Finding a home is not easy. Especially in those times during a pandemic or at the end of one. The pandemic didn’t raise any new problems in our society. It just made the existing ones more evident and accelerated them – from the healthcare system to the real estate sector. In this essay, I’ll discuss the evident problems for our society and especially for young people resulting from a capitalistic-driven real estate industry.
You don’t have to be a real estate expert or looking for a room or an apartment to know that the closer the apartment is to the historic center, the more expensive it is. Thus only people who can afford these high prices can also afford to live there. A logical conclusion following the supply and demand principle. There are two major problems resulting from this. First of all, this would be less of a problem, if the market would be regulated in at least some kind of way but no. The results are prices in city-centers that skyrocket, so high that a working-class or a middle class cannot afford to live there.
This brings me to my next point – segregation. Because of the free market “regulating” the rents we exclude a working-class or a declining middle class from living in city centers – in important cultural hotspots and strategic places. This further separates the upper class – the ones who can afford these astronomical prices – from the middle class or the working-class, who are pushed out of the centers and into the suburbs. This segregation further consolidates social classes but is also responsible for the forming of ghettos in the suburbs.
Another negative effect of the high rents is that due to the fact, that the rents are so very high, that it also becomes very expensive to live there. Shops and supermarkets have to pay such high rents that are being reflected in the products and services. So even if you could afford an apartment in a central location, you also have to pay those high costs of living.
It’s a well-known fact, that the younger generation will be the most educated, but also the most underpaid generation ever. Thus we just cannot afford the high rents, that is still rising. Adding to that, the trend of urbanization will continue. More people will come to cities looking for a better life and more opportunities.
We just cannot let demand regulate the price for something as important as living space. Living space is just too existential for us humans. We simply cannot let something as fluctuant as the market and demand let control such a crucial good. By doing that, we play with the future of humans, as it’s one of the most crucial things, to have a roof over your head. It’s necessary for our personal development to feel safe and protected, and it would be irresponsible to not take that seriously.
As mentioned in the previous paragraph living space is simply not an investment. To speculate with such a vital good is just wrong. It is wrong to treat humans and their futures as well as their perspectives this recklessly.
There are many problems ahead of us that challenge our society and housing is one of them. We are at a critical crossroad and have to ask ourselves the question, to whom do we want to give the cities? Do we want them to be high-priced land worth visiting but not living? Or are we taking the city centers back, make them accessible and even more liveable for everyone in our society.
Check out my social-media profiles for more!