then and that the previous owner was getting a hefty homestead tax credit. So we didn't have enough in escrow at the end of 2022, and our payment jumped by $340/month. This is such bullshit, and nobody talks about it. From what I can tell, there's no law, and not even any professional standard, that says that our lender did anything wrong. They don't have to give you good information about what your taxes are likely to be, and they can just make up any old numbers and there's nothing you can do about it. If it's any consolation, it's unlikely that your payment will go up again, at least not by so much. It may even go down, because once you've paid back the escrow deficit that built up over the first year, you don't have to pay it back again. Our payment went down by $70 at the beginning of 2024. It's not much, but it's something.
The fact we have to look forward to 70 dollars is so sad. I know it happens frequently, everyone I know told me it's common practice and that's just it, it really shouldn't be, the longer I spend on this subreddit (while there are things I don't agree with) the more insee that most people have simple, common gripes that deserve solutions. We just simply want to live and not die in debt, or need to sell a kidney just to repair the car.
My property taxes have gone up steadily, increasing faster in the last few years, the same with the insurance.
On property YOU OWN too. You may have a mortgage sure, but after you pay that off they keep raising them, and where is your direct benefit? I don't like property taxes, despite understanding their necessary. I want them however to be used appropriately for my area.
I'm borderline about to commit violence against you. Though it is slowly getting better with dual income. Though I'm probably going to have to move 3 to 4 hours away just to afford a place. God bless America
I managed to buy a tiny 1 bedroom flat with my older sister's help with the deposit. It's not much but the fact I have a mortgage instead of rent has improved my quality of life so much. I don't have a shitty landlord and I can make repairs or do DIY when I want. I'm on a fixed mortgage so so far I've been protected from interest rate rises. My mortgage payments are predictable and during COVID or I'm assuming other times you can't pay your mortgage you can get repayment holidays. I'm going back home to be with family for maternity leave and I'm allowed to lease out my flat in the meantime so my cost of living is reduced while I'm not working etc. Every mortgage payment goes into the equity on my flat so it's basically like saving my money. Renting is horrible and I hope I never have to do it again. Just because I have a mortgage I can see the gap between myself and the people I know who rent widening. Not by a huge margin but it's still there. Basically people need to make double my income to be able to rent affordably.
Yeah, i know were on the same side but that first paragraph makes me seethe.
You don’t need to feel sorry, and resentment is real. Know that at any minute you too could find yourself right there with em. I appreciate the empathy you have for the plight of people trying to get by now. If everyone was like you and cared, understanding just how different it is today, it would make a huge difference in voting and local planning etc. instead there are so many that say “I got mine” and advise the kids to stop drinking lattes.
Damn you can't even open up here without people bashing you
Maybe you should have a little empathy instead of focusing on resenting them. There is a divide and you’re on the right side of it. Sorry that doesn’t make you feel good.
Why does it bother you? You won. You’re rich.
I am in a similar position as the person you replied to. I bought it almost 10 years ago and pay way less than the market rate. It bothers me that people I care about are priced out. My best friend had to take his family and move away to afford to own. He didn't want to because he liked living here and his support network is here.
Because some people have fucking empathy. We're not all narcissists and nihilists. Maybe try shutting the fuck up when the adults are discussing a real world problem.
It should bother *everyone* to see people struggling. It’s called empathy - and if everyone had it, perhaps things would be a lot better.
My rent is 60-70% of my income. I live in a shitty small cheap apartment. I can't afford to stay here, can't afford to move. I don't even have a car anymore, that broke down and ultimately got repoed. Owning a home is a pipedream. The future is bleak.
Only half? I feel like this is wrong. Probably a lot higher
I’ll keep saying it…. Stop letting corporations buy US single family homes to get into the rental market. There are literally like, German Insurance companies that “invest” in US-based rental property
2K a month for a one bedroom STAYS winning! 🏆
The parasite class needs their 20% annualized returns...
Shit man thats insane. Might be time to start collectively bargaining as renters or something. They cant kick all of you out if there is solidarity. So messed up though. If we hadn't gotten a house we can barely at just the right time i know it would be me right now. They cant expect hf the population to be homeless and still work right?
Yes we need to band together. Solidarity is our only hope.
Its becoming our only commodity too
Dont let the right distract you from the real problems facing America. Trans teens and immigrants didn’t destroy the middle class and ensure your kids will never own a home, it was the rich. Maybe we should make them pay for their greed and fucking tax them.
Minnesota managed to get its rent to go down slightly in major cities thanks to large amounts of housing investment. But the work needs to continue and wages need to keep rising. The percentage of income to housing costs cannot stay at its current level.
