Do you know that it is generally recommended that housing expenses shouldn’t be more than 30% of what you earn, leaving 70% of your income for food, clothing, and other necessities?
According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, approximately 12 million renters and homeowners are spending more than 50% of their income on housing, including utilities, thereby making it difficult for families to afford other necessities, i.e. transportation, clothes, food, entertainment, medical care, etc. Towards this end, in many American cities middle and upper income people are moving into neighborhoods that had previously suffered disinvestment and decay. These severely “house cost burdened” families want and/or need to move into sustainable neighborhoods accessible to more transportation options, affordable housing, jobs, businesses, services, and social activities.
Read more in Susan Colbert's blog article about how the benefits of neighborhood revitalization are, in some cases, achieved at a potentially serious cost: the displacement of existing neighborhood residents by eviction, excessive code violations, increased property values/taxes, rent increases, changing demographics, etc. and what Columbus and Franklin County, as well as other cities nation-wide, have done to preserve some stability in up-and-coming neighborhoods.
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Susan Colbert is the Franklin County Extension Program Director for Expansion and Engagement. |