Page 46 - Florida Sentinel 5-6-22

State News
Florida Is The Least Affordable Place To Live In The U.S.
Sally Starkey thought moving from Chicago to Florida would be easy. The 33- year-old publicist moved to Naples, Florida, when her husband got a nearby job. Fa- miliar with the area from friends and family who vaca- tioned there, the couple was excited to move, she said.
"We thought we would have no problem finding a place to live," Starkey said.
She was wrong. The couple inquired into two dozen apart- ments before agreeing to lease a townhouse in north Naples — sight unseen. "It took us up
FLORIDA HOUSING
rent on their two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse is about 20% more than what they paid in Chicago, although she considers herself fortu- nate given the alternatives. "I'm telling you, we lucked out," she said.
The couple's experience en- capsulates several key housing trends that are combining to make it harder — and pricier — for Americans to put a roof over their heads. Most impor- tant, rents and home prices are soaring at their fastest rate in years, raising the financial burden on millions of work-
ing- and middle-class house- holds already struggling to af- ford a place to live. A shocking bout of inflation, following the economic spasm caused by the pandemic, is adding to those pressures.
Rents, which are rising by double digits nationwide, are positively ballooning across Florida, fueled by a surge of people who relocated to the state during the pandemic. Florida's population is grow- ing faster than any state but Texas: Between 2020 and 2021, 300,000 people moved to the Sunshine State.
until
were out of our apartment in
Chicago," Starkey said.
At $3,500, meanwhile, the
two weeks
before we
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