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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerica's housing system was radically unprepared for coronavirus
The U.S. had a severe housing affordability crisis long before coronavirus hit. In 2018, close to half of all renters spent more than a third of their income on rent. Home prices are rising faster than wages in roughly 80 percent of American metro regions. Rural America has seen steep increases in housing costs as well as in the number of households spending at least half of their income on housing. And all this was before we began seeing record numbers of businesses shuttering and workers being laid off in the wake of Covid-19.
The combination of coronavirus and Americas unaffordable housing system has resulted in a disquieting paradox: At the same time that public health officials are warning that staying at home, away from others, is essential to preventing the rapid transmission of coronavirus, huge swaths of Americans are finding it harder and harder to come up with the money needed to keep a roof over their heads.
For far too long, policymakers at all levels of government have failed to provide decent-quality, stable, and affordable housing to millions of Americans writes Jenny Schuetz, a fellow at the Brooking Institutions Metropolitan Policy Program. In COVID-19, were only starting to see the devastating consequences of that failure. A few weeks ago, Schuetz wrote a prescient piece outlining how unprepared Americas housing system was to handle the economic fallout of coronavirus. The way events have unfolded over the last few weeks have proved her diagnosis correct.
I spoke to Schuetz to better understand why Americas housing system was so radically unprepared for coronavirus, how the situation today could end up far worse than 2008, what a comprehensive policy response would look like, and more.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/americas-housing-system-was-radically-unprepared-for-coronavirus/ar-BB11GUS3?li=BBnbfcN
jimfields33
(15,787 posts)Were going to end up spending 10 trillion on this virus by the end. I can see congress being very Leary with spending for a decade. I hope Im wrong but they are spending a lot right now.
jmbar2
(4,874 posts)At some point, housing went from being about dwellings, to being an investment vehicle for hedge funds, flippers, sharks, and short-term rental magnates. They sucked inventory out of the market, then hiked prices to unaffordable levels.
Now they've moved into buying up older mobile home parks, forcing people out and jacking up the lot rents.
I hope this bites them in the butt and forces some inventory back on the market. That whole business model is too parasitic to go unchecked. Imagine if they did this to eggs, or toilet paper, or any other necessity.
Massacure
(7,521 posts)Most houses built in the years following World War II were about about 1000-1200 square feet. It wouldn't surprise me if the average new home today is pushing 2000 square feet.
leftstreet
(36,107 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,648 posts)Could have fooled me.