With rent prices going up, many people are struggling to reach these demands.
By Giovani Villeda
DAVIE, Fla., and MIAMI- Many would say that money isn’t everything in life, but its not a stretch to say that without money, it will be hard to survive in this country, especially Florida. One of the biggest necessities in life other than health and food, is shelter.
Rent has always been a stressful matter for millions of people across the country, but right now its at an all time high. A good amount of people are dealing with a recent rent increase, so add that to the already exaggerated amount of rent that most people are currently paying, it will be hard for many to keep up.
German Lobo, who is a 23-year-old student in Miami Dade College, is currently working with his father, German, in repairing homes. Lobo lives with his parents and three siblings in a home in North Miami. They’ve been living there since 2018 and have always paid a monthly rent of $1,500.
Two months ago, their landlord raised their rent to $2,000 a month, leaving Lobo and his family outraged. “We always paid our rent on time and got along with our landlord really well, so when he hit us with this notice, we were furious. What makes it worse for us, is that we depend on houses being available to repair because if there isn’t, that means work will be slow for us. So, if we start making less, paying this new amount of rent will be really difficult for us, but we always find ways to fix things, this won’t be any different.” He said.
What Lobo’s family goes through is the reality for millions of families here in Florida. Their rent will go up, but their salary or hourly wages won’t, leaving them in a horrible position.
The people that most suffer from these rent prices are those that work minimum wage jobs, since they make so little, some have to resort to working multiple jobs.
One of these people is Eric Garcia, who is 22 years old. Garcia has been working in the fast-food industry for a couple of years now. Now with these rent increases, Garcia had to take on another job to make ends meet.
“I’ve been working in McDonalds since I was 18. At first, I was fine living with my parents and had all my finances handled, but a couple of months ago, my parents went back to there country, Guatemala. Since then, it’s just been me and my little brother, and now everything has been harder for me, especially making my rent payments. Because of this, I picked up another job at Burger King to make ends meet. Working two jobs full time is not for everyone, but it’s what I have to do to try to live more comfortably if that makes sense.” He said.
Working two full time jobs is sometimes the only solution for many people to try to earn more money and being in a better living situation. With rent increasing, this is the reality for many, and maybe even more people in the future. With these jobs only offering the minimum wage, its hard for their employees to live off solely this one job, unless they have government help or things like that. Leading for many to seek a second job because of these wages.
Rent is going up in all parts of Florida, but its more expensive in the most populated cities, like Miami. Julian Gomez is a 27-year-old painter who works on construction projects that need to be painted after being built. He has been living in Davie since 2015 with his family.
Gomez recently moved into a three-bedroom home which costs him $1,600 in rent. “I honestly feel pretty lucky being able to find this home at a regular price.” He said.
When seeing how much rent is throughout the state, $1,600 for a three-bedroom home could be seen as a reasonable price in this current time because that could easily go for more than $2,000.
“I don’t think I will be able to find another house this size for less than what I’m currently paying in rent. Its funny because I have family in Miami, so I checked out homes over there first, but everything was over $2,000 and either the same size or smaller. So, I honestly feel like I won here.” Gomez said.
What Gomez said there shows how landlords take advantage of the more populated cities and ask for more because they know people are desperate to rent, so it will be picked up as soon as possible. People that come to Florida tend to look at Miami first, which drives up the price for everything.
Another area that is booming in price right now is the housing market. Buying a house right now is expensive, and like the current prices of rent, it’s really hard to pay for the average family. All the interests and all the fees that one has to pay when closing on a home is driving people away from being potential home buyers.
Michael Estrada is a 25-year-old retail worker who has been living with his family in their home in Davie since 2010. Recently though, they decided it was time to look for a home they can own.
“To keep it simple, my family is tired of paying rent and giving money away for a property that is not ours. We want to start paying for something that will be our own home 20 or 30 years from now.” He said.
Owning a home is seen as the “American Dream’ for many people that live in this country. This could be true but buying a house in this market as it is right now won’t be easy.
“My family and I have been looking for a home for about six months now. We got approved for a potential bank loan and all that, but these house prices are just ridiculous right now. We were really into the idea of buying one, but ever since we went around looking for one, our hopes keep disappearing day by day.” Estrada said.
The Estrada family are having a hard time looking for a house they want with the amount of rooms they need at a reasonable price. Sadly, this might be the situation now and in the future for them and for millions of families throughout Florida if everything just keeps increasing and salaries don’t.
