My housing has been conditional on circumstances beyond my control, and the time is up; the owner is selling.
Securing affordable housing is a stressor for much of the working class. According to recent data, nearly 50% of renters are cost-burdened, meaning they spend over 30% of their take-home income on housing costs. Rental prices in California are especially high, 35% higher than the national average. Renting is routinely insecure. The lords of land need to renovate, their kids need to move in. They need to sell.
For many of us, particularly in California, buying is not possible. In the Bay Area, one needs to make $400,000 per year to afford a typical home. Nationally, less than one percent of us make $500,000; in the Bay Area, 2 percent of us do. Thus, for most of us, the housing market is cost-prohibitive. Great credit doesn't translate to enough purchasing power. We need higher incomes, intergenerational wealth, or some other revenue stream.
We need multi-millionaires and billionaires, especially those in the top 1% or those with 8 million or more, to step in. We need housing benefactors.
As a sociologist, I know that stable housing is a key social determinant of health and also that who has a secure and affordable home is shaped by power and policy. Historically, many of us have endured the housing struggle. But it doesn't have to be this way. There could be an abundance of housing for all of us.
After all, we are a nation rich in millionaires (at least 23.8 million) and billionaires. Our economy is anchored to the ultrawealthy, and the gap between them and the rest of us is enormous and growing. And, the wealthy, and the wealth of the wealthy, are increasing. Perhaps the ultrarich could be convinced to support our collective wellbeing by taking action to alleviate the housing crisis?
To be sure, our economy does not value the religious, ethical, and moral notions of “caring.” It values bottom lines, competition, and survival of the “fittest.” We are a country that has lacked the political will to sustain affordable housing, that has allowed tax breaks for the wealthy, and that has allowed wealth to accumulate in disproportionate and unsustainable ways. There are those among us who believe that the housing crisis “is what it is.” We “have nots” should have chosen more lucrative career paths. However, this narrative justifies unhealthy behavior. Inequality is harmful to society across a range of measures. Stable housing plays a meaningful role, not only for individual wellbeing, but also for a sustainable society and world.
If you believe people deserve affordable housing and you have the financial resources to be this type of change agent, please understand that there are many ways to show up as a housing benefactor. There are many ways to do so. 1) Buy properties and rent them at a rate that is less than 30% of our monthly income. 2) Buy properties and sell them to us at a price that works within our budget. 3) Buy properties and agree to 100-year private mortgages. When the federal government floated the 50-year mortgage, it read as ludicrous. But it is better than no option. 4) Subsidize our housing. In this market, an extra thousand dollars a month, or $12,000 a year, can be the difference between an additional room. 4) Develop an app to connect caring multi-millionaires and billionaires to those who lack affordable and secure housing. 5) Create your own solution, perhaps a housing foundation that donates to areas where affordable housing is scarce?
If our government won’t do the work to create an economy where we can all thrive, it is to each other we must appeal. Financial elite, I implore you to make caring cool. Put secure and affordable housing within our reach. Can you act now? We need a place.
Megan Thiele Strong is a Sociology professor at San José State University, a Public Voices Fellow at The OpEd Project, and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network.
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