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u.s. news Diamars 22 Februari 2022

Rents reach ‘insane’ levels across US with no end in sight

(AP) - Krystal Guerra’s on inflation because the big
Miami apartment has a In the 50 largest U.S. metro jumps in new leases feed into
tiny kitchen, cracked tiles, areas, median rent rose an the U.S. consumer price in-
warped cabinets, no dish- astounding 19.3% from De- dex, which is used to mea-
washer and hardly any cember 2020 to December sure inflation.
storage space. 2021, according to a Realtor.
com analysis of properties Inflation jumped 7.5% in
But Guerra was fine with with two or fewer bedrooms. January from a year earlier,
the apartment’s shortcom- And nowhere was the jump the biggest increase in four
ings. It was all part of being bigger than in the Miami decades. While many econo-
a 32-year-old graduate stu- metro area, where the me- mists expect that to decrease
dent in South Florida, she dian rent exploded to $2,850, as pandemic-disrupted sup-
reasoned, and she was happy 49.8% higher than the previ- ply chains unravel, rising
to live there for a few more ous year. rents could keep inflation
years as she finished her mar- high through the end of
keting degree. Other cities across Florida the year since housing costs
— Tampa, Orlando and Jack- make up one-third of the
That was until a new owner sonville — and the Sun Belt consumer price index. Joint Center for Housing economist.
bought the property and destinations of San Diego, Studies, said there was a lot
told her he was raising the Las Vegas, Austin, Texas, and Things have gotten so bad of “pent-up demand” after Meanwhile, the number of
rent from $1,550 to $1,950, Memphis, Tennessee, all saw in Boston, which has nearly the initial months of the pan- homes for sale have been at
a 26% increase that Guerra spikes of more than 25% dur- overtaken San Francisco as demic, when many young a record low, contributing to
said meant her rent would ing that time period. the nation’s second-most people moved back home ballooning home prices that
account for the majority of expensive rental market, with their parents. Start- have caused many higher-in-
her take-home pay from the Rising rents are an increas- that one resident went viral ing last year, as the economy come households to remain
University of Miami. ing driver of high inflation for jokingly putting an igloo opened up and young people renters, further upping de-
that has become one of the on the market for $2,700 a moved out, “rents really took mand.
“I thought that was insane,” nation’s top economic prob- month. “Heat/ hot water not off,” she said.
said Guerra, who decided to lems. Labor Department included,” Jonathan Berk Construction crews are also
move out. “Am I supposed data, which covers existing tweeted. According to the U.S. Cen- trying to bounce back from
to stop paying for everything rents as well as new listings, sus Bureau, rental vacancy material and labor shortages
else I have going on in my life shows much smaller increas- Experts say many factors are rates during the fourth quar- that at the start of the pan-
just so I can pay rent? That’s es, but these are also picking responsible for astronomical ter of 2021 fell to 5.6%, the demic made a preexisting
unsustainable.” up. Rental costs rose 0.5% in rents, including a nationwide lowest since 1984. shortage of new homes even
January from December, the housing shortage, extremely worse, leaving an estimated
Guerra is hardly alone. Rents Labor Department said last low rental vacancies and un- “Without a lot of rental va- shortfall of 5.8 million sin-
have exploded across the week. That may seem small, relenting demand as young cancy that landlords are ac- gle-family homes, a 51% leap
country, causing many to but it was the biggest increase adults continue to enter the customed to having, that from the end of 2019, Real-
dig deep into their savings, in 20 years, and will likely ac- crowded market. gives them some pricing tor.com said.
downsize to subpar units or celerate. power because they’re not
fall behind on payments and Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, sitting on empty units that And potentially compound-
risk eviction now that a fed- Economists worry about lead author of a recent report they need to fill,” said Dani- ing all of this is the increasing
eral moratorium has ended. the impact of rent increases from Harvard University’s elle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief presence of investors.

Some school systems pause diversity programs amid pushback

(AP) - Conservative takeovers of local school had won a majority on the school board after voic- requirements, divisions are taking a toll, said Dan
boards have already altered lessons on race ing doubts about the work, and she worried the ef- Domenech, executive director of the School Su-
and social injustice in many classrooms. Now forts might not lead anywhere. perintendents Association.
some districts are finding their broader ef-
forts on diversity, equity and inclusion are The new board says it will take up the issue in the Colorado Springs School District 11, a large and
also being challenged. spring. diverse system of 26,000 students where Knox-
Miller works, was the first in its area to adopt a for-
As her Colorado school district’s equity director, Since issues of diversity, equity and inclusion can mal equity policy, unanimously approving it May
Alexis Knox-Miller thought the work she and a thread their way through every part of a school sys- 27, 2020, two days after the killing of George Floyd
volunteer team were doing was on solid ground, tem — including recruitment, services and equip- in Minnesota sparked national reflection on race
especially with an audit in hand that detailed where ment — the debate carries implications for hiring and social justice issues in and out of schools.
the district was falling short in making sure all stu- and spending.
dents had the same opportunities. The policy acknowledged gaps in achievement and
In some districts, proposals aimed at making schools opportunities among marginalized student groups
But in December, Knox-Miller reluctantly dis- more welcoming places for students from diverse and recognized “the impact of systemic inequities
banded the equity leadership team after more than backgrounds have been reversed as a result of turn- on teaching and learning.”
a year of meetings. New conservative members over on school boards, while work elsewhere faces
a chill from acrimonious debate around topics that Part of Knox-Miller’s work involved commis-
have been mislabeled as critical race theory. sioning an audit by the American Institutes for
Research. It found that schools with high con-
School administrators say critical race theory, a centrations of special education students, English
scholarly theory that centers on the idea that racism language learners, students living in poverty and
is systemic in the nation’s institutions, is not taught students of color were scoring measurably below
in K-12 schools. But that has done little to sway other schools.
opponents who assert that school systems are mis-
spending money, perpetuating divisions and sham- Critics questioned the findings and the way they
ing white children by pursuing initiatives they view were presented, at a series of public meetings called
as critical race theory in disguise. “equity cafes” that some said limited full discus-
sions. Conservative candidates set their sights on
In a fraught political climate that already had es- the school board, with three winning seats in the
calated fights about pandemic mask and vaccine November election.