3 ms·

I'm speaking as someone who has never lived in a rural area, but the thought of living in a rural area as a retiree seems very exhausting. Between the upkeep, d

by tempsy 7y ago

I'm speaking as someone who has never lived in a rural area, but the thought of living in a rural area as a retiree seems very exhausting. Between the upkeep, driving everywhere to get anything, and the healthcare accessibility issue it doesn't seem practical for someone in their old age. Am I missing something here?

rayiner 7y ago
On the flip side, retired people don't need to live near jobs in the city, and their living in rural areas reduces the demand for housing in urban areas. Rural people are typically on fixed incomes, and cannot afford the skyrocketing rents or property taxes of urban areas. Now, of course, you can do things like rent controls, but those are also subsidies. So you're just trading one subsidy for another. At least subsidies to keep rural hospitals open doesn't distort the housing market for younger people looking for housing near where they work in the city. (Driving is also easy in rural areas. There is nothing to run into. Young adolescents routinely drive in rural areas. I'd imagine it's a lot easier for older people to do than to deal with being exposed to the elements/dealing with broken elevators and escalators to use public transit.)
- tempsy 7y ago
  I'm not following your logic at all. I don't think it's a common phenomenon for retirees who once lived in urban or suburban areas to move to rural ones. I'm guessing the majority of these people have always lived in rural areas and just stayed put through retirement.
  - rayiner 7y ago
    That doesn't matter--the point is that because retired people don't need to be near urban jobs, we can reduce pressure for housing in urban areas by leaving retired rural people where they are. (Or, conversely, we can avoid increasing pressure for housing in urban areas by moving retired rural people into urban areas.)

3 ms·

I'm speaking as someone who has never lived in a rural area, but the thought of living in a rural area as a retiree seems very exhausting. Between the upkeep, d

by tempsy 7y ago

rayiner 7y ago
On the flip side, retired people don't need to live near jobs in the city, and their living in rural areas reduces the demand for housing in urban areas. Rural people are typically on fixed incomes, and cannot afford the skyrocketing rents or property taxes of urban areas. Now, of course, you can do things like rent controls, but those are also subsidies. So you're just trading one subsidy for another. At least subsidies to keep rural hospitals open doesn't distort the housing market for younger people looking for housing near where they work in the city. (Driving is also easy in rural areas. There is nothing to run into. Young adolescents routinely drive in rural areas. I'd imagine it's a lot easier for older people to do than to deal with being exposed to the elements/dealing with broken elevators and escalators to use public transit.)
- tempsy 7y ago
  I'm not following your logic at all. I don't think it's a common phenomenon for retirees who once lived in urban or suburban areas to move to rural ones. I'm guessing the majority of these people have always lived in rural areas and just stayed put through retirement.
  - rayiner 7y ago
    That doesn't matter--the point is that because retired people don't need to be near urban jobs, we can reduce pressure for housing in urban areas by leaving retired rural people where they are. (Or, conversely, we can avoid increasing pressure for housing in urban areas by moving retired rural people into urban areas.)