"The high rental costs, combined with an economic slowdown, has forced more people to become homeless.... At the same time, state and federal programs to assist renters have been cut back"
WhereTF is THEIR BAILOUT?
Also see: Boston Globe Reporter Goes Begging
Slow Saturday Special: Turning Off the Porch Light
So TRILLIONS for BANKS and WARS and.....
"Renters get little relief as demand increases" by Jenifer B. McKim, Globe Staff | October 27, 2009
Renting an apartment in the Boston area remains expensive, despite the precipitous drop in property values that has benefited some home buyers, according to a report from the area’s largest community foundation and a group that promotes affordable housing.
The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2009 shows renters in the region pay an average of $1,629 a month, 11 percent more than four years ago, even though housing values dropped about 18 percent during the same period. Barry Bluestone, the report’s coauthor, attributed the increase to a growing demand for rentals, as people who lost their houses to foreclosure have moved into apartments, and to a high number of qualified buyers who remain content to rent until the economy stabilizes.
I was told we had booming growth, so WTF?
Although rents have fallen about 2 percent since they peaked in the third quarter of 2008, they still strain the finances of many Boston-area residents, the report found.
“Renters still make up 40 percent of the people who live here. They tend to be people who are lower or moderate income or young people,’’ said Bluestone, dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. “We clobbered them during this recession.’’
Not really "news" to those of us out here!
Adding to their woes, the median household income of renters has fallen 7 percent since 2000, the report said, while homeowners’ incomes increased 4.7 percent. The high rental costs, combined with an economic slowdown, has forced more people to become homeless and resulted in growing waiting lists for affordable rental housing, said Aaron Gornstein, executive director of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association. At the same time, state and federal programs to assist renters have been cut back, Gornstein said.
“Home prices have come down but rents haven’t,’’ he said. “It’s a very difficult situation for renters.’’
First, lasts, security deposit....
*************************
And as Boston rents have gone up, the gap between prices in the region and those in the nation’s most expensive markets - including Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco - has narrowed, according to the report.
Paul Grogan, chief executive of the Boston Foundation: “We are having trouble holding onto our people and trouble creating jobs. Our relative affordability hasn’t improved.’’
Although rents have started to moderate and some landlords are offering incentives to reduce vacancies, some housing experts don’t expect a prolonged downward trend. Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, said rents probably will soon increase again because there has been a slowdown in housing construction, and more people unable to buy a home because they are unemployed or unable to get a mortgage are turning to rentals.
Okay, they tell us home sales are up, home construction is up, blah, blah, blah, and then you find out weeks later NOPE, they LIED AGAIN!
That kind of market stagnation does not bode well for the rental market, Retsinas said. “You want an economy that encourages mobility so people can move where the jobs are,’’ he said.
I don't want to move to India or China.
--more--"
You know, HISTORICALLY it has been the OTHER WAY AROUND!
It was CAPITAL -- meaning LAND and PROPERTY -- that COULD NOT BE MOVED!
In other words, the JOBS were THERE because the LAND was there!
NOW, thanks to the GLOBALISTS, factories, etc, are uprooted and moved so that NOW it is the WORKERS who have to CHASE AFTER JOBS in a race to the bottom of the slave pit!
And I THOUGHT this ECONOMY was what was supposed to be SERVING US?
Why should we have to CHASE JOBS that NEED to be DONE right in our own communities?
Related: The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: Jobs Gone Forever
