Across Nation, Housing Costs Rise as Burden

The New York Times said, on October third, that according to the Census Bureau, housing and renting prices have risen significantly from 2000 to 2005. Middle class people in the Midwest and suburbs all across the nation are the ones suffering the most. The people are paying much higher rents than usually. Tenets have to pay about thirty percent of their total income on rent. In Olathe, Kansas some people even pay fifty percent of their wages minimum for their housing. However, the main problem is that even though housing prices have risen, incomes have not. People are still getting paid the same no matter how much higher their rent is. Some try moving out of the state, but it is difficult to leave everything back home and try to start over in a different place.

During the Great Depression, something similar occurred, except it was the other way around. During the 1930s, incomes lowered while housing prices stayed the same. Families struggled to pay their homes and rents just like the people in the Midwest today. They, unfortunately, had less of an opportunity moving out of state. If these people went to a different part of the country, a higher wage would not be a guarantee. They would have to risk everything.