Gentrification and Me: The Story of an American Student
It seems nowadays that the average salary of an American worker does not and cannot keep up with the cost of living in the United States. As rent skyrockets in American cities and suburbs, as young people flock to cities in search of opportunity, and as it gets harder and harder for the 78 percent of Americans living paycheck to paycheck to buy groceries on a weeks’ salary, we see this major change.
When we take a look at one of the biggest and most popular cities in the country, New York City, we see a clear example of a major change. The average cost of rent for a one- bedroom apartment in Manhattan in 2017 was $3,100. The median household income in the same year was about $57,782 before taxes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
So, let’s do the math. When we calculate how much of the $57,782 a year goes towards rent, it’s over half- $37,200, and that’s just for a one bedroom apartment in Manhattan. Then you factor in things like electric and water bills, furniture, groceries, and transportation. There’s no room to budge on the budget, and there’s no room for savings.
This is where gentrification comes in. Gentrification is defined as “the process of repairing and rebuilding homes and businesses in a deteriorating area (such as an urban neighborhood) accompanied by an influx of middle- class or affluent people that often results in the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents,” according to the Merriam- Webster English Dictionary. This is where our problem lies, forcibly creating affluent neighborhoods displaces prior residents, usually low- income people of color. The concept of improving neighborhoods is great, but not when it displaces its residents.
But why do I, a 21 year old college student living in Fort Myers, FL care so much about gentrification and the cost of living in NYC? Well, I care because I’d like to live in the Big Apple someday, but also because gentrification happens everywhere, not just in major cities.
Fort Myers is by no means a “college town.” They took a wealthy neighborhood, one of the wealthiest in the country, and dropped a college in the middle of it. If the cost of living wasn’t already high, having students flock to a brand- new, beautiful school in an affluent area only creates more of a problem here. The cost of rent is high and getting higher, and tuition is already so expensive. While the cost of living on campus is pretty reasonable, living in student housing off- campus or in a regular apartment is extremely expensive.
Last fall, I was living at University Village, paying $900 per month in rent for a two bedroom apartment. We had a $25 cap for electric and water, and my roommate and I paid any overages. In total, I was paying about $925 to $930 a month just for a small bedroom with a closet and attached bathroom and a shared common area with a roommate. While I acknowledge that this is a pretty sweet deal for most college students, this is considered cheap and relatively austere for the area. I think the amenities and the apartment itself weren’t worth $900+ per month, they were just charging that much because the complex was brand new.
In December of last year, I sublet my apartment at University Village and moved into an apartment a bit further off campus with my boyfriend. When we were looking within 5 miles from the school, all of the apartments we looked at were 1,200 square feet at the most, and about $1,800 per month. The apartment we chose and currently live in is about 20 minutes away from campus (about 13 miles away in North Fort Myers), $1,600 a month, and 2000 square feet. To us, it’s much more worth it. Our neighborhood is about 10 minutes away from Lehigh Acres, and it is a gated community (friends often refer to the security as Fort Knox) with lots of couples and families. As nice as our community is, it also creates this sort of example that the further you get away from campus and the wealthy community, the cheaper the rent.
What this all boils down to is that people don’t make enough to pay their rent and stay in their current home. I’m fortunate enough that my parents are able to pay my rent and I cover the rest of my half of the bills from the money I make at work, but my paycheck would never even come close to covering all of the rent. Not everyone is so lucky, and many count their pennies to survive. One of the worst effects of gentrification is that the people who are priced out of their homes may have nowhere else to go. While finding an immediate solution is difficult, some candidates and politicians think they have the answers.
In this upcoming presidential election, many of the Democratic candidates are rallying around universal basic income, which would raise the minimum wage and make living more affordable for the average worker. Many cities have experimented with a $15 minimum wage with mixed results. When Seattle raised the minimum wage, employers started cutting workers’ hours so they could afford their payroll. However, many argue that the experiment hasn’t had enough time yet to show economic growth. One candidate, Andrew Yang, is proposing a guaranteed $1,000 per month basic income for every American adult, making rent, bills, and food more affordable, while not impacting employers or tampering with workers’ livelihoods.
I personally love Andrew Yang’s solution. He gets a lot of criticism from people who wonder where the $1,000 per month is coming from, but one of Yang’s biggest strengths is that his policies are very logical and fact- based. Yang would impose higher taxes on billionaires who can afford to pay more in taxes. The wealth would be redistributed to the people who actually need it. He calls his policy “trickle up economics.”
All in all, we won’t be able to find a definite solution to gentrification and the rising cost of living until we experiment with it. This country and its citizens need to be unafraid of at least trying to pay fair and living wages and keeping the cost of housing down as much as possible in order to create a more successful and affordable life for all.
