As Washington rents go up, up, up, the air gets thin for tenants

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

LYNNWOOD — Hal Zack is old school.

In his apartment, a checkbook sits on the corner of a screen-free desk. A beige landline with a curly-fry cord hearkens to decades past. A thick stack of stamps and stationery sit poised and ready for mailing. File folders pad towering shelves instead of a computer’s memory drive. He still hasn’t transitioned online.

Computers are expensive, the 72-year-old explained, and he has no interest in using one. But in our modern age, that makes finding a new apartment all the more difficult.

When Zack signed his rental agreement in 2001, his one-bed, one-bath unit cost $500 per month. At first, the changes started small: $10 increases for a few years, then jumping $25. But this year, he’s looking at a $300 hike. Now, the same apartment — with no significant improvements in 22 years — costs $1,710 per month.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/as-washington-rents-go-up-up-up-the-air-gets-thin-for-tenants/

Just did an internet search on this apartment complex. I know where it is. I doubt the building is over 30 years old.

[milestogo]

1. Inflation last year was 6%

and my rent just went up 6%.

My salary, however, did not change. So I have to keep looking for ways to cut expenses.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. And you know what the sad thing about this whole thing? It's the people already living there,

and have been living there that makes the area so desirable to live at.

So, in effect, perhaps they caused this themselves to happen (the residents) who didn't go the additional length to protect their neighborhoods, restrict growth and development in some small ways to keep this change over to a whole new neighborhood. Greed too.

[Metaphorical]

4. Part of the problem is geography

Seattle is an Isthmus with the Puget Sound to the West, Lake Washington in the middle, Lake Sammamish towards the East end, and the Cascade mountains to the East. This means that most of the development is either occurring in fairly mountainous area like the Sammamish Plateau or on the north end towards Everett, but a long way from downtown.

[Metaphorical]

3. I've been hit twice

When we had the floods in late Winter 2021 in Issaquah, just outside of Seattle, our living room flooded and our landlord decided to sell the house, forcing us to rent a new place given the tight housing market. We had also brought our eldest daughter back from Colorado, and found an apartment for her at $2000 a month. That apartment went up $750 in that time, making it more expensive than what we'd paid for our old house originally. I'm. now working two jobs and my wife is working a third just to afford rent on everything, though my daughter does pay some for her place. I lay awake at night trying to figure out what happens when we eat through out savings.