The United States has been known as the land of new opportunities, of the American Dream. America has been associated with wealth while also being able to achieve great things in the past. Oftentimes, the American Dream is the opportunity to have a family and live under a safe roof and also not having to worry about how to feed your family next month.
However, lately the American Dream has become harder to realize, and feels more unreachable than ever. Rent Burden is calculated by seeing how much of your paycheck on average is going into paying for rent, and a high rent burden is considered to be 30 percent; however, here in Astoria, the rent burden has risen to 40 percent!
Across America, and more specifically my neighborhood Astoria, the leading issue is that the rent burden on our residents is way too high, which in turn causes other major issues to occur such as small business shutting down and major evictions. At my own church in Astoria, the shrinking size of our church yard has become a topic of discussion as big corporations buy up the land. On that same block, there used to be a Dollar Tree-like store called ABC deals, and many restaurants; however, rent became so high that they unfortunately had to sell.
Rent burden is an issue in America that is prevailing, and everyone is being impacted and in some areas like New York which are more commercial this is especially true. Rent burden is the main cause for eviction and small businesses shutting down. This is because with higher rent prices and lower wages the majority of your wage is going to essential things like food and water, clothes and in general if you pay too much rent and you don’t earn enough you literally can’t survive.
As stated by Matthew Desmond in his book, Evicted, “The profits were staggering. In 1966, a Chicago landlord told a court that on a single property he had made $42,500 in rent but paid only $2,400 in maintenance. When accused of making excessive profits, the landlord simply replied, “That’s why I bought the building.” Rent burden is created by landlords and it causes low income families to be evicted: yes, evictions occur when the tents cause issues, but also mainly because they are unable to pay their rent. Ultimately it is very unfortunate that in this country where people are given so many opportunities, the majority of the time, the landlords take advantage by price gouging their properties simply because they are allowed to.
We have to try to do something to resolve this issue. The United States may not be the leading economy in the world anymore. According to sociologist Matthew Desmond,“ local regulations, and federal housing policy are central to rising rent burden among low income families. Most basically, housing assistance covers but a fraction of the need: For every family in possession of a voucher or subsidized housing unit, there are three who qualify but receive nothing.” This highlights a major flaw in our current housing system that leaves millions of struggling families without the support they desperately need. To truly address the growing economic inequality, we must expand housing assistance programs and reform policies that limit access to affordable living.
The growing issue of rent burden that we discussed can be truly devastating to certain families and it is something that all together we can try to change. As stated by National Equity Atlas “Mounting rent debt and the potential for mass eviction is one of the most pressing equity issues created by the pandemic. For an equitable recovery, policymakers must eliminate rent debt and prevent eviction.” There is an urgent need for policymakers to address rent debt and prevent evictions as critical steps toward ensuring an equitable recovery from the pandemic’s economic impacts. Moreover as previously stated we should raise awareness for housing assistance and also come together to sign a petition for our city council to review to try and resolve the problem of rent affordability for business and tenants, and in turn try to put an end to this price gouging.