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Problem is lots of cities are building these units, but they are targeting the upper middle class demographic only with the downtown luxury condo boom. Pretty stupid IMO. I live in a small metropolitan area, yet rents here for a studio are $500 a month for an area that is basically meat and potatoes country. I mean, what? I'm sure it all has to do with keeping rent and sale values as high as possible.
Exactly why the people need to start rising up about this. The private market is failing us once again in the name of lining its pockets with as much cash as possible. Perhaps we need government funded contractors to start putting up cheap living spaces left and right. I would literally vote for a politician championing something like that. I have watched rents skyrocket every year of my life while incomes for everyone in this country stagnate and I'm sick of it.
This is not a bubble. Rents have gone up every year for decades and are now going up sky high because of sheer lack of supply. A bubble is when there is plenty of supply already but people are continuing to overbuild and charge high because of speculation. Our rental market is fueled entirely right now because people are on the verge of homeless.
Section 8 also keeps rents high. The landlords are guaranteed payment through government subsidies (while the qualifying renter only pays up to 30%). The government essentially eliminates free market competition through subsidizing rentals in affluent areas. The rest of us who pay the full amount are left to struggle (usually the middle class).
Section 8 also keeps rents high. The landlords are guaranteed payment through government subsidies (while the qualifying renter only pays up to 30%). The government essentially eliminates free market competition through subsidizing rentals in affluent areas. The rest of us who pay the full amount are left to struggle (usually the middle class).
But accepting section 8 brings down the cost of rent in other complexes around it. A luxury condo will have its prices reduced if a section 8 complex is placed next to it. And I frankly don't give a damn about that at this point because something needs to be done about the skyrocketing cost of rent across this whole vast country.
Section 8 also keeps rents high. The landlords are guaranteed payment through government subsidies (while the qualifying renter only pays up to 30%). The government essentially eliminates free market competition through subsidizing rentals in affluent areas. The rest of us who pay the full amount are left to struggle (usually the middle class).
The problem is the fact that cities are building the wrong kind of housing. We don't need luxury condos and apartments, we need units that cater to working class and lower middle class folks, not well-to-dos. What happened to building small houses like in the 50s and 60s? Developers and zoning boards only want 3000 sq. ft. houses being built to push up housing values even more. It's a national crisis, but it's local governments that are getting greedy. They want more property tax revenues
Why is it that our population is double what it was in the 1970s, yet construction for apartments is 1/4th what it was in the 1970s and 1/3rd what it was in the 1980s??? And our population continues to grow millions every year! Where the hell is everyone supposed to live without apartments being built?
We need to start screaming to politicians about this. Our country is on the verge of a homeless crisis unlike anything we have ever experienced because there is literally no where for an average income person to live.
Our politicians need to START TALKING ABOUT THIS! I have yet to even hear this conversation come up in their speeches. It is almost as if they are oblivious to it.
The only way to fix it is by forcing price ceilings, but all that does is make it so there are no rentals available. San Francisco is a perfect example of this.
Honestly, the free market does an excellent job without the help of politicians. This is something that can be learned in a 100 level microeconomics course. The second politicians start guiding that invisible hand, they typically create even more and bigger problems than they had to begin with.
Also, multifamily housing units are difficult to get the permits for because it's well documented that these types of units lower property values around them because they often include things like section 8.
Furthermore, if one has a family, they shouldn't be raising said family in an urban area of a large city. Take that **** to the suburbs!
The rental apartment shortage is largely due to rent controls that try to keep rents down.
What then is your solution to the rent is too damn high?
Dammit you beat me to it!!!
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