Why Your Rent is So Damn High | Let Lee Explain

VICE2019-04-07

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336K views|5 years ago

💫 Short Summary

The video discusses the housing crisis in the US, where many Americans are struggling to afford rent. It highlights the record amount of money spent on rent in 2017 and the impact of stagnant wages and increasing living costs. The video also mentions the introduction of universal rent control in Oregon as a potential solution, but acknowledges the opposition and challenges in addressing the housing crisis.

✨ Highlights

📊 Transcript

✦

The housing crisis in the US is causing a significant financial burden on many Americans, with a record amount of money spent on rent.

00:00

In 2017, Americans spent over $485 billion on rent, the most in recorded history.

Half of renting Americans spend more than 30% of their income on rent.

15 million Americans spend more than half of their salaries on rent.

30% of renting Americans have at least one roommate due to high rent.

✦

Universal rent control is being considered as a solution to the housing crisis, with Oregon passing a law to cap rent increases.

02:22

Wages for the younger generation have stagnant purchasing power since the 1970s.

Politicians are discussing universal rent control as a potential solution.

Oregon has already implemented a law to cap rent increases at 7% plus the Consumer Price Index.

Some believe that housing should be a human right, not just a luxury determined by the market.

✦

Oregon has enacted the country's first universal rent control law, limiting rent increases to 7% plus the Consumer Price Index and preventing eviction without cause.

03:52

Critics argue that rent control may disincentivize landlords from renovating or maintaining buildings.

Rent control could also disincentivize further real estate development, but open up opportunities for more affordable housing through city development.

In cities like San Francisco, where there is a housing crisis, people are living in vans and tents due to exorbitant rent prices.