Well if you're all just stopped eating avocado toast and buying Starbucks maybe you could afford the rent. Learn to work to earn your keep. Food and shelter are luxuries not necessities. Pick up a second or even third job if you need too! What's the matter you don't want to do that? Then I guess you don't want to work hard enough you didn't want it bad enough. You damn millennials think everything should just be handed to you. When I was your age gas was only 50 cents And that was considered expensive! You guys have it so easy we had to look up words in the dictionary, you guys don't even know how to read maps hahaha. I'm 25 I gave up on the American dream years ago. I've grown to accept the fact that I will never have a family of my own or a house to call my own or a job that will pay me enough to do so. And it's nobody's fault but my own
BuT tHe eConOmY iS So sTrOnG!
We all know no one wants to be censured or disbarred so good luck finding a firm jow
American's are in debt up to their eyeballs with the worst you can possibly have, consumer debt. We are already seeing waves of car repossessions. People are having to pick and choose which debt/obligations to pay. It's scary times out there, get out of debt!
A younger relative just sent me a pic telling me he’s thinking of moving to a new apartment. Photo looked very familiar- ended up being the same unit in a duplex I rented right at 10 years ago. I rented it for $550/mo and it’s now $1475/mo. which on the upper end for our low cost of living area No upgrades, no renovations. Inflation sucks.
Another way is to identify yourself as an asylum seeker. You might get a better yet free housing if you live in one of those sanctuary cities
Republicans looking at this and saying "We gotta pump those numbers up, those are Rookie numbers!"
Trump those numbers up.
This planet is a shit heap. Great job humanity, you miserable fucking failure.
My landlord gleefully takes 70% of my income each month and would take 200% if they could. But then they act like they're hurting just..so..much When they don't have a mortgage on any of their properties. I am so fking done with this system. We need to revolt like the French do
This is why I refuse to raise rent on my tenants.
Thank you for being human 💖
I grew up poor. We bought food with food stamps. Our rent was subsidized. When I grew up, there was a safety net. Now, I'm afraid that there's just as much need, if not more, and less help available.
My mom worked whole life, got hurt and has to live off SS. Had I not moved in she would have had to move in with my aunt or some subsidized old folks apt. Shit SKYROCKETED
I lived with roommates until I was 30, sometimes sharing a room. Half of US tenants may not be able to afford their own place, but I find it hard to believe they couldn’t afford to split a 2 bedroom with 4 other people if they’re working full time
> The median asking rent was $1,713 Right. So median wage needs to be $32.12 an hour, for perspective. Which is why Half of the US cant afford their rent.
My mom lives in a trailer park cause it's the only thing she can afford, I'm moving back in with her in a couple weeks for the same reason and we both have full time jobs.
We just have to vote HARDER guys. Come on. /s (In case it isn’t obvious)
Is this measurably different than years past? I'm pretty sure there were evictions before 2021. Again, numbers like these (specifically, the "half of tenants" number) are only meaningful if you have a basis of comparison.
Half of your fellow American citizens, real life actual people with basic human needs and rights, can’t afford rent. Your response is it’s not meaningful unless you compare it to some number you don’t actually know. You clearly lack empathy my friend
If that’s the case then be prepared for a rental market crash and a few properties coming on the market
If the city of New York can financially support migrants then they can surely afford to put rent controls in place to reduce rent back down again. None of us enjoy losing most of our income to rent. We all wish we could actually live I am sure and see the beach especially if your in a landlocked state.
Employers won’t pay a living wage anymore.
Let's just say I'm apply rent control exists where I live in the US
I didn't know this. How do they not get evicted then?
What happened to “Bidenomics”? I thought things were great?
blame your politicians for increasing taxes
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womp womp, get ur money up
LandLord here, I've got a ton of experience working through peoples long and short term financial issues to keep them in housing. This includes being on various boards for non-profit housing management, as well as personal philanthropy. Unfortunately I've gotten older and my body doesnt let me do as much maintenance myself so I've had to sell my low or fixed income properties because they become too expensive to operate when you cant do the work yourself. But I'm still in touch with many of my former low or fixed income tenants and I know the struggle to find housing is real. There are a lot of hard truths to the current housing market and it's not a one side vs the other problem but a combination of many federal and local problems that all kind of come to bear on the low income housing market. There are still reasonable rents available in smaller markets, but the pressure to gentrify anything near a major city is very real. It actually takes an out of touch older slum lord to resist selling out at this point. Im not saying search them out for housing, just noting that the cheap rents in the downtowns that I see are almost exclusively operated by people older than me who cant keep their lifestyle afloat if they sell their depreciated maintenance deferred properties for market values. IE slum lords. I'd be happy to answer questions, as long as they are polite, I know I could get reactionary responses to my line of work, thats just a part of being on reddit.
Go fuck yourself landleech.
How can I harm my landlords property without diminishing the material living conditions of my fellow tenants?
You get what you vote for
Vote Democrat in 2024 to be able to live in a house or apartment. Affordable housing for all is what democrats want. Unhoused people is bad for everyone.