The Housing Affordability Crisis
The news media tells us about all sorts of important stuff, like Russiagate and rich kids cheating into college, but not as much attention is given to far less important things, like how will the working class keep a roof over their heads?
Even with rising wages and falling mortgage rates, Americans can't afford a home in more than 70 percent of the country. Out of 473 U.S. counties analyzed in a report, 335 listed median home prices more than what average wage earners could afford, according to a report from ATTOM Data Solutions. Among them are the counties that include Los Angeles and San Diego in California, as well as Miami-Dade County in Florida and Maricopa County in Arizona.New York City claimed the largest share of a person's income to purchase a home, according to the report. While average earners nationwide need to spend only about one-third of their income on a home, residents in Brooklyn and Manhattan must shell out more than 115 percent of their income. In San Francisco, residents must spend 103 percent, and in Hawaii's Maui County, it takes 101 percent.
..."Affordability may improve because of the simple fact that homes are out of reach for so many home seekers," Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM Data Solutions, said in a statement.
That's putting lipstick on a pig.
70% means virtually every place where there are available jobs.
Not surprising, home prices are being reflected in rent prices.
The vast majority of the public — a full 85% — believe that ensuring everyone has a safe, decent, affordable place to live should be a “top national priority,” according to a recent national poll commissioned by the Opportunity Starts at Home campaign. This view is strong across the political spectrum — from 95% of Democrats to 87% of independents and 73% of Republicans. Eight in ten people also say that both the President and Congress should “take major action” to make housing more affordable for low-income households.Those aren’t the only eye-opening figures. The poll showed 60% say housing affordability is a serious problem where they live, which is up an astounding 21 points since 2016 — and that includes majorities in cities, suburbs, and rural areas. And 61% of people reported having to make at least one sacrifice in the past three years because they were struggling with housing costs, such as cutting back on learning activities for their child, nutritious food, or health care.
Those people aren’t imagining things: The affordability crisis has indeed reached historic heights, and the data is shocking. Since 1960, renters’ incomes have increased by only 5% while rents have risen 61%. Out of over 3,000 counties in the nation, there are only 22 where a full-time worker earning minimum wage can afford a modest one-bedroom rental, and there are no counties where they can afford a modest two-bedroom. Nationally, there are only 37 available and affordable homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. When it comes to being able to pay your rent in America, hard work simply isn’t enough anymore.
I wonder why capitalism doesn't solve this problem?
Oh wait. It's because capitalism doesn't see this as a problem.
In addition, approximately 3.5 million people in the U.S. are homeless, many of them veterans. It is worth noting that, at the same time, there are 18.5 million vacant homes in the country.”
Comments
It's disgraceful.
Ask a Libertarian to explain that
The say it's all supply and demand. However, their simple ECON 101 says that when supply exceeds demand, prices should fall until enough buyers can afford to buy up existing supply.
I was shocked to find that the house I grew up in, a modest bungalow in a working class neighbor hood, built in 1929 for certainly under $3,000, purchased by my father in 1948 for $6,000 and sold by my father in 1974 for $27,700, sold this month on March 8 for $239,000. And the ratty 1950 two bedroom, no basement 700 square foot house on 4,000 square feet in Chicago that my sister-in-law owned until she died this January is appraised by the Cook County Assessor at $297,000. This is crazy. I already knew that all the new housing developments in the suburbs start over $300,000. A week or so ago I looked at a model home in Addison Illinois (still in Cook County). It was a nice little two bedroom two story with a loft. Starts at $323,000
EDIT:
For context I've adjusted those prices on my father's house by CPI-U
All dollars adjusted to February 2019
2019: $239,000 CPI 252.776
1974: $148,345 CPI 45.72
1948: $ 64,538 CPI 23.5
1929: $ 46,602 CPI 17.8
I think if you graph this it will be shocking. my father did make improvements. The house was originally coal heated (my Dad shoveled the coal and I hauled away the ashes). He sold it gas heated with A/C. My father added fiberglass insulation, enclosed both porches, finished the attic added a second bathroom and three bedrooms. The original master bedroom had a wall knocked out and added to the parlor and the enclosed front porch, it became a decent living room. One of my uncles was a cabinet maker (does that craft still exist?) and built custom pine cabinets for his kid sister (my Mom). I think he had time on his hands because he was newly returned from the US Army serving with the occupation forces in Italy (no, he wasn't my Italian Uncle, he was one of my German Uncles).
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Libertarians don't understand capitalism
Capitalism functions on the profit incentive, not by filling a need in society.
And profit only comes from scarcity.
Good point
Our Econ professor startled the class by saying long term profit should be zero. He explained that profit is the excess return to imbalance of supply and demand while interest is the return to capital, not profit although accountants call it profit.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
ECON101 isn't working for labor, either.
spelling corrected and punctuation adjusted due to format change
That basic ECON101 isn't working for labor, either. Labor, even unskilled labor, is currently considered to be in shortage in the USA. But jobs are no easier to get and they aren't paying any better, either.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
The "labor shortage" is just an excuse to import cheap labor.
