The rent for regular apartments has basically doubled in the past couple years. You see studios go for $3000/mo, and 1 bedrooms for $4500+ quite often. I really hope this will have a helpful effect on lowering for the people who already live here, who can’t make ends meet because of absurd rental prices and hikes lately. There needs to be more housing and reasonable prices for people who live here. Compared to the median income here (and not the mean, because it’s not representative to count the billionaires), it’s literally not affordable for the people who grew up here and started their lives here, to afford to have a roof over their head. That’s why you see shit like 5 unrelated adults in a 1 bedroom apartment together, or a big extended family of multiple generations, partners, etc., all living under the same roof. Nobody can afford anything better here.

Generally speaking, housing costs don’t decrease without a major economic event. Positive economic circumstances that raise housing costs set the benchmark, and negative events reset those.