Well, I guess I got the heck out of California at the right time.
While living in the San Fernando Valley, my rent was just a hair under $1,020 a month. That was considered low for a one-bedroom apartment those days. The reason is that I lived in that apartment complex for nearly 20 years, so the rent increases were not so bad. Newer renters aren't so lucky.
Now, rights are reaching "insane" levels and there's no end in sight. Could it be that property owners and landlords are trying to make up for the rent moratorium during the first two years of the pandemic? But the moratorium isn't being blamed for the rent hikes.
According to an Associated Press report posted on AOL:
Krystal Guerra’s Miami apartment has a tiny kitchen, cracked tiles, warped cabinets, no dishwasher and hardly any storage space.
But Guerra was fine with the apartment’s shortcomings. It was all part of being a 32-year-old graduate student in South Florida, she reasoned, and she was happy to live there for a few more years as she finished her marketing degree.
That was until a new owner bought the property and told her he was raising the rent from $1,550 to $1,950, a 26% increase that Guerra said meant her rent would account for the majority of her take-home pay from the University of Miami.
“I thought that was insane,” said Guerra, who decided to move out. “Am I supposed to stop paying for everything else I have going on in my life just so I can pay rent? That’s unsustainable.”
Experts say many factors are responsible for astronomical rents, including a nationwide housing shortage, extremely low rental vacancies and unrelenting demand as young adults continue to enter the crowded market.
To read more, go here.
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