The increase in home prices is threatening the middle class who are looking at the government to take action that would give affordable housing for the people.
According to Yahoo, owning a home is a top priority for most Americans. However, homebuyers are having a tough time saving up for a house or cannot qualify for a loan due to low credit scores. The continuous increase of home prices and short supply are among the top problems of homebuyers. In the past 40 years prior to 2008, the government produced 1.6 million housing units annually. However, the present average has significantly become lower. In 2015, there were only 1.1 million housing units built.
In Seattle, because of the heavy demand from people to have an affordable price for houses, the city council made drastic plans to address the problem. They added more housing units for their citizens which they can avail for lower rates. The same thing is being done in Austin; a new zoning plan for the city was made to make space for more affordable houses. On the contrary, in San Francisco, even software engineers cannot afford to buy a house for them, where median house prices reached $1 million.
It is not surprising that businesses are trying to find and move to locations where they can offer the same wages, yet it can give employees a better chance at having a more comfortable life. And having the means to buy one's own home is a big part of what makes workers stay. Giving bigger wages will not solve the problem of ballooning costs of living but giving affordable housing will lessen its impact on workers.
Meanwhile, in the report by Forbes, having a high-cost house in the real estate market is terrible news, not only for the middle-class Americans but even more so for the poor and those who only rent. The number of renters below the poverty line is increasing while the supply of affordable house is quickly dipping. This is particularly noticeable over the past year when prices of homes began to soar.
