Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Edison Correa - Costs of Rent in Los Angeles


Civic Engagement Project ART 3170 Social Issue Project


Problem Definition: Rent Costs in Los Angeles


Research

According to the article called “Rising Rent Burden in Los Angeles” by Megan Goulding, owning a home in Southern California used to represent the realization of the California Dream. Los Angeles is now one of the most populated rental market. It has now built 10.000 new high-end units in Downtown LA, but they aren’t affordable for an average renter that has to deal with increases of rental costs in the past few years.

According to the data, in 2013, “Los Angeles was the most rent-burdened city in the entire nation”, 62% of the people were spending more than 30% of their household income on rent every month. This makes it difficult to find an affordable place for renters, with the median apartment rent being one of the highest in the nation at $2,483.
This is even worse for the very low-income people, they were spending more than 50% of their household income in rent. The percentage of these rent-burdened people in the lowest 20% of the income distribution went up from 53.6% to 77.8% since the 70’s. By having to pay high amounts of rent, their income is not enough to support their expenses on a monthly basis on things such as transportation, groceries, healthcare, and childcare.

Currently in a new 2019 report from the “Apartment List”, the median rent price for a single-bedroom apartment was $1360 during January, and two-bedroom one was $1750. With the current date, it still shows that Los Angeles renters still pay a lot of their income toward the cost of housing, in fact more than $40 billion was spent on rent in 2018, and half of the residents of this area still spent more than 30$ of their household income on rent, making it hard to afford basic necessities.

Sources:




Personal

This issue affects not only me but our community, as the data shows, it just too much money going toward rent, and we experience this in my household. Like many other students, I still live with my family, and it’s a bit crazy to think that at one point in the future, being able to afford buying your own home will be very difficult, you virtually can’t save up any money. But more than that just basically living your everyday life, it seems like almost half of your money goes to rent, and the rest of it goes to basic necessities, I’m not saying you’re not having a decent life, but it’s a very restricted one for now, and without the financial support of your family, you wouldn’t be able save up for your own future. 

    
Gathering Evidence


Christophoros Zoumis 


“The cost of living in Los Angeles comes at a high price. As a student myself living a minimum wage job, it’s really difficult to pay all my bills and still have enough to pay my rent. After paying my rent I have less than $300 to myself, and that’s supposed to last me the rest of the month. I live check to check and it’s a stressful way to live. Last month I had a medical emergency and borrowed money to keep up with the rent I pay monthly. God forbid another unforeseen circumstance occurs, or I might end up living in the streets.”



Kevin Chimil


“It affects me dearly, because I ain’t trying to pay over two thousand for a one room apartment. Might as well move to Mexico and take over.”



Aristorelis Zoumis


“The rent here in Los Angeles is getting out of hand. Before we had large communities of people in mid-city LA who could afford to live in Los Angeles. Within the last 5 years, gentrified have moved into the neighborhood driving up the prices. Land lords kick out people in an effort to make a profit. Quickly communities are being pushed out for hipsters and coffee shops. This has to stop.”

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