I have a lot of thoughts and opinions about this.
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There should be no stigma for a 20-something or even 30-something to live with his or her parents for the purpose of saving money.
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Hiking up the minimum wage a couple of bucks isn’t going to help things that much.
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We really need more affordable housing in city centers and other areas where jobs are located. This should be something both conservatives and liberals agree on. How does it benefit families when mom and dad both have 90-minute commutes? Or when families are crammed in tiny apartments with a revolving door of roommates. Also, maybe it’s time for people to be creative by trying intentional communities or co-living.
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It is easy to tell renters they should just go on and buy a house already. But there is a reason homeownership is extremely low right now. A lot of renters are renting because they can’t afford houses. And even if they are ready to buy, there are few homes on the market right now…especially affordable ones.
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I’ve got a contract on a house right now. It’s a small house in a modest neighborhood, but man am I glad I’ve been saving for as long as I have. It’s a lot more expensive than I originally wanted to spend, which sucks because I will be giving up a lot of the perks I currently enjoy in the neighborhood where I rent. But my rent will be going up a whole lot in a few months. My house payment will be about the same as my increased rent, but at least I’ll be off the escalator before that stops being the case.
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Maybe we need to let go of rules like “You should never spend more than 35% on housing”? Maybe that’s a rule from a by-gone era, something our parents/grandparents came up with when housing was more affordable and incomes were higher and homeownership was considered ideal? I don’t think the free market is a natural force that can’t or shouldn’t be modified through public policy, but there also comes a point where people need to free themselves from unrealistic expectations. Maybe there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with paying 50% of your earnings on rent as long as you’ve got a realistic plan for retirement and you’re frugal in other areas.