Thursday, March 30, 2017

Why Middle-Class Americans Can't Afford to Live in Liberal Cities

San Francisco
By Derek Thompson

On April 2, 2014, a protester in Oakland, California, mounted a Yahoo bus, climbed to the front of the roof, and vomited onto the top of the windshield.

If not the year's most persuasive act of dissent, it was certainly one of the most memorable demonstrations in the Bay Area, where residents have marched, blockaded, and retched in protest of San Francisco's economic inequality and unaffordable housing. The city's gaps—between rich and poor, between housing need and housing supply—have been duly catalogued. Even among American tech hubs, San Francisco stands alone with both the most expensive real estate and the fewest new construction permits per unit since 1990.

But San Francisco's problem is bigger than San Francisco. Across the country, rich, dense cities are struggling with affordable housing, to the considerable anguish of their middle class families.

Among the 100 largest U.S. metros, 63 percent of homes are "within reach" for a middle-class family, according to Trulia. But among the 20 richest U.S. metros, just 47 percent of homes are affordable, including a national low of 14 percent in San Francisco. The firm defined "within reach" as a for-sale home with a total monthly payment (including mortgage and taxes) less than 31 percent of the metro's median household income.

Read the rest here.

2 comments:

  1. "good intentions gone bad". Pretty much the definition of the modern "liberal".

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  2. You seem to forget conservative means a frugal financial approach to budget expenses, (and having lived in Los Angeles 15 years,)I find anyone with much intelligence no matter what they make, realize quickly these dens of liberal iniquity dont offer value to measure up to the price tag.

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