Is Housing Solvable?

My favorite apartment ever belonged to a friend of mine in Brooklyn. It had to have been — at most — 550 square feet, but it was decorated in such a clean, modern way and laid out perfectly. You felt like you were in an actual studio of some sort, with a really trendy and hip artist at the helm. On the other hand, an employee of mine just signed a lease for a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment. The building is 1986’s finest construction and looks like it hasn’t had a dollar invested since then. It includes precisely zero amenities. The nearest real city is 109 miles away. Price? $2,605 monthly. It does have granite countertops, though. That was always a sticking point for me once I had a little income. Not anymore, though. We’re looking at downsizing. Soon enough, so will (almost) everyone else. The median rent nationwide is now $2,029, which actually represents a modest decrease from the same time last year. What it does not represent, however, is a sustainable situation. The same can be said for the current pairing of home prices and interest rates: not sustainable for most people. We’ll get into the numbers a little later, but suffice it to say for now that the median person (or even household) cannot currently afford median items. Particularly housing. The question, then, is how do we solve a major affordability problem in one of the single most important markets in most of our nations? Is it even possible? <a href="https://medium.com/@pshanosky/is-housing-solvable-part-one-49fca32528de">Learn More</a>