AI focus
Summary of article:
- Main point one:Rents in San Francisco have increased by 26% year over year, and the city government has rarely declared rental emergencies.
- Point 2:The AI craze has increased the salaried population and housing prices, further exacerbating the housing affordability crisis.
- Key point three:Housing policy has become a focal point of the Northern California election campaign, with candidates having differing opinions.
midterm elections In the coming months, the cost of living will become the focus of voters across the United States. Existencesan francisco bay area The AI craze has increased the price of everything. Residential rents in San Francisco have increased by 26% year over year. The city government has rarely declared a “rent emergency”. How to reduce people’s housing burden has become an important issue in the local election campaign.
A report released by Apartment List, an American online rental platform, in October this year showed that the average monthly rent in San Francisco was US$3,915 for a one-bedroom and US$4,640 for a two-bedroom. The total average monthly rent reached US$3,878, an increase of 25.7% from the same period last year. It ranked first among the 100 most populous cities in the United States and was listed as the most expensive city in the world.
The AI boom has led to an increase in the number of high-paid employed people, and the imbalance between housing supply and demand, coupled with rising interest rates, has made the living burden of the general public increasingly heavy. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie declared a “rental emergency” in September.
In San Francisco, families with an annual income of $325,000 can also apply for government child care subsidies, the New York Times reported. The staggering range is more than 3.5 times the national average annual household income. As AI has increased the price of everything, the affordability crisis has reached new heights, making life even more difficult for non-tech families.
Outside of San Francisco, many Bay Area cities are facing similar difficulties, and housing issues have become a major issue across North America.California Important issue in election campaign.
“We need to build millions of homes in this country, and the federal government must be fully involved and a partner in building these homes.” Scott Wiener, who wants to represent San Francisco in the federal House of Representatives, told the Central News Agency at a Chinese media symposium that we must ensure that people of all income levels can find affordable housing.
Visago is now a California state senator. When he was a member of the San Francisco City Council, he made improving housing affordability a policy priority. The core of his policy is to ameliorate the problem by increasing supply, relaxing growth restrictions, and expanding government investment.
Compared with Wilson, who advocates increasing the supply of a variety of housing, his opponent, Connie Chan, also a member of the Democratic Party, places more emphasis on government subsidies and tenant protection to make housing affordable for workers and middle-income families.
Speaking of the East Bay, Melissa Hernandez, who is running for the US House of Representatives in California’s 14th District, also cites reducing people’s housing burden as her main political issue. She shares similar views with Wilson, believing that housing policies should take care of people with different affordability and provide multi-tiered housing options, including the development of housing for the elderly and suitable housing for the next generation.
“Now, the average age of first-time home buyers is 41.” Hernandez, the former mayor of Dublin and current chair of the board of directors for Bay Area Rapid Transit, told CNA he would promote increasing down payments and helping first-time homebuyers get mortgages.
There is also a contest between the Democratic parties in California’s 14th district. Current US Representative Ayesha Wahab is a progressive who emphasizes measures such as tenant tax credits and prevention of forced evictions to ease people’s housing pressure.
In addition to California, housing issues are of great concern to voters in New York, Arizona and Utah.
Although housing construction has increased in Arizona, where TSMC is located, the shortage has not gone away. A survey released in August by the non-partisan public policy organization “Center for the Future of Arizona” showed that housing ranked first as a source of financial pressure for people in the state with 52%, followed by 44% for wages that cannot keep up with inflation, and 28% for food.
Nationally, the cost of living is a central issue in the midterm elections. An October Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that nearly half of registered voters listed cost of living as a primary consideration in deciding who to vote for in a congressional election.
