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For nearly over half a century, people living in America have one goal in mind – to live the America dream. This includes a nice house, with well-educated children and enough money to fund their post-retirement life. In the present times, this dream has become more of a fiction that an achievable aspect of life. Many Americans are struggling to pay off their student loans even in their 30s. To add to the damage, the property prices have been growing steadily while the salary scale has not improved by much in the past decade.
Property prices in America are now so high that many individuals cannot even imagine owning a house in their lifetime. Many are settling for small apartments to make a home for themselves as opposed to the traditional residents with more than 2 bedrooms. Despite every citizen paying taxes for everything, people still are not being supported by the government in their housing problems. There is a dire need for the citizens of this country to address the difficulty and have their voices heard on a national forum. To help in understanding the problem yourself first, here are a few things you need to know:
Lower Availability – Higher Demand:
Most price spikes are the result of a shortage of supply of any product as compared to the demand for the commodity. The same is the case with the land availability in America. Hence, the property prices, mortgage, and rents have gone up. An analysis in 2015revealed that there are about 11.4 million households with really low income; however, only 7.5 million of them can afford to rent a decent place to live. But the issue does not stop here, among those 7.5 million people, 3.5 million have lost their homes to people who can afford to pay higher rent with a better income. This makes the average of only 35 people out of 100 with low salaries who can afford to rent a place to live.
High-Interest Rates:
By the second quarter of last year, the median price of a family house had reached up to $1 million USD in San Jose. The prices have increased suddenly in the last half of 2016 since there was a huge influx of buyers in America last year making use of the then cheap interest rates. Since there were so many buyers available, interest rates in mortgages rose to tremendous levels and now despite a low market of property, interest rates still haven’t diminished.
Housing Assistance:
The government has set up programs for people in order to help them own a house that have a low income. However, subsidizing property prices for the selected few is not a long term solution. Only one in four families receive house assistance from thegovernment despite all of them qualifying for the process. The families that do not qualify for this program are still not living in a better condition, as some of them have to pay as much as 70% of their yearly income to pay rents. Apart from that, a majority of people in America can barely afford to have a house on an average income and have to pay half of their income in rents. The figure has grown considerably since 2007 and now stands at 25% of American population facing this dilemma.
Increasing Evictions:
The number of evictions done by landlords also has risen to a considerable amount. Eviction through non-payment of rents is still the leading cause with the total number of 16 families being evicted everyday through court orders. However, not paying rent is not the only reason now that landlords can throw their tenants out. The unofficial increase in rents and creating a problem for the tenants and not the tenant not fixing it can also be the reason why people may get evicted. There are moving companies that even specialize in evictions and work throughout the weekdays with a good business.
Not only have these problems for housing grown considerably, but these issues are a threat to the newer generation growing up in the country. If appropriate steps to counter the housing problems are not taken on in a timely manner, the next of our kin will live in even more deplorable conditions than now. Newer housing schemes, government funding and having better mortgage or rent plans are the options that can save this country from having an increasing number of homeless people. Furthermore, the prices of labor can be lowered by using technology to our advantage. 3D printing machines and powerful construction machinery have created a room for people to have cheaper options in housing.