00:00 do you remember this guy his name is

00:02 Michael rotondo he was a 30 year old

00:04 grown man with a ponytail who went

00:06 through a court battle with his parents

00:08 after they attempted to a victim from

00:10 their house in upstate New York and when

00:12 Michael's story became national news he

00:15 was mercilessly dragged by cable news

00:17 and angry uncles on Facebook for being

00:19 proof to baby boomers that Millennials

00:21 are all entitled lazy pieces of who

00:24 can't stop leeching off their parents

00:26 and while his story is admittedly ripe

00:28 with material for late night hosts and

00:30 Twitter pundits Michael like a lot of us

00:33 is literally just trying to find a place

00:35 to live in a country where there isn't a

00:37 single state where someone earning

00:39 minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom

00:42 apartment and if you give me a second I

00:44 can explain why so many of us are

00:46 working our asses off just to be able to

00:49 share the roof that we can barely afford

00:51 to keep over our heads

00:56 in 2017 about 43 million Americans spent

01:01 more than four hundred and eighty five

01:02 billion dollars on rent which is the

01:05 most money ever spent on rent in the

01:07 history of I don't know history and in

01:11 recorded history ever since people

01:13 started paying attention to how much you

01:15 spend on rent what did people used to

01:16 spend on rent

01:18 goats well since then - it's the most

01:21 money half of the people in this country

01:22 who do rent homes are spending more than

01:24 30% of their paychecks on rent at a time

01:27 when apartment prices are skyrocketing

01:28 and paychecks aren't there are another

01:32 15 million Americans who spend more than

01:35 half of their salaries on rent and if

01:37 you aren't one of those people then you

01:39 might be one of the 30 percent of

01:40 renting Americans with the least one

01:42 roommate so you can thank your boss and

01:44 your landlord for being the reasons you

01:46 spend more time in your office than in

01:48 your bedroom but for some reason you

01:50 still have no money and our generation

01:52 is living through this housing crisis in

01:54 large part because our wages are

01:56 stagnant and when you account for

01:58 inflation our wages have the same

02:00 purchasing power they did in the 1970s

02:03 also don't forget that we're drowning in

02:05 a trillion dollars of student debt

02:07 health care costs are up and according

02:09 to the Federal Reserve we're earning

02:10 less

02:11 money have less savings and less assets

02:14 than our parents did at our age

02:16 despite being the most educated highly

02:19 skilled generation in the history of

02:21 America

02:22 oh that's to say we're broke dog we

02:24 can't afford a house and that's why we

02:26 are renting longer than any generation

02:28 to be 20-something before us however

02:30 there are actually politicians on

02:32 Capitol Hill trying to do something

02:34 about this because even they can't

02:36 afford to live near their job I'm

02:39 talking about Universal rent control

02:41 something that will cap how much

02:43 landlords can raise your rent every year

02:46 and it's already a law in Oregon if you

02:48 live in New York or LA or San Francisco

02:51 you've probably heard of rent-controlled

02:53 apartments and you know that finding one

02:55 is like finding a unicorn because a

02:57 rent-controlled apartment in New York

02:58 means someone's great on or something

03:00 has been living in the unit continuously

03:03 since 1970 at least and for the last

03:06 nearly 50 years they've been paying

03:08 almost the same amount for a

03:09 three-bedroom on Park Avenue when that

03:11 person moves out depending on the

03:13 building the unit returns to the current

03:15 market value and the laws in New York

03:17 prevent any new apartments from becoming

03:19 rent controlled eliminating

03:21 rent-controlled apartments from the

03:22 market altogether so you can forget

03:24 about one day taking over your random 89

03:27 year old acquaintances unit whom you've

03:29 become friends with in hopes that she

03:32 leaves you her three-bedroom on Park

03:34 Avenue before time eliminates her ass

03:36 from the earth which brings us back to

03:38 Oregon where the rents have been running

03:40 amok over the last decade and in certain

03:43 parts of the state people have seen

03:44 their rents go up by as much as a

03:46 hundred and thirteen percent this all

03:48 pushed legislators in the state to enact

03:50 the country's first universal rent

03:52 control law which was passed last month

03:55 and the new law restricts landlords from

03:58 increasing rent more than 7% plus the

04:00 Consumer Price Index which measures the

04:03 cost of living and inflation each year

04:05 it also means landlords can't evict you

04:07 without cause so they can't just sell

04:09 your building and then tell you to get

04:11 the out and this crazy idea that

04:13 housing is a human right and not a

04:15 luxury determined by the market in a

04:18 developed nation is actually starting to

04:20 catch

04:21 along the coasts but naturally anything

04:24 that helps out actual people and takes

04:26 money out of some rich pockets

04:28 is going to face a lot of opposition

04:30 critics of URC have said that policies

04:32 like these will disincentivize landlords

04:35 from renovating or staying on top of

04:37 building upkeep they've also said it

04:39 disincentivizes further real estate

04:40 development which to me just sounds like

04:43 people not wanting to gentrify your

04:45 neighborhood and if development is

04:47 halted in the private sector then it

04:50 opens up lanes for cities to develop

04:51 more affordable housing

04:53 since cities aren't motivated by profit

04:56 and in places like San Francisco where

04:58 there is a literal housing refugee

05:00 crisis and people are living in vans and

05:02 in tents and they're on the

05:04 street landlords who are about as

05:06 positive for that city as all that

05:09 we're converting buildings into

05:11 condominium units so that they could

05:13 sell them for prices that were just as

05:15 egregious as the prices they were being

05:17 rented for so until we see rent control

05:19 of some kind rent prices around the

05:21 country are going to continue to climb

05:23 and in New York City there has been a

05:25 35% increase in vacant apartments that

05:28 means that in the past four years nearly

05:30 200,000 units have become totally empty

05:33 because no one can afford them so most

05:36 of us better get used to sharing a

05:37 bathroom whether that's with your

05:39 friends from college your significant

05:41 other or some random freak from

05:42 Craigslist

05:43 Ted shout-out to you please stop

05:46 masturbating so loudly because we're on

05:47 track to see a lot more Michael ratandas

05:50 before the majority of us can actually

05:52 afford to live in the cities where we

05:54 work

💫 FAQs about This YouTube Video

1. What is the housing situation faced by many Americans?

Many Americans are facing a housing crisis, with a significant financial burden due to the record amount of money spent on rent. In 2017, over $485 billion was spent on rent, the most in recorded history, causing half of renting Americans to spend more than 30% of their income on rent.

2. How has the housing crisis affected the younger generation?

The housing crisis has affected the younger generation significantly, as their wages have stagnant purchasing power since the 1970s. With the cost of rent skyrocketing and wages not keeping up, more young people are unable to afford housing, leading to a situation where they are renting longer than any generation before them.

3. What is being done to address the housing crisis?

There are discussions about implementing universal rent control to address the housing crisis. Oregon has already taken a step in this direction by enacting the country's first universal rent control law, which limits rent increases and prevents eviction without cause.

4. What are the potential effects of rent control?

Critics argue that rent control may disincentivize landlords from renovating or maintaining buildings. It could also disincentivize further real estate development, but open up opportunities for more affordable housing through city development in the long term.

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