If they were willing to hire workers with gray hair or non-majority skin color there wouldn't be any problem.
Workers on work visas can't threaten to leave. If they quit they have to go home. Modern day indentured servants.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Yeah, and even after we get degrees, there are no jobs.
And yet institutions complain that cheating devalues degrees. I disagree. Forcing everyone to only get degrees in STEM (especially IT) or white-collar crime (business) and then making sure no jobs exist for said degrees does more to cheapen degrees than anything else ever could.
Oh well. At least no one can take that cheap piece of paper away from me. /s
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
green housing...
provides employment. So does energy retrofitting existing structures.
'A Real Win-Win-Win': New Report Reveals Benefits of $500 Billion Investment in Energy Efficiency "For the sake of our planet and economy, energy efficiency must be a national and regional priority in the United States."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/26/real-win-win-win-new-report...
"This substantial investment would reap dramatic economic benefits, create good jobs that foster a fair and just transition to clean energy, reduce energy use, and save money—all while reducing climate emissions."
—Food & Water Watch
I like to imagine using our trillion dollar war budget to make these transitions, don't you?
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
So people cannot afford a place to live
And what is capitalism's response?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S43Aluf1sz8
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4ixoO3pMM0
Now do you see why I harp on guaranteed minimum income? Why I call BMI a fraud and welfare for capitalists?
On to Biden since 1973
BMI?
I googled and only found Body Mass Indicator.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
basic minimum income.
it's not exactly the same as guaranteed minimum income. wikipedia explains the difference
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
It's not even close.
On to Biden since 1973
A typo I ment UBI
"Give everyone $1000 a month and they'll buy stuff I make." (actual quote)
On to Biden since 1973
Capital controls might work
thanks for clarifying, but also Yang talks about imposing capital controls along with his "freedom dividend", or maybe I misunderstood. Ten benjamins in every one's pot every month sounds pretty pretty good to me. In one vid I thought he mentioned Iceland, which did control the flight and entrance of capital during the last global financial system collapse. SWIFT is a tool now, weaponized by the UniParty. Use FIRE for good, not evil. industry reset
Really this is just the Ds te$ting a plank for their eventual donor platform, doubt it will make it past the convention. no worry
peace
Capitalism 101
Prices are set by the amount of money available to pay with. The more money, the higher the price. - but only if that money is available. (the true law of supply and demand)
The usual counter is to point out that since 2008 the Fed has printed $21 trillion without inflation. But the DJIA has inflated 250% and real estate has done about the same. The Fed printed money and the recipients of that money (banks and the wealthy) have invested it - in stocks and real estate - they are not eating more cornflakes. Since 1970 the price of a new car in real money has actually declined, because inflation in housing costs has forced people to keep their cars longer - because they don't have the money after paying the rent.
$1000/month sounds good, especially to a rentier who suddenly discovers that the person who he has been feeding off of has $1000 a month more but still needs a house to live in, or needs heart surgery.
Then there is automation. How will that $1000 a month feel when you're standing on a street corner with all the other casual laborers? Oh, but technology always creates more jobs than it destroys - what jobs are being created now? Waiters and elderly assistants. In an interview with Jimmy Dore Yang claimed that he is afraid that raising the minimum wage would lead to unemployment because many businesses (i.e. mom and pop stores)operate on bare subsistence margins. Dore called bullshit on that, but both miss a point - all businesses will automate as soon as the cost of automation becomes less than the cost of human labor, immediately but not before.
There are something like 1200 counties in the US.In how many of them can a person making minimum wage afford to live? I think the number is 35. Raising the minimum wage would help against that, but only for the (few) employed. That is why a GMI is superior to a UBI. With a GMI the only place where the amount of available money will increase is in places like low income housing (but not 0 income housing. Like M4A, which will eliminate the health insurance profiteers a GMI will eliminate slumlords by enabling their victims to afford better housing but not increasing the money available for more expensive housing - the law of supply and demand only operates where there is demand)
In summary, help the bottom 20% because they are becoming the bottom 80%. Help the middle 50% and you are really subsidizing the upper 20%.
On to Biden since 1973
Government 101
not arguing just adding; if there are laws that say landlords can't increase rents beyond reason, and also laws against big capital landlords like Blackstone up and leaving the USA for greener pastures, that could work. Perhaps not, but why not try, why not attempt oversight. I like Max and Stacy but don't think free market capitalism is gonna save anything, even if the Fed stops printing money for banks. collapse denial
UniParty is constantly churning out bipartisan kabuki, where's the beef? already gone
How will the working class keep a roof over their heads?
They'll live in their cars.
'French theory is a product of US cultural imperialism." -- Gabriel Rockhill
I remember a TV story
60 minutes or something similar about an out of work woman in San Francisco who became homeless and lived in her Mercedes. In response to why she didn't sell the car, she said the money wouldn't last long and the car gave shelter and security.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
and once you have done that for a while
you lose your mind and get a country with a large population with mental health problems needing to be taken care of, which costs the country more money than providing them with a guaranteed basic income on top of whatever they might be able to earn through their jobs, if they find jobs at all. And you can add free of cost universal health care for all.
