YOUNG VOTERS DIVIDED AS PRICES SOAR DESCRIPTION In the midst of the ongoing U.S. affordable housing crisis, voters find themselves at a crossroads as they weigh their options between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming election. With a staggering 47% increase in U.S. home prices over the past decade, many American families now allocate at least 38% of their income to mortgage payments, making housing affordability a top concern, especially for younger generations.
#AffordableHousing #HousingCrisis #Election2024 #TrumpVsHarris #ThompsonMarkwardHall #YoungVoters #HomeOwnership #HousingAffordability #WomenEmpowerment #DCCommunity #RentCrisis #MillennialHousing #GenZConcerns #PoliticalDebate #SocialJustice
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#AffordableHousing #HousingCrisis #Election2024 #TrumpVsHarris #ThompsonMarkwardHall #YoungVoters #HomeOwnership #HousingAffordability #WomenEmpowerment #DCCommunity #RentCrisis #MillennialHousing #GenZConcerns #PoliticalDebate #SocialJustice
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00:00Affordable housing is a major issue for many Americans in this election cycle, as they
00:12choose between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
00:17As per a survey by the National Association of Homebuyers, the average American family
00:22spends at least 38% of their household income on their mortgage.
00:27In fact, U.S. home prices have risen by 47% in the past decade.
00:34Both presidential candidates have big plans to lower the housing cost, which is a huge
00:39concern for young Americans.
00:42Most Gen Z population feel owning a home in America is a long shot.
00:46Hello, I'm Trina Shandily and I'm sitting inside the Thompson-Marquardt Hall, a beautiful
00:50space that provides affordable housing to many young girls in Washington, D.C.
00:55Let's speak to some of them and understand the issue of housing in America.
00:59I found TMH through word of mouth.
01:01And I found it out because I had a friend that already lived here.
01:07I learned about TMH through my previous job.
01:10We had a lot of traveling interns come into work and a lot of them, since they were just
01:14there for like maybe three or six months, they would stay here, the women at least.
01:19So I actually didn't know that such places existed in D.C.
01:22But a friend of mine told me about two dormitories in D.C.
01:28And this was one of the better ones, an all-female dormitory.
01:32So I just applied and they happened to have a place and they reached out to me 15 days later.
01:38History of Thompson-Marquardt Hall spans over 125 years.
01:42While the place went through many changes, the hostel building that we see today was
01:48inaugurated in 1937 by then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
01:53TMH nourishes the hearts and minds of countless young women at the time when rent, groceries
02:00and home prices are skyrocketing.
02:02And do you think affordable housing is something that's an issue in America?
02:05And also, do you think if you go out to find an apartment affordable, especially in a safer
02:11neighborhood, is it easy or difficult?
02:13Very difficult, especially in D.C.
02:18I used to live in New York.
02:20I found D.C. a little more unsafe than New York for women.
02:24So I was particularly concerned about finding individual apartments.
02:29And I also looked a lot on Airbnb and Facebook and there were a lot of scams, firstly.
02:37And second, even the apartments that were decent, a lot of them were group homes.
02:42So you had to share with strangers and a lot of them didn't have door locks on their doors.
02:47So it was very difficult.
02:49So this is great.
02:51I definitely think it's a big issue for myself and also the people I'm around most of the
02:57time since I'm a law student.
03:00And most of my classmates are paying like $2,500, even like one person I know is paying
03:11like $3,000 per month in rent.
03:14And it's really pretty extreme, I think.
03:17I feel really lucky that I found a place like this, which is much lower than what a lot
03:23of other people have to pay.
03:24But it's still quite a lot.
03:28It's a high cost of living city.
03:31And I think it is a big issue.
03:35And this place, for example, it's like a young Christian women's house.
03:44And so I think I do feel a bit safer just being around other women.
03:49It depends on what you mean by affordable.
03:51I feel like your definition of affordable changes as your salary goes up.
03:55But I think, yeah, it is significantly more pricey here.
03:59Like coming from the South, Memphis, Tennessee, we have a two-bedroom home that we're buying,
04:03and it's like less than $600 a month for our mortgage.
