Housing Crisis Is Causing A Panic
by Christopher Smith
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA- Rent prices have been on the rise lately and it does not seem like it is lowering anytime soon. With everyone from different places deciding that Florida is the go-to state to migrate to, it is getting harder for the natives to even find a place to reside in.
“Back then renting a one bedroom and one bathroom apartment in Florida used to cost about $800 a month but it has now doubled since”, said 44-year-old Charme Bien-Aime a traveling truck driver. People are outraged at the increases of the rent especially for some apartment complexes that are not considered the best in shape. It leaves some of the Florida residents to either accept their rent going up or scrambling to find a new affordable place.
“My rent went up $500 where I used to pay $1400 a month for my two bedroom and two-bathroom apartment and I was honestly mad to the point where I wanted to look elsewhere,” said 42-year-old, Tiffany Hook, a mother of two daughters. “I decided to stay where I was because it was even worse finding an apartment, so I had to suck it up”, said Tiffany Hook, an urgent care worker. She is not the only Florida’s resident to complain about this issue at hand. It seems like it is creating huge problems for people that were comfortable paying their original price just to be struggling to even pay monthly and working paycheck to paycheck. Not only are their rent going up but a huge amount is added to it. There are a lot of people whose rent is going up $1000 and people are downsizing or downgrading to find something more affordable.
“I have been living in my tiny apartment for about two years now but now I have to move back in with my mother because I cannot afford to pay anymore,” said 26-year-old Victoria Pauly, an urgent care worker. It is very unfortunate for someone to be living on their own for a couple of years and paying their own bills just for the increase of rent price to leave them without a home. The only solution to their dilemma is to move back in with their parents. More down south of Florida seems to be more expensive than northern Florida. Although rent is increasing in every part of Florida you can still see the differences between northern Florida and south of Florida.
“I had to move down here for work, but I really wish I would have stayed in Tallahassee some days,” said 29-year-old Shella Brown, mother of two toddler girls. “I used to pay $750 every month for rent up in Tallahassee for my two bedroom and three and a half bathrooms but since moving down south my rent increased from $700 to $1750 a month which is a drastic amount from what I am used to paying.” Shella Brown goes on to talk more about how it had made it even harder on her family because when they used to live in Tallahassee, they would have leftover money but majority of her check goes to rent where they have to scramble to find money for other necessities such as groceries and other expenses. Rent in palm beach county has increased 10% since 2021 so many people are moving to the state of Florida it is causing rent to go up and affect the residents who already live here. The prices of housing in palm beach county have gone up and makes it harder for families to get through the year because they have to budget differently now.
“I was paying 1,200$ a month to rent at my home and since the rent was raised due to the economy being bad right now, I am paying 1,800$ now that’s a big difference it makes it harder because I have to stress on how I’m going to get food and be able to pay all my bills on time with rent increasing unexpectedly.”, said Janice cooper a TD bank employee. The increase of rent has impacted a lot of families and left them struggling to make ends meet. Landlords have to now notify families 60 days in advance before increasing their rent so they won’t be surprised on the increase and can budget accordingly. The pandemic has affected a lot of families since there was a shortage of supplies and prices went up. Rent in south Florida is ranked 7th amongst the U.S metro areas. It’s better to rent than buy a house in south Florida right now because of the high interest rates. There hasn’t been any improvement since the pandemic with rent families hoping to see improvement in 2023 where they won’t have to work overtime to make ends meet and not stress over how they will pay all of their bills on time without being broke after.
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