Stuck in the Middle
An article in this week’s Crain’s looks at how real estate prices and taxes are making the city increasingly unaffordable for the middle class. The rising cost of housing, in particular, has meant that families making between $80,000 and $150,000 a year are finding it more difficult than ever to make ends meet. Higher real…
An article in this week’s Crain’s looks at how real estate prices and taxes are making the city increasingly unaffordable for the middle class. The rising cost of housing, in particular, has meant that families making between $80,000 and $150,000 a year are finding it more difficult than ever to make ends meet. Higher real estate costs in Brooklyn, for example, have put the borough out of reach for many middle-income earners. A person profiled in the article who makes $60,000 a year looked all over Brooklyn before deciding to rent in Astoria. “Five years ago, [landlords] in Park Slope would have come to you,” he says. Interestingly, the story also notes that the city’s recent prosperity has contributed to a widespread sense of entitlement, thus making people believe that their incomes should stretch farther. “People used to squeeze kids into one bedroom; now everybody thinks every kid should get his own bedroom,” says Nicole Gelinas, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Unaffordable NY: Tough Choices at $150,000 [Crain’s]
Photo by ultraclay!
I think Park Slope is far nicer than Bel Air. I grew up there. But that’s neither here nor there.
And actually most brownstones in PS are about right on target price-wise with most homes in Bel Air.
Sure there is the occasional 20 million baby out there, but most are 1.5 – 4 million-ish.
4:03 – Relax, I think they are just comparing the “Concept” of beleiving you should be entitled to live in the same neighborhood you work, regardless of how expensive.
I dont think they meant Park Slope is as nice or expensive as Bel Aire.
I want a real Governor who appoints an MTA Board that has a clue about how to improve and expand mass transit in NYC, particularly Queens and Brooklyn.
OMG – This post is getting ridulious. Now someone is comparing Park Slope to Bel Air
Park Slope = Diverse housing stock, single and multi family homes, rentals, condos, co-ops. People are living on top of each other.
Bel-Air – Single family homes that are spread out.
3:42, if teachers were promoted–and fired like the rest of us shlubs, the good ones would make more, the mediocre ones would be gone (see Mitt Romney quote from one of the debates), and education would be a whole lot better.
3:45 – So retarded you are, I mean seriously it was obvious an exagerration for someone to ‘Marry into Money” or Steal – Your pathetic self-righteous response tells us everything we need to know about you.
Your friend lives 45 minutes away and is tired and irritable?
1 – 3:50 is right, making 60K and living 45 min away is sad.
2 – The average commute in NYC is nearly an hour, so spare us the sob story.
3 – She works until 2 or 3 the latest and has 3+ months off and every single holiday, recess, winter break, etc., off.
Typical hippie-wannabe, liberal New Yorker response.
The commute from Kensington or Ditmas to Park Slope would be propably be 45 minutes Door to Door.
There are no trains that go directly. Depending where the school is, she might have to take the bus.
3:42–
If a teacher earning 60K deserves to be able to afford “a modest home in a prime neighborhood,” who should have to live in less-than-prime neighborhoods? As long as you’re handing down moral judgments, do please tell us who you’re comfortable consigning there. How about a single mom making 60K as an executive assistant for a pharmaceutical company? Is her job too evil?
Or maybe we should *all* get to live in prime neighborhoods! Every one of us! Yay! Everyone will be above average!
For all the whining around here, it is actually more possible for lower-paid people to live in or near ‘prime’ neighborhoods than in most other American cities–because of the diversity of housing stock and apartment sizes–as long as they will compromise on space. You show me a schoolteacher in L.A. who can afford to live in Bel Air or Brentwood.
if your teacher friend can’t afford a 1-2 bedroom in kensington or ditmas (150-250K) on her 60K a year salary, she’s doin too many drugs.
you are asinine for saying someone on her salary needs to live 45 mins away from park slope.