RaddikulusAccording to rent.com, at $15 per hour (supposedly a living wage) you can afford $781 a month for rent. The average rent in Portland for a 1 br apartment is $1507. A couple could both be working full time, and still have to sleep in a tent on the sidewalk. But let's blame them for the problems our city is facing. Let's blame the pandemic. Let's blame protesters, drugs, or laws that allow the working poor to exist while off the clock. Let's not blame landlords or bosses. That would make no sense.
Jean Vickers@Raddikulus Rents for a one-bedroom apartment in Tucson Arizona averages $1299. The minimum wage in AZ is $13.82/hr and it is only there because of a Citizens Initiative where a petition is written and requires a certain number of signatures of registered voters and then it goes on the next state-wide ballot. This year the Republican Legislature is trying to increase the requirements for signatures to a point where these initiatives will be harder and harder to get.
@Jeanvicwriter and meanwhile the landlords are reaching out to the suburbs and small towns. It will spread like a flood. Look at Florida, rent has tripled over the past couple years to the point where it's almost as high as here in Portland, but the min wage is $11. They are going to have the same problem only with less compassion. Conservatives can call this is a product of progressive policies, and that is only true because progressive are not nearly radical enough. Shit will hit the fan