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@wheelsup My goal was to disprove the narrative that the rapid rise of rent only impact some 20% of the Durham folks and that somehow these people are not working hard enough and drive nice cars. Simply look at statistics. It is so easy.
Whether the people employed at Walmart are immigrants or people with high school degree is still irrelevant. They barely make more money than the elderly, the disabled, the firefighters, ... etc. to afford these enormous rent increases year after year.
@BoBrombal, I'm sure you can find the current salaries of those mentioned in the article I cited. It is not that hard. I never claimed that rents should be static. But to me, only Greed can justify raising rents 50% in 7 years. A lot of business leases escalate between 2-3% per year, which to me would be reasonable to keep up with inflation. At a lot of private company, employees would be glad to get a 2-3% yearly wage increase, even the high paying jobs in IT. Only people who are in for a quick buck will raise rents unreasonably faster than these numbers, quickly resale and exit the market, leaving behind unbalanced communities.
@CapitalBvd. I have nothing against Capitalism. I'm a capitalist myself. Greed is giving capitalism a bad reputation.
I want the City of Durham to do business with developers/builders who have the long term interest of the community in mind, and not greedy developers who will only be around for a quick profit.This is where the city of Durham can make the difference.
@BoBromhal, I'm sure you can find the current salaries of those mentioned in the article I cited. It is not that hard. I never claimed that rents should be static. But to me, only Greed can justify raising rents 50% in 7 years. A lot of business leases escalate between 2-3% per year, which to me would be reasonable to keep up with inflation. At a lot of private company, employees would be glad to get a 2-3% yearly wage increase, even the high paying jobs in IT. Only people who are in for a quick buck will raise rents unreasonably faster than these numbers, quickly resale and exit the market, leaving behind unbalanced communities.
@CapitalBvd. I have nothing against Capitalism. I'm a capitalist myself. Greed is giving capitalism a bad reputation.
I don't have any idea what an EMT or paramedic make; I just know that the exact source you cited yielded a different number than you reported. And I'm not even calling BS on your number, I'm actually wondering where "Salary.com" gets the info other than scraping the internet. Which is also exactly where that rent figure you're getting comes from - an internet scrape site. Yes, on that site you can see in Feb 2011, the average monthly rent for that month was 50% less than the Feb 2018 monthly rent that same site reported.
I'm sure you've heard "lies, damn lies, and statistics". Data can be fairly easily manipulated, yes - ESPECIALLY if you're looking at market-wide data, and not the rent figures for where the low-moderate income people live now.
It's VERY correct of course that (almost?) every private apartment building erected over the last 8 years in the Triangle has been "luxury" and unaffordable for low-moderate income people. But that's not who they are aimed at. And the folks who are renting them aren't likely spending more than 30% of their gross income.
And what do you think is pushing these prices up so fast? And what should be done to keep affordable housing in Durham.
A quick look at the Business Journal tells me all I need to know. Some of these assets are purchased, held for a couple of years (Withe really minimal Capex expenditures for rebranding and repositioning), then resold for 25-40% profit. Do these people have any interest in the community? I doubt it. It is all about the quick buck. Nothing else. They are not coming in with the intention to build lasting communities. They are coming in with an 2-4 years plan to exit as quickly as possible and repay the investors and the asset managers maximum profit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BoBromhal
and don't get me wrong - I believe that "affordable housing" is an issue, but it's not "greedy developers" who are at fault.
you don't seem to understand how these institutional real estate sales are happening, or what price they are based off.
If you actually are a capitalist, as you say you are, then it would be very clear. Capital flows to the highest return, given the risk profile. Are they over-projecting vacancy and rent rates? I don't know, that's not my baileywick anymore.
Now, you might find a philanthropist willing to take a very low return in exchange for their capital/donation. So really, that's the question. Who wants to spend the money to buy the land, to create the low-moderate income housing, so it can be held in perpetuity and not sold off.
Or, Durham County figures out how to give that investor the same/similar return on the investment by earning less in rent. So for one - goodbye property taxes on those $40MM apartment complexes.
in fact, Cary should figure out how to use either a)its Town money or b) let's say, Dr Goodnight's money to buy entire blocks downtown. Now, when you claim eminent domain on old Mr Smith's house and don't require him to have to move, then you give him a life estate. And in about 20 years, you've got a block of land that can be dedicated to Cary's downtown affordable housing needs.
Unless you want them confiscating your property below market value, now, for the greater good.
Henri if one could simply buy property, improve it, and rent it at higher rates it would be easy to make money.
There must be demand. Dozens of people moving here daily provide that demand. And those people for the most part have job skills that demand higher wages. This is a good thing for our economy in general. Yes, some people will not obtain better skill sets and increased wages, unfortunately that is capitalism. You can't force people to invest in themselves.
For your reading pleasure, a HUD document prepared for Durham in March 2017
well, it's a story of Durham; however, the City of Raleigh owns plenty of land that could be turned into varying prices of "affordable housing".
Not just the city, but Wake County and the State of NC too. They should sell some of that prime real estate in downtown Raleigh, and use it to build affordable housing for seniors/working class folks. There's no reason why every government/administrative function has to be in downtown proper.
I walked by Glenwood Towers this weekend, that place is pretty dumpy. The Raleigh Housing Authority could sell that thing for a ton of money, and build some really nice facilities for the seniors currently living there, and for others that need affordable housing.
A recent study from researchers at UCLA compared Fruitvale’s demographics before and after redevelopment to other similar neighborhoods and found that median household income grew faster in Fruitvale, more residents became homeowners, and more residents had high school and college degrees. However, median rent in Fruitvale also rose by 83%, compared to only 71% in similar Bay Area neighborhoods.
Since the study doesn’t follow individuals over time, the researchers can’t tell for sure if the faster income growth or higher educational attainment accrued to residents who lived in Fruitvale prior to redevelopment or if the neighborhood improvements are due to different people moving in to the neighborhood.
The latter—different people moving in—is the type of gentrification many people worry about. But we shouldn’t expect, nor is it generally desirable, for neighborhoods to remain frozen in time.
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