Rent prices are so high that Gen Z can't afford to live alone anymore

In a city of 200k I can rent a two bedroom apartment for about 1.2k and have access to everything I might possibly need (including a job) except an Ikea...

Edit: funny how people get insulted when they're told wanting to live in major city centers might be the issue... Nothing new about living in New York being more expensive than Albany.

Yes, but it's worse for everybody. Millennials that have been renting for decades... How the hell are they going to get ahead enough to save up for a down payment!? Meanwhile, housing prices keep rising, outpacing even combined incomes. I realize some people are able to make it work, but I don't think it's the majority...

Oh absolutely, didn't mean for that to be a takeaway. These kids have got it way worse than we do, they were fucked right out of the gate even harder than we did. Just had my Gen X "they forgot about us" moment.

I think 79 is supposed to be the last year for gen X.

Well, that was a bit elitist.

C'mon man, that's a little harsh, don't ya think? I get that you don't owe him anything but for real, not everyone's calling is equally rewarding financially, and you know this, and you know how fucked up it is.

Teachers deserve a wage that allows them to save and vacation every year.

In fact, we all do.

Fast food burger flippers do too. Society could afford it before, that we aren't doing it now is the result of policy decisions, not some invisible market moral correction voodoo. Workers at Dicks Burgers in Seattle make $21/hr + bene's and Dicks food is 1000x better than any fast food chain, and cheaper too. The money's there, it's just not being spread around.

Good for you achieving your own security, honestly, I mean that. But the scales being balanced is something we all need to work towards. Youre still working class, and right now the games still rigged to make sure you die broke. If we can't collectively work together to make sure the economy works for us all (cuz what's the point of a society then? It's just a fancy meat grinder otherwise), that paramedics make more than minimum wage. I'd like to live in a world where words matter. Where "essential" workers weren't just sacrificed on the alter of capitalism bc the beaurocratic class got furloughed and are actually treated essential.

Otherwise it's just a matter of time until another round of Reaganomics or fascists usurp power and either way your union gets busted. Ask the control tower what it's like when the government doesn't give a shit about the law, or precident. The law only matters if it's enforced.

Too bad you managed to make it to 40 without developing any sense of perspective

Thanks for feeding into the consumerist "all that matters is the money you make and the things you can buy" attitude that's doing so well for us all right now! We really need it!

The headlines just keep repeating. Insert newest generation and print

I'm an older millennial and my brother is younger. Our parents are old enough we each have a parent living with us.

I'm in Seattle, most of my friends have roommates or moved back in with their parents (which I did in 2020 when I lost my last job). I am making slightly more than my last job now with a second degree but after inflation I'm making quite a bit less and rent has gone up significantly since then. So I still can't afford my own place.

Older Millenials are more like younger Gen X, while younger Millenials are more like older Gen Z.

History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes.

Used to be. It's moving towards just being a landlord though.

It's called one of the sexiest human beings alive and they would have most people you or I would be interested in at their beck and call.

We breed for greed.

Quick history of inflation in America. President Eisenhower started the US/Vietnam War, and JFK kept it going. Ike and Kennedy both wanted to keep it small, but LBJ made a major commitment of troops and air power to deliver a knockout punch. That turned into a quagmire where the US couldn't pull out without looking like losers. President Johnson [LBJ] started printing money to pay for the War, rather than raise taxes. Nixon was elected as a peace candidate. Nixon's Vietnam policy alone is worth several books, but we'll just talk about the US dollar.

Nixon doubled down on Johnson's bombing policy; the US factories were working 24/7 to make more weapons. Great, except the money was all paper. When the Arab Oil boycott hit the price of everything went through the roof. Suddenly stay at home moms were forced to get jobs to keep the family fed. In 1968 'middle class' was one job to support a family, by 1980, two income families were becoming the norm.

Then came Reagan. Big tax cuts for the rich were supposed to make everything golden again. In 1980, $1 million was considered a vast fortune; by 1992 it was what a really rich guy paid for a party.

You can still buy one for that, as long as you don't mind living in Flint and like the taste of lead.

The problem is both.

Edit:

Of course this isn't universally applicable, but in my city there's basically six large landlords that own and manage the types of large, multi-family apartment buildings where the majority of people live.

There's no competition in housing and it shows in the pricing, which has been skyrocketing not coincidentally as the firms consolidate and then all "somehow" price align using the same software market rates.

It's both. You're getting robbed both ways. It's not one or the other.

Imagine if the average home was $114,290 adjusted for inflation.

'Adjusted for inflation ' is kind of a joke. If inflation worked the way the adjustments would have you believe, the average home of today would be $120,000 apx. It's about three times that.

Disabled people are literally paid just to be alive.

Trying to paint reality as a hellish dystopia only works if you say true things.

That's very true. Although it's also true that forcing people into cramped quarters with one another for long periods exacerbates interpersonal issues, and people need the ability to walk away from one another and decompress.

Whether that's as simple as having their own room where they can close the door, or having a "third place" where they can go without needing to spend money to decompress and not have to be around others, you can't just endlessly force people to live together, especially when it keeps leading to domestic violence outcomes.

