A lot of people in NYC complain about how expensive it is to live here, yet I don’t think a lot of them understand why that is. Or maybe a more accurate statement is that increased housing costs are a natural result of supply and demand, not some conspiracy by the rich to make everyone else’s lives miserable; sure, you can complain about the inherent rules of supply and demand but that’s like complaining that it’s not 75 degrees and sunny today.
A troubling trend in Manhattan is that its population consists of two extreme demographic groups: the poor and the extremely wealthy. The only way to live in Manhattan is to 1) earn over $100k a year or 2) qualify for public housing. In the next ten years, this situation is going to extend to the rest of the NYC boroughs (it already has in Brooklyn and will soon in Queens).
What is the right solution to this problem? I don’t see extending government subsidization of housing to the middle and upper middle class as a real solution (though I think this is actually what they’re doing in NYC). The free market side of me asks the question of what would happen if we got rid of public housing. I would like to say that all of the corporations occupying office buildings in Manhattan would still have to hire their blue collar workers (e.g. janitors, maintenance people, etc.) and therefore, would be forced to pay higher wages so that their employees can continue to be able to afford living in New York City without government subsidized housing. I think that is a more sustainable solution and won’t be as destructive to poorer people as many might think, but I don’t think it’s a politically feasible solution.
Maybe the reality is that not everyone can live where they ideally want to live. As much as I love NYC, if it gets prohibitively expensive to live anywhere within the five boroughs in the next ten years, I’m going to move out. To believe that people should be entitled to live in any neighborhood or city for any reason (even if they grew up there) is unfounded in reality.
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