Condos in Makati

Recently, a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition has claimed that the disparity between the wages of working families and the cost of renting an apartment in the US is continuing to grow. This gives a dreary outlook for the more than 38 million renters in the country – roughly comprising a third of US households.

Currently, the average US family must have a yearly income of $38,355 ($18.44 per hour) in order to rent a simple two-bedroom apartment. The bad news, however, is that the average US renter wage has dropped from $14.69 to $14.44 an hour. Add to that the fact that around 60 percent of US renters live in areas where a one-bedroom apartment cannot be afforded by average wage earners, and the problem becomes very real indeed. Not to mention that minimum wage earners have no capability to rent one-bedroom apartments, even as the US Congress hiked the minimum wage to $7.25, up from $6.55 last year.

It gets worse

According to Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research, the average hourly wage actually fell by half a percentage point due to inflation, and is predicted to stay the same for the next few years. “So the ability of people to afford decent housing is not likely to get any better in the next few years. It’s more likely to be worse than better. We aren’t on a good path,” he adds.

Today, affordable housing in the US is becoming increasingly harder and harder to find. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation claims that for every affordable housing unit created, there are probably two that are destroyed or converted into more expensive condos and rentals. Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, on the other hand, says that an estimated 200,000 affordable housing units are lost every year. This has led the Low Income Housing Coalition to persuade policymakers to put more funds to affordable housing and rental assistance.

It also desires for the US Congress to funnel money into the National Housing Trust Fund, in order to have a permanent source of funds for the construction and renovation of 1.5 million rental housing units. The trust fund was approved back in 2008, although the economic recession had prevented Congress from funding it.

According to the coalition’s president, Sheila Crowley, “Providing $1 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund will help address the growing shortage of affordable housing, which is one of the most serious economic problems facing the country.” Crowley also expects the House of Representatives to start deliberations about the fund. “We are very much hoping that the Senate will take it up as well,” she adds.

This was answered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who says that the coalition’s report has helped shed light on the current problems of low-income families. “We are grateful for the NLIHC’s efforts, and we will continue our partnership to ensure that more Americans have better access to decent and affordable rental housing,” she assures.

Makati too?

Makati is perhaps the most important financial district in the Philippines, so it is only fitting that different types of businesses like call centers, banks, fast food establishments, and real estate can be found there. This means that office spaces, condos, and apartments are among the most valuable pieces of real estate in the city. Buying or renting such spaces, however, can be somewhat expensive, given the country’s high housing rates and the increasing demand for properties.

Condos and apartments, in particular, have been rising in popularity in recent years, with corporate people, businessmen, investors, and workers seeking to have a property of their own. Thus, it can be very hard to find properties that are both low-cost and high-quality because they are more or less already occupied.

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