I agree, for most of history humans lived in shared, community housing, and that's not a bad thing, however I do think it's bad to promote the idea that we all need to be crammed into incredibly tiny spaces with multiple people living with them.

It would be different if housing was equitable and we didn't have billionaires using up massive amounts of housing literally for only themselves while the rest are stuck in tiny boxes that they can barely fit inside. Housing size needs to be an equitable issue, because housing size and cramped quarters is a mental and physical health issue.

Lol, what? The American tradition has always, in the last century, been to move out as an adult and work your way up into a house and raise a family. On your own. What hell are you calling traditional? Farmer families from the 1800s?

Big "bUt ThErE aRe ChIlDrEn StArViNg In AfRiCa" energy. How dare someone complain when things could be worse, right? What an ungrateful dick for wanting better just because the previous generation had that, huh?

I saw a quote that I found 100% applicable and will never forget: "Europeans vote as if they will one day be homeless. Americans vote as if they will one day be billionaires."

US really needs a reality check on which one is more likely.

I think a lot of them see it as a degree of "fairness." That these people earned it (ignoring the facts that got them to where they are now) and they deserve to keep it. It's more of a moral thing to them than any real worship, and there definitely is a touch of "don't let that happen to me." As if their wealth is at risk.

You're literally talking about when you were 18. No shit.

Yeah, and that was considered unrealistic living even at the time.

In my father's case, he worked part time pumping gas at Sears and had an apartment with three friends while still paying for all of college in cash. The early 1970s were the place to be, apparently.

Yeah boy am I glad I pulled the trigger on a real estate purchase when I did. My costs (mainly HOA, and to a lesser extent taxes) have gone up very slightly in the last few years, but nowhere near the 30-40% increases I used to get smacked with renting over the same timeframe.

It's like 1.5-2x as expensive as it was to rent in this (already expensive) area 3 years ago.

I'm determined to never rent again. Landlords are unbelievably greedy.

My father is in real estate and recently had a "talk" with me about how putting 15% into retirement won't help me and that the only way to secure my future is through real estate. I didn't have the reverse "talk" with him where I would have pointed out how he's completely underestimating how much money it's going to cost to change his diapers in a couple years and how that house will only offset the costs rather than repair them.

I see. religious scumbags. fuck them

Yes, that's illegal. I would have been kegging in everyday the first week of my residency just to fuck with them.

I could possibly see it being a legal grey area in a dry county, but that's just bonkers to me.

No one bats an eye at this but if it was a Muslim family who prevented people from having pork in their homes people would be losing their minds

I bet that it had a free pedo-cell in the basement, thou.

You're not wrong, but at least they got a chance to prepare.

I asked my boomer mother why her generation wasn't leading the revolt. I took the first job I remember her having when I was just a wee one, asked her that pay, extrapolated inflation on it and showed her that she's making the same amount of money today as she was then. Inflation, as a tool to control the masses, has robbed her of every "pay raise" or advancement of her entire life.

Her story is not unique.

That doesn't let them off the hook for the housing market tho, that shit, intentional or not, is literally just robbing their kids and grandkids futures for themselves.

If anything, it will become more true with every passing year.

2600 - 1/2 hour outside of DC.

Divide by 10, minus 10%

Yeah I know all of these things. I'm also a person who exists in this economy. I'm just saying that not being able to afford living alone is a bad choice of things to highlight.

I don't assume women are prostitutes though. That's just fucked up.

I'm just tired of Zs acting like they're the only ones who were delt a bad hand, it's just a way to turn people of different generations against one another while the real issue is billionaires manipulating is into hating each other.

I don't see you telling them they're angry and should talk to someone and that's it.

Sorry that's how you interpreted it, my message was intended to make people realize that it's not a gen Z thing, it's a systemic issue that's affected many generations.

Holy fucking shit

Fair response, but being around and meeting people can help even if it’s something you’re forced to do out of necessity.

Living with disrespectful or negative people can suck too though.

How can you be lonely? You always have someone to talk to. If you are nice they might be willing to cook a meal for you (as long as you cook something too). Plenty of entertainment (when they fight with their significant other). Someone to play games with (cards, chess, hide their keys, watch them shower).

Are you always this antagonistic? Calling what I said “legitimately stupid” is pretty rude.

I had 3 roommates in a small apartment out of necessity for years and it was stressful, but it did help me feel less lonely. I was literally just pointing to one small positive (in my opinion and from my perspective) in an otherwise shitty situation.

Have you never had roommates? If they're friends, they often stop being friends pretty quickly once you find out how they live. Not having roommates is a way to keep friends, not make them.

If you mean people should be able to financially afford to live alone by choice. I 100% agree.

Multi-generational homes doesn't necessarily equate to multiple incomes for support. Historically there was a single income earner because cost of living was more balanced with average income (not true for everyone and every demographic, but on average). Having two or more people in the family earning a paycheck is a modern invention as wages flatlined. I suppose you could go further back when the income was the family farm or business and the kids were free labor, but that's not really a comparable situation to what's being discussed.

Women being able to have jobs, own property and generally be self-sufficient is historically very uncommon.

Maybe we shouldn't give a fuck about what was common historically.