I drive around a lot of small towns in Upstate New York about an hour away from Manhattan. There are large tracts of empty land wherever the eye can see. There SHOULD be low priced rentals on some of this land. But when you look online for rentals, $800/$900 is the absolute rock bottom price that you will find, and this will have some sort of fatal flaw - either being very very far from the train, OR having a severe noise restriction, OR walking up a lot of stairs, OR being really really small - or something. An actual LIVABLE apt will be between 1100/1300 per month usually. And something high end, of course, is always available just waiting for renters - $1400-$2500. Are they actually getting anyone to rent these? Your guess is as good as mine. I see the same listings all the time, just waiting and waiting and waiting for that $2,000 renter.
There are TONS of spaces in every single small town waiting for businesses to rent out. Commercial business space has never been more available. Almost every single strip mall has available business space, random buildings dotting the countryside, anything from made over firehouses to older houses with peaked roofs, old converted warehouses, etc. Big signs proclaim their availability- START YOUR BUSINESS HERE! Waiting and waiting and waiting for that chiropractor, that beauty supply business, that gym....something to come in and fill that empty hole in the economy. And they sit. And sit. And sit.
Did anybody stop to think that maybe, just MAYBE, these rarely-filled rentals and these rarely-filled business spaces that are empty should be made into low-cost rentals? And that the needy families and individuals who are either homeless or spending greater than 50% of their income on rent should be allowed to move into these places for like $500/month, so that human suffering could be alleviated? That $500/month is better than (most likely), zero? And that the extra money freed up by allowing people to have clean, safe housing that they could ACTUALLY AFFORD would stimulate the economy more than waiting and waiting and waiting for someone who can pay you $2,000/month, who never shows up?
There are TONS of spaces in every single small town waiting for businesses to rent out. Commercial business space has never been more available. Almost every single strip mall has available business space, random buildings dotting the countryside, anything from made over firehouses to older houses with peaked roofs, old converted warehouses, etc. Big signs proclaim their availability- START YOUR BUSINESS HERE! Waiting and waiting and waiting for that chiropractor, that beauty supply business, that gym....something to come in and fill that empty hole in the economy. And they sit. And sit. And sit.
Did anybody stop to think that maybe, just MAYBE, these rarely-filled rentals and these rarely-filled business spaces that are empty should be made into low-cost rentals? And that the needy families and individuals who are either homeless or spending greater than 50% of their income on rent should be allowed to move into these places for like $500/month, so that human suffering could be alleviated? That $500/month is better than (most likely), zero? And that the extra money freed up by allowing people to have clean, safe housing that they could ACTUALLY AFFORD would stimulate the economy more than waiting and waiting and waiting for someone who can pay you $2,000/month, who never shows up?
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