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Katie Sokoler/Gothamist
More than 27% of New Yorkers are now spending 50% or more of their income on rent, according to a new report issued by Representative Anthony Weiner. That percentage is up 13% since 2002, with 82,159 more NYC residents throwing more than half their income into the ravenous rent hole, as compared to seven years ago. The report, compiled from census data, reveals that Bronx residents have struggled the most, with more than 33% of residents spending half their cash on rent. For residents of Brooklyn and Queens, the number is roughly 28%.
Weiner says that with incomes in the outer boroughs falling, the middle class is finding it exceedingly difficult to meet New York's rising costs of living. He's pushing a plan to increase funding for low-income housing and housing for the elderly, and in a statement said, "It’s time for the federal government to get back in the business of creating affordable housing." Financial planners recommend that, ideally, only one third of income should be spent on housing.
In other kill-the-poor news, the average monthly premium for family health coverage has risen from $3,866 last April to $4,354—a 13 percent increase—according to a NY Post analysis of data from the state Insurance Department. The insurance industry maintains that rates have gone up because state law has mandated a too-generous coverage and co-pay structure. And experts predict rates will soar higher this year when the industry gets hit with $853 million in insurance-related taxes included in the state budget. Troy Oechsner, the state's deputy superintendent for health, says, "This is a huge problem and a major dysfunction of a broken market in New York."
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health coverage may be one thing, but for god's sake, please don't let the government get involved in "affordable housing" any more than it already is or we will be completely fucked
Amen. Has anyone checked out public housing lately? Also, high rents in NYC are a function of the market, so if someone can pay what they deem a fair price for their apartment, then that's their business.
"...a new report released today by Representative Anthony Weiner..."
Where was this report released? It's nowhere to be found on Rep. Weiner's website. It seems you might have to subscribe to his mailing list to get it.
what kind of family can afford $4,354/month for health insurance?
this is why we need to abolish for-profit health insurance.
Most sane nations have realized that in the area of health care we don't need a greedy middle man to skim dollars between patient and doctor.
We used to have private fire companies sell fire insurance and if your neighbor's house didn't have insurance and burned you were screwed too. So we put the role of fire protection into the commons- the public sphere. We should do the same with health care.
The nation would be safer and stronger with a national free health care system for many reasons but I would like to suggest just one here, based on the example of private fire.
In this system, poor people, who are often the first to be infected with communicable disease , don't go to the doctor until they are very ill. By that time they may have infected many other people.
If health care were free to all people, the most vulnerable would be able to get treatment quickly, possibly helping doctors identify dangerous out-breaks before they affect the greater population, saving millions of dollars in health care cost and lost productivity.
So just like a fire can spread to your house if it weren't for our socialist fire departments, flu (e-bola maybe) will hit you if your neighbors can't get health care.
United States remains the only rich industrial nation with no universal health care.
Hey, Weiner, want to know why costs rise? Because of the subsidies. Fucking moron. How do these guys rise to power when they don't understand a universal economic law? Oh nevermind...
What's the benefit I receive to pay for $250,000 procedures for a guy who smokes, drinks, and eats like shit when I workout and eat fairly healthy?
That's where your logic fails.
You can't use the fear mongering that Bush used with war or Obama is using with the economy. I don't need to let government spend more and control more in order to spend less in the long term.
And if my first comment sounded so callous: tough. It's not anyone's birthright to take $10,000 drugs to live to 90 when they should be living to maybe 80. If you have the money to extend your life, fine. If you don't what's so wrong with living to 80? Why should I be entitled to the great drugs that have been developed. Hey, I'd probably be smarter if I went to Harvard for my MBA right now and since it would help society if I was smarter and it's already there---why can't I go there for free?
Yet people still want to move to this hell hole. I mean I love it here, but I also have a healthy dose of hate to balance everything out. Really, people should start leaving this city and quick. That is the only way I can see rents really dropping. The people need to let the city know that everything is not ok here!
$4,354 ? Can that be right ?
Using what I pay for myself as a gauge, I would guess that most families of four pay closer to $800-$1000 a month. My guess is that these statistics assume the family is not getting any kind of group rate (i.e. not buying through an employer or union plan ), and are therefore manipulated to support an argument.
The really puzzling thing is why Anthony Wiener's office would feel the need to manipulate an already striking fact ?
upon closer inspection I now see that the above figure regarding insurance insurance premiums has been quoted from The New York Post, which likely means its probably not even true.
FYI - $4,354 a month translates to $52,248 a year. Theres no way "average" new york families are just absorbing that. Somethings fishy with this reporting...