The Struggle for Affordable Housing
Every morning on my way to take Gigi to school, I pass a little row of businesses that are very close to the road. The biggest business is an auto body shop that takes up most of the strip, spilling out into the grass and paving around it with junker cars, vehicles there to be fixed, and assorted body shop supplies. It’s a real eyesore.
I suppose the worst part of it all is that beside the auto body shop, right on the road basically, is a little row of one-storey apartments. Their doors all but open onto this busy little street and if I happen to be sitting at the light I can see right in their windows.
I keep wondering how anyone would agree to rent one of these apartments. Some of the occupants have children. Can you imagine your toddler getting out the front door – as toddlers tens to do – and walking right into the street? It’s frightening. All I can rationalize is that the rent is very low and there are many families who cannot budget a more expensive apartment. When the housing bubble in this market caused all of the homes in the area to go way above anything a middle-class family could afford, rents went up as well. Gone are the days you could rent a 2 bedroom duplex is a semi-shady part of town for a little over $400.
People with low and median incomes are being forced out of the area or into deplorable properties. When I think of renting a new place for me and my daughter, I am almost stricken with fear, because I know that in order to live in a safer neighborhood I will have to pay more than I can afford for rent.
Incomes have not risen in our nation at the same rate as housing, gas, and utilities. Until this is remedied, middle class families will continue to struggle and will not be able to accumulate a savings.
No comments yet.