cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19930828
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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Tie housing costs to wages.
You wanna raise the rent? Go talk to the bosses and convince them to raise wages.
You wanna cut wages? Go talk to the landlords and get our rent down.
Or get a tenant with a higher wage?
The problem with this idea is that stats say that rents aren't increasing faster than wages.
Yes! I've been saying that forever. They say rent/mortgage shouldn't be more than 30% of your income. OK, make it so if you're working full-time, you can afford to live. Doesn't seem like a complicated, or controversial, take.
I don't know a single person who is only spending 30% on housing. It's more like 50% where I live. A lot of landlords have that dumb "rule" where you must make triple the cost of the lease per month after taxes but will look the other way when 4 people split the cost evenly for a 2 bedroom apartment so they can each make ends meet. Not a single one of them comes close to making 3x the rent each month but an over occupied apartment is more likely to remove a squeaky wheel who won't pay their share of the rent on their own without management having to get involved. Saves them the trouble of having to fight a long legal battle to evict a troublesome tenant.
Housing is so beyond fucked right now.
It really is... Me and my gf are two software developers living together, AKA income definitely isn't an issue. And yet almost half of our collective income goes to rent. To be fair we are renting a 3 room flat, and it was our choice to splurge a bit for now. But when I think about the future, starting a family, suddenly a flat like this doesn't seem as outrageous of a desire. To actually meet the 30%, we'd need a much smaller flat, each on our own would only afford a single room. But our incomes are comfortably above average, SO HOW THE FUCK DOES ANYBODY ELSE AFFORD ANYTHING AT ALL?!?
That is true, in many other countries. But the USA loves it's exceptionalism, and this is one of those fucked up examples of it.
(Of course other countries have their own issues.)
I am more in favor of tying wages to inflation.
It's a day broader metric.... That way, slave wage companies can't screw their workers by charging out the ass for the services they're providing for next-to-nothing. Then the business owners can fight with everyone about keeping the inflation rates low so they can enjoy paying their workers less.
Let these two asshole groups duke it out amongst themselves.
Inflation however is a load of bollocks. It's inaccurate to measure and can be oh so easily manipulated.
House prices have been rising at a stupid rate for decades yet we had in the UK a typical inflation rate of... 0.1% for a decade whilst house prices out performed everything else because they just ignore it.
Like how if your favourite brand of cereal goes up 700%, that won't be included in inflation data they make the assumption you'd eat a generic brand instead that only went up 0.5%
It's all bollocks the lot of it, remove money it's not worth anything anyway
You need to look at the rent for the cost of housing. That's what goes into inflation. House prices are high because inflation is low. Or more correctly, they are high because interest rates are low, which is because inflation is low.
Imagine you have a rock-solid investment opportunity. You are sure, it will generate a return of 10k until the next year. Say you can borrow money for 5%pa. If you borrow and invest 100k, you get 110k back and have to pay 105k back, for a profit of GBP 5k. But if everyone thinks the same, they are not just going to let you have free money. If they can't adjust the payout, they will adjust the price. So, at that rate of interest, the price has to be 200k for that 10k opportunity.
The point is that if rents are constant while interest rates go down, then the cost of buying must go up.
Remember if your yearly raise isn’t more than inflation, you’ve lost money.
Happened to me for a couple of years through COVID, where I got no raises for a few years and let's just say, I don't work at that company anymore.