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If anything, the pandemic illustrates why it is important to spend no more than 30% of monthly rent. People simply do not have the savings to fall back upon in
by II2II 6y ago
If anything, the pandemic illustrates why it is important to spend no more than 30% of monthly rent. People simply do not have the savings to fall back upon in times of crisis. This forces a reliance upon some form of social safety net or homelessness in the case of lost employment. It forces people to continue working in unsafe conditions if they manage to keep their job.
Of course, the consequences go well beyond pandemics. People are forced to accept illegal labour practices, have minimal savings if they face a loss of income for personal reasons, and cannot plan for retirement even under normal circumstances.
As for the second caveat, note that the article mentions that the average minimum wage worker has to work 97 hours per week to meet that threshold. That is effectively a two income household where at least one person is working more than 40 hours per week. That is very difficult to keep up for people with children.
- jseliger 6y agoThe problem is, contemporary zoning laws make the construction of (relatively) inexpensive housing illegal, by mandating excess parking requirements and forbidding multifamily housing on the vast majority of usable parcels: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/the-rent-really-is-too-damn-high/254718 https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/the-ren.... Until we resolve that problem, we're going to keep getting headlines like the original one. We've regulated ourselves into ultra-high costs. Liberalization can improve matters.
- II2II 6y agoI agree, yet I also find the situation ironic. The attitudes that keep wages low seem to be the same attitudes that are driving housing prices up while rejecting (or at least inhibiting) the idea of social assistance.