Sigh.
It's time-consuming as all getout.
If you want to perform basic functions, like taking a nap or cooking a meal or using a restroom for one of many different reasons, you have to drive somewhere. At least that was my experience of it.
'French theory is a product of US cultural imperialism." -- Gabriel Rockhill
sure, and you need the money to pay for gasoline... /nt
I rather doubt you can live in your car --
without having one of those jobs which doesn't pay enough.
'French theory is a product of US cultural imperialism." -- Gabriel Rockhill
right, then you live under bridges over highways or
in the entrance nooks of some urban office or shop buildings or fast food building. A rest room in walking distance and the opportunity to beg for some money and spend it on a burger.
meanwhile we get unaffordable housing
Here in Portland we're getting all of these 15-unit, or 20-unit, or 240-unit condos that rent for $1300....for a 400 sq. ft. studio. When it's pointed out that you need to make $50k a year to afford that and even $15/hr only comes to $30k+ we're told "oh the older stock will have to lower their rent and poorer people can move in there."
Which doesn't happen. Instead landlords, seeing $1300 for a small studio, realize their $800 studios can now be rented at $1000 or $1100. And those $1300 studios in the buildings with the $2000 1 bedroom units, have vacancies. All over town, those buildings have huge signs reading "Now Leasing!" so the real thing that's happening is that the older buildings are now less affordable than they were and the new buildings are half empty but what are leased in the new buildings are more expensive than the old stock and thus not affordable!!
I just read
it was a comment, so I doubt I can find it again and it was unsubstantiated anyway, but supposedly there are 6 vacancies for every homeless person in America. Now many of those vacancies are uninhabitable, and many homeless people are uncounted, but many homeless are families. The statement holds.
On to Biden since 1973
And that’s all before AirBnB & Co. have gotten into the act. n/t
I would never have thought that landlords
prefer a guest for a couple of nights through AirBnB & Co, risking to have no guests a couple of nights, but being able to charge per night so much money that even if they didn't have guests for half of the months, they still made more money than to rent it out to a tenant, and that even with very high monthly rents.
I saw this coming when they said
They would slowly ease in raising the minimum wage. I thought bullshit they just want time to raise rents so they can be sucking dry peoples income.
We'd have to raise it to $30 just to keep pace with this bullshit.
Been recently torturing myself...
Looking at land in Tillamook and Astoria.
I can't afford a house in Portland, but land somewhere else is possible... Saw the most gorgeous piece with the a river. Costs way too much of course, and it's marked up ten times from what it was seven years ago...
And that's the problem. Even if I managed to get a piece of land, there's no guarantees I can hang on to it, even out in the middle of the boonies. Property taxes (Which large corporations always seem to get a complete pass on) ensure that even if you invest in trying to build or create, the odds are stacked against you. Build value? You pay more taxes! Steal Value? You pay zero taxes.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
I was told one can not get a mortgage on land with no
structure (house, hut, shack or whatever) on it. But there is something like 'cash on land'. Have you heard something similar? (That was in HI) And they told me one can't get a mortgage if one is not a US citizen, which was definitely bogus, because the townhouse I had bought before in MD around 2000, while I was still working and was not yet retired, I bought with a mortgage and I was back then also not a US citizen, just a life-long permanent resident with a green card for life. That too they changed. They don't issue anymore those green cards that you get for life (which I was lucky to win in the green card lottery in 1987). Nowadays they expire after 10 years and you have to re-apply. I got my green card for life and have worked my whole life til 2014/15 in the US. So be it.
The other problem for renters
My husband and I lost our home in 2008 and have had to rent ever since. If you are lucky enough to find something affordable, it's likely to also be falling apart and have a million things that need fixing. But affordable does not mean cheap. Some of the places we've lived were not even worth $100 a month, but yet slumlords rent them out for over $700 a month. One place started out at $750 plus a $2 charge for using a debit card. We moved out 1 year later when the lease ended and the rent was still $750, but the charge for using a debit card had jumped to $20 - in one year! And I could write a book on all the things that were wrong with that house. I hated taking a shower in that house because you could feel the rotten boards underneath and I was always afraid the tub would fall through with me in it.
We were lucky enough to rent a house from my husband's uncle 3 years ago. The rent is pretty cheap (less than $600). But it comes with the agreement that we fix anything that needs fixing. I'm not complaining though, it's the best place I've ever lived in.
Is it great yet?
Sign of the times--landlords and Cops. Real estate reporting.
A number of OR county police and sheriff departments have seminars for landlords (but none for tenants). For some reason, not surprising to me.
Landlord forum sponorsed by four police depts in Oregona
The state of reporting on real estate. Most of the local real estate reporting is of the order like "20 houses you cannot afford with a view and 10 bedrooms and with an olympic sized swimming pool."
When NYT Real Estate Stories Read Like 19th Century Colonial Dispatches