04:06And then coming here, and in the best case, you can find a studio for $1,800.
04:12So yeah, I would say it's in a safe neighborhood.
04:16It definitely becomes more challenging.
04:18So I think you would have to choose between one or the other.
04:21Like you can get something fairly cheap, maybe in Southeast or Northeast.
04:26But again, you might not feel comfortable living in those areas.
04:29So if you want to stay in Northwest, Southwest, then it definitely has to go up maybe two or three times.
04:34The discrepancy between a safe neighborhood and an unsafe neighborhood in D.C. is ginormous.
04:39And yeah, affordable housing in safe neighborhoods is almost unheard of.
04:44And as a young woman living in America at this point,
04:47what do you think some of the issues that you deal with every day?
04:53Definitely safety.
04:55Especially like, you know, you only have a limited number of hours a day.
04:58You're working or doing whatever during the daytime.
05:00So about this time at night, I'm thinking, OK, I want to work out.
05:03I want to go for a walk outside.
05:05But I don't quite want to do that on my own.
05:08So that's one thing.
05:09And I think really just everyone deals with, of course,
05:12just like kind of finding the job that has the money to live.
05:16Because in addition to housing, you have food prices and tipping culture
05:20and all of these things that are just weighing on you financially.
05:22And that gives you less money to spend on housing.
05:26I think something we talk about often is about walking alone at night and
05:32for safety, safety, definitely.
05:35So what percentage of your income do you think goes into taking care of your rent,
05:39groceries and just the basic needs?
05:44So right now, I'm on like loans and like financial aid from my school.
05:49So I'm not completely sure, but I think about about half of my income,
05:54if you can call it that, would go into housing here, which includes food.
05:59It's room and board. So, yeah, I'm a student.
06:03So I'm not sure if it counts exactly.
06:07It is difficult.
06:08So which is also why TMH is a good option, because the rents are much lower
06:13than buying and then taking an individual apartment.
06:17So it is much more affordable if you stay here.
06:19But even then, it's you have to be very careful with your finances.
06:23Over half, maybe.
06:26Maybe almost three fifths.
06:30I work full time and housing here at TMH, food is included, two meals a day are
06:38included as part of our rent, but it takes up approximately half of my income,
06:44the food and rent while working full time.
06:47And just my last question, do you think government is doing enough in terms of
06:52taking care of the skyrocketing prices of the houses in America?
06:56Both sides, because they're heading towards the elections and both the
07:00candidates have big plans to improve housing and providing affordable housing
07:07to young people. Do you think they're doing enough?
07:10Definitely not. I think that there, I see it in kind of two areas within people
07:18who are experiencing homelessness and not having housing available for people
07:24that are unhoused.
07:26And then the problem of allowing housing to be affordable for people who are
07:32housed. And within that, I think it's mostly a wage issue.
07:37The wages have absolutely not kept up with the housing costs and the especially
07:43living in larger cities in the United States.
07:45But as a person from Ohio, even in the middle of America, the housing prices have
07:50greatly increased and wages have not.
07:53And so not only for minimum wage workers, but also for full time white collar
07:57workers.
07:58The U.S. needs to do much more in terms of high density housing.
08:04Washington, D.C. maybe has a bit more mixed use or mixed density or medium density
08:10housing than other U.S.
08:11cities. But I think something like this kind of shows the benefit of having, like
08:18this, this is a bit more dense than a typical apartment building.
08:22I think since we have single rooms, but we share mealtimes, we have this common area
08:28that we're sitting in right now.
08:30I think like boarding houses like this, if they could be, if they could spread as an
08:36idea, then I think it could help.
08:38I think also like higher buildings like in D.C., for example, there's a limit on how
08:44high developers are allowed to build.
08:47That's been in place for a very long time.
08:50But I really think the U.S.
08:51has to look more into higher density housing and just changing zoning laws like
09:01kind of I'm used to giant apartment blocks in Korea.
09:08And I think that people in the U.S.
09:12and the U.S. government sometimes can be too averse to solutions like that that other
09:19countries are using.