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Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(108,010 posts) Tue Apr 15, 2014, 08:53 PM Apr 2014

In Many Cities, Rent Is Rising Out of Reach of Middle Class

MIAMI — For rent and utilities to be considered affordable, they are supposed to take up no more than 30 percent of a household’s income. But that goal is increasingly unattainable for middle-income families as a tightening market pushes up rents ever faster, outrunning modest rises in pay.

The strain is not limited to the usual high-cost cities like New York and San Francisco. An analysis for The New York Times by Zillow, the real estate website, found 90 cities where the median rent — not including utilities — was more than 30 percent of the median gross income.

In Chicago, rent as a percentage of income has risen to 31 percent, from a historical average of 21 percent. In New Orleans, it has more than doubled, to 35 percent from 14 percent. Zillow calculated the historical average using data from 1985 to 2000.

Nationally, half of all renters are now spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, according to a comprehensive Harvard study, up from 38 percent of renters in 2000. In December, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan declared “the worst rental affordability crisis that this country has ever known.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/business/more-renters-find-30-affordability-ratio-unattainable.html?_r=0

Shit, when I was younger the guideline was housing should cost no more than one week's pay.

4 replies

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In Many Cities, Rent Is Rising Out of Reach of Middle Class (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Apr 2014 OP

"The rent is too damn high." There was a candidate who tried to get the message out. kelliekat44 Apr 2014 #1

Meaning we are losing our middle class. First it was owning a home, now it is renting. Rex Apr 2014 #2

The 1% CANNOT be satiated. EVER. blkmusclmachine Apr 2014 #3

I watched a Law & Order rerun from the 1990s last night Ruby the Liberal Apr 2014 #4

kelliekat44

(7,759 posts)

1. "The rent is too damn high." There was a candidate who tried to get the message out.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Apr 15, 2014, 09:00 PM

Apr 2014

Vulture landlords...unearned profits soaring, tenants suffering and no end in sight.

But high rents hurt not just people but small businesses also so working people get hit twice. Many Small business can't hire or pay decent wages because high rents eat into their profits. It is a vicious circle as is much of the capitalist system. There just ought to be profit/and or price controls on selected aspects of our economic system: windfall profit taxes on energy companies; rent controls for low wage earners just to name a couple.

Rex

(65,616 posts)

2. Meaning we are losing our middle class. First it was owning a home, now it is renting.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Apr 15, 2014, 09:02 PM

Apr 2014

The Kockroaches are working hard into the night to take every last penny they can from the working class.

blkmusclmachine

(16,149 posts)

3. The 1% CANNOT be satiated. EVER.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Apr 15, 2014, 09:05 PM

Apr 2014

Senator Moneybags~>

Ruby the Liberal

(26,219 posts)

4. I watched a Law & Order rerun from the 1990s last night

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Apr 15, 2014, 09:07 PM

Apr 2014

Don't know what was more shocking - the police running to payphones every few scenes or the fact that a mid-town crime suspect's landlord mentioned that they were on rent control for a 2 bedroom for $225 a month.

Talk about a blast from the past. Wages have stagnated, but rental prices have skyrocketed since then.

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