Homeowners Struggle with Housing Costs Study Finds Over One Quarter of US

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

A recent study conducted by the Chamber of Commerce, a product research company specializing in real estate, revealed that more than 25% of homeowners in the United States are burdened by housing costs, spending over 30% of their income on their homes.

The study utilized data from the U.S. Census Bureau, analyzing monthly housing costs and median household income in the 170 most populated cities nationwide. The findings indicate that 27.4% of all homeowners are considered “cost-burdened.”

Miami, Los Angeles, and New York City are leading the list of cities with a significant number of financially strained homeowners, where more than four in 10 feel stretched beyond their means due to housing expenses. Interestingly, all but one of the top 10 cities for cost-burdened homeowners are in California or Florida.

In the District of Columbia, 26.3% of homeowners also grapple with the weight of housing costs.

The rise in mortgage interest rates is one factor that contributes to the financial strain homeowners experience.

At the pandemic’s beginning, rates hit historic lows but surged past 7% in 2022, reaching the highest levels since 2002.

While rates have cooled slightly since early 2023, new homeowners still face significantly higher monthly mortgage payments compared to those who locked in lower rates. Combined with skyrocketing inflation and stagnant wages, Americans now owe trillions more than before the pandemic.

The higher housing costs are eating into savings, spending, and emergency funds.

The impact of rising housing costs is not limited to homeowners alone. Renters also bear the brunt of this trend, as escalating housing expenses increase rental rates.

It means that renters and homeowners feel financially strapped by growing housing costs.

The study sheds light on the long-standing personal finance guideline known as the “30 percent” rule.

This rule advises individuals to ensure that their housing expenses, including rent or mortgage payments, property taxes, and utilities, do not exceed 30% of their monthly income.

However, with the current housing affordability challenges, many individuals need help to abide by this rule.

The study also reveals a concerning trend.

From 2015 to 2019, the percentage of financially burdened homeowners in the United States decreased annually, dropping from 29.4% in 2015 to 26.5% in 2019.

However, the pandemic has begun to reverse these gains, with cities like Los Angeles and New York experiencing an upward trend in cash-strapped homeowners. In Los Angeles, almost half of homeowners are considered

“house poor,” despite a four-percentage-point decrease between 2015 and 2019. Similarly, in New York City, the percentage of house-poor homeowners increased to over 45% in 2021, up from 41.3% in 2019. On the other hand, Miami bucked the trend, as the percentage of house-poor homeowners dropped by two and a half points to 44.6% in 2021.

The Federal Reserve, faced with the uphill battle of fighting inflation, has raised interest rates monthly since March 2022.

Although the Fed does not directly set mortgage rates, its actions often influence home loan rates.

However, there is now a glimmer of hope on the horizon as the central bank signals a potential break from the consecutive rate increases that have taken place over the past year.

As the housing affordability crisis deepens, policymakers and stakeholders must address the mounting challenges homeowners and renters face.

“It is imperative to find sustainable solutions that alleviate the burden of housing costs and promote financial stability for all Americans,” said District of Columbia Realtor Piper Alford.

“It’s never ideal to spend more than 30 percent of your income on housing,” Alford insisted. “But today’s market, prices, inflation, and greed has caused many to find basic living unaffordable.”

The original naming process involved members of local communities, although Black residents were left out of the conversations. Bases were named after soldiers born or raised nearby, no matter how effectively they performed their duties. Bragg is widely regarded among historians as a poor leader who did not have the respect of his troops, Silber said.

For Isiah James, senior policy officer at the Black Veterans Project, the base renamings are a “long overdue” change he hopes will lead to more substantial improvements for Black service members.

“America should not have vestiges of slavery and secessionism and celebrate them, “ he said. “We should not laud them and hold them up and venerate them to where every time a Black soldier goes onto the base, they get the message that this base Bragg is named after someone who wanted to keep you as human property.”

The secretary of defense is required by law to implement the naming commission’s proposed changes by Jan. 1, 2024.

White Man Who Pulled Gun Gets Probation for MLK Day Confrontation with Black Teens

MIAMI (AP) - A white man was sentenced to probation in South Florida Tuesday for pulling a gun and yelling racial slurs in a traffic confrontation with a group of Black teenagers protesting housing inequality on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2019.

As part of a deal with with prosecutors, Mark Bartlett, 55, pleaded guilty to a hate crime and aggravated assault and also agreed not to possess a firearm for a decade, the Miami Herald reported. Bartlett must also perform 300 hours of community service and take anger management classes and racial sensitivity training. Bartlett could have faced decades in prison, but Miami-Dade County Judge Alberto Milian granted Bartlett a withhold of adjudication, which means Bartlett will avoid a formal conviction.

Bartlett had previously claimed he was acting in self-defense during the confrontation, but following a 2021 hearing Milian ruled that Bartlett did not act reasonably in getting out of his SUV and pulling a pistol on the teenage protesters who had stopped traffic near the Brickell Bridge in downtown Miami. Bartlett had testified that he was being held hostage as his SUV was stuck in traffic and that he was goaded into repeatedly using a slur. He acknowledged the slur is a derogatory term for a Black person but denied that it was racist.

As a condition of his plea agreement, Bartlett apologized in court Tuesday and admitted that his words were hateful.

Cellphone video taken by bystanders shows Bartlett carrying a handgun and yelling racial slurs at the teenagers on bicycles blocking traffic in downtown Miami.

The protest involved potential loss of affordable housing in the impoverished Liberty City neighborhood of Miami. It coincided with a much larger event, “Wheels Up, Guns Down,” that was timed to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and involved mostly young African-American men riding motorcycles and allterrain vehicles in traffic, popping wheelies and riding while standing on the seats.