NYC's not so affordable housing

[kangofu]

When ‘Affordable’ Is Just a Word
Source - NYTimes
By GINIA BELLAFANTE
Published: April 12, 2013The spring has the real-estate press enthusiastically reporting on the construction of 432 Park Avenue, an apartment tower that its developers claim will be the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere. Apartments in the tower, designed by

Comments

[ljtaylor]

NYC is definitely an extreme ($90m wut), but this whole "we can't make much of a profit from affordable / social housing so let's not bother" is a big problem in Europe as well (at least the parts I've lived in or heard about). Any new housing I see being built is aimed at the upwardly mobile, young professionals or high-earning professionals. I've even seen former social housing converted into posh-end apartments and the previous "undesirables" turfed out for such improvements

[roseofjuly]

This is normal to me, too, and I can't imagine the situation being different. I'm a grad student living in NYC. All of my friends my age (mid-to-late 20s) living in NYC are either graduate students, young professionals in jobs that make under $50,000 with one exception I know of, or unemployed/underemployed. I know one graduate student friend who is paying about 60% of her salary to live alone in a one-bedroom, but she's older and is not comfortable living with a roommate. I also have the one friend who managed to snag an affordable unit in a nice new building. The rest are sharing with roommates (sometimes 2 or 3) or living at home. One of my friends just got a job with DOH and moved back home, partially to help out her family (her dad just lost his job) and partially to escape high rents, even in Brooklyn where she lives. I have a friend who's graduating this May with a guaranteed job in the NYCDOE because of a scholarship she got. SHE'S moving back home with her parents, too...partially to escape rent and partially because

[lastrega]

Bloody rents. Mine just went up to $1880/month and I don't live anywhere as cool as NYC. *cries*

[browneyedguuurl]

Wow! Where do you live?

[lastrega]

Brisbane, Australia. Rents here are out of control.

[jimmyblue]

I'm looking for an apartment in Seattle right now, and a lot of the "affordable housing" places require my income to be 2.5 times the monthly rent. So I'm going to end up renting a more expensive place because I don't make enough money to rent the cheaper places. Yay.

[browneyedguuurl]

I've lived in Atlanta in Buckhead which is a very nice area and paid around $850 for my share in a 2b/2b apartment. I've also lived in Miami and rent has sky rocketed in the past 2 years. You need 3-4 months deposit to move in and you won't find anything for less than $1,350 (studio), which is crazy to me since salaries in Florida aren't that high. I can't even imagine living in NYC, that's just insane.

[roseofjuly]

YES. Ugh, I hate the NYC housing market so much and I can't wait until I'm finished with my PhD and I can move out of this godforsaken city. Everything is so expensive here; rent eats up half your salary and food is so expensive here, too. I'm from Atlanta and so I'm experiencing sticker shock because Atlanta's such a nice city and you can get affordable, decent-sized housing in a nice neighborhood for much cheaper. Of course, you do need a car there, which is a big expense - but overall the cost of living is still lower there.

[layweed]

How bad is the cost of food? When I visited there last year the cost of food in Chinese supermarkets seemed reasonable.

[roseofjuly]

In my neighborhood, a half-gallon of milk is easily $3.69 (that is a little over the average cost of a GALLON of milk in the U.S.). Grapes are ~$3 a pound here. A half-gallon of ice cream - Edy's or Breyers, not the specialty stuff - is about $7-8. A pint of Ben & Jerry's is about $5-6. A half-gallon of orange juice is around $4-5, although sometimes they have the mid-range brands (Florida Naturals) for 2 for $7. The Minute Maid juice drinks are typically $2.69, which isn't so bad I suppose, but I remember them being cheaper at home. A box of cereal can range from $3-4 for Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, etc. to about $6 for my favorite cereal, Honey Bunches of Oats

[tsu_]

NYC-er here, where are you doing your groceries?? You shouldn't be paying so much! Trader Joe's/Fairways is actually not as cheap as people say it is, Food Bazaar/MET and places in Brooklyn/Queens/Bronx + Chinatown wet market is cheaper.