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Simple Living Beyond the Thrift Store - Philip Harden, Friends Journal, 2018
(www.friendsjournal.org)
The cost of housing is by far my largest expense, making up more than ⅔ of all my expenditures in a month. And I'm lucky enough to have a fairly-priced rental, from a small-time landlord who is simply renting out the flats in this undivided building that they aren't using themselves. Many are not so lucky.
The cost of housing has ridiculously outpaced incomes in the past few decades. The author of this article cites the 2008 bubble burst in America — a burst that never happened here. If you think that housing is unaffordable in America, then mourn for its neighbors to the north, because:
I am very lucky, and have a job that makes me above median income for this country. Due to the frugal nature in which I was raised and my continued commitment to simple living, I have always lived below my means and saved a significant amount of my income. In planning for my longterm future, I decided to try to purchase housing instead of renting because I knew that I could more easily afford to retire or semi-retire early if I owned an apartment outright. I was not looking for anything large, or fancy. Just a basic one bedroom flat in any neighborhood. I cannot get a mortgage for one. Not for any apartment in my city — which is not even one with a "high" cost of living.
If a person with above median income, no debt, and good savings cannot afford to buy a studio apartment, then who can?? How can anyone afford to work toward minimizing their living expenses if they are locked in to renting at the whims of landlords, especially in places with bad protections for renters?
How is anyone meant to live like this?
This is a question I have been pondering a lot recently, after I looked for and could not find an upgrade to my current living space. I am happy enough here, but would have enjoyed a flat with an enclosed bedroom. Now I'm realizing I can't afford it, and I wonder how anyone can.
I realize that this level of wealth inequality is unsustainable. Something has to give. But there is very little that we can do on an individual level to effect that change. Building "affordable housing" is a nice thought: but is it possible to do so when an empty lot costs over a million dollars, and is zoned for single-family homes only?
The world is a rubber band, resilient, but stretching thin at the moment. I fear that soon there may be a snap, and that it won't be pretty when it happens.