The Rent Is Too Damn High: What To Do About It, And Why It Matters More Than You ThinkFrom prominent political thinker and widely followed Slate columnist, a polemic on high rents and housing costs—and how these costs are hollowing out communities, thwarting economic development, and rendering personal success and fulfillment increasingly difficult to achieve. Rent is an issue that affects nearly everyone. High rent is a problem for all of us, extending beyond personal financial strain. High rent drags on our country’s overall rate of economic growth, damages the environment, and promotes long commutes, traffic jams, misery, and smog. Yet instead of a serious focus on the issue, America’s cities feature niche conversations about the availability of “affordable housing” for poor people. Yglesias’s book changes the conversation for the first time, presenting newfound context for the issue and real-time, practical solutions for the problem. |
Contents
Location Location Location | |
The New American Geography | |
The New Rentiers | |
The Mirage of Gentrification | |
About the Author | |
Common terms and phrases
affordable housing American anti-density apartment buildings better boom built Cape Coral cheap cheaper cities coastal Columbia Heights construction convenient commutes cost of living damn high dense denser density desirable places downtown economic economists Edward Glaeser expensive housing expensive land exurb factories Fargo farmland free market gentrification grow high rents high-income house prices housing costs idea impact improve income increase industrial investment issue Jimmy McMillan Johnson County land prices landlord long commutes Manhattan mass transit Matthew Yglesias McMillan means median median household income metro areas metro station metropolitan areas move national average neighborhood parking percent Phoenix place to live population density population growth problem productivity real estate developers regulation rent control Riverside County space sprawl square foot square mile structures suburban suburbs tall buildings taller tend there’s United urban valuable wages want to live What’s York