Monday, October 27, 2014

The Other Side of the Growing Disconnect Between Where You Live and Work

Importing cheap labor into high wage regions at Pacific Standard magazine.

Theme: Globalization and gentrification.

Subject Article: "Workers paid $1.21 an hour to install Fremont tech company's computers."

Other Links: 1. "The Geography of Foreign Investment in Real Estate."
2. "Consumer City."

Postscript: Rents don't have to rise for gentrification to occur. "The Housing Crisis We Don’t Talk About":

Chester is what is known, in real estate industry jargon, as a “weak market city.” The phrase means what it sounds like. The city is poor and its economy stagnant. The median home sale price in Chester in 2012 was $20,000, compared to $69,350 in nearby Wilmington and $98,000 in Philadelphia. Fewer than half of Chester’s working-age adults are employed, and a third of the population is living at or below the poverty line. In a city where median rent is $790, 51.5 percent of households pay 35 percent or more of their income to their landlords.

I think economic dislocation should be defined as "gentrification". The focus on the one side of the housing affordability equation (i.e. rent) has informed some really bad policy recommendations.

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