The push for rent control grows beyond big cities

Jun 13, 2019
More than half of renters around the country pay more for housing than what's considered affordable.
Lawmakers in New York state are expected to approve a package of rent reforms before existing regulations expire on Saturday.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Rents are rising faster at the lower end of the market

Feb 19, 2019
Average rents on single-family homes rose by about 3 percent nationally in 2018, according to a report out Tuesday from CoreLogic, up from 2.7 percent in 2017. As it happens, that’s about how much average wages grew during that same period before you factor in inflation. But those increases are lopsided. For the fifth year […]
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

In China’s big cities, tenants feel the squeeze of rising rents

Feb 13, 2019
Migrant workers like Ren Zhongyang work hard to earn money in Shanghai but struggle to find affordable rental homes there.
Migrant workers like Ren Zhongyang work hard to earn money in Shanghai but struggle to find affordable rental homes in Shanghai.
Charles Zhang

Rents in many California cities keep rising, could a cap on increases help?

Feb 11, 2019
Californians' rejection of a rent control measure in November 2018 has prompted some politicians in Sacramento to talk about getting an anti-rent gouging cap on the books.
A "For Rent" sign is seen on a building Hollywood, California, May 11, 2016.
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

Independent bookstores are thriving, but a threat looms

Dec 31, 2018
This isn’t a bad time to be in the independent bookstore business. The American Booksellers Association says there’s been a nearly 31 percent increase in the number of indie bookstores since 2009. The indie renaissance coincides with the collapse of national book chains. One threat to bookstores’ future: rising rents and labor costs. Click the […]
Could the "indie renaissance" that has been helping independent bookstores thrive also cause their downfall?
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Rent strikes make a comeback in tight housing markets

Oct 1, 2018
In cities where a housing shortage is driving up rents, some residents are withholding theirs to protest poor conditions.
Striking Westlake tenants march through their neighborhood in late July.
Matt Tinoco/LAist

70 businesses selling alcohol in three square blocks: Living in Manhattan’s “Hell Square”

Aug 30, 2018
“We have more licensed establishments than anywhere in the city. And we absolutely have more 311 complaints.”
Robin Marchant / Getty Images

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Full-time minimum-wage workers will have to sacrifice more of their earnings to make rent

Jun 14, 2018
In order to afford a modest one-bedroom rental, an American would, on average, have to make $17.90 an hour. This is according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. There’s just one problem — $17.90 is far above the federal minimum wage. It means there are a lot of people who can’t really afford their […]

As developers eye valuable mobile park home land, some residents have found a way to fight back

May 4, 2018
Mobile homes are one of the last vestiges of affordable home ownership in the Seattle area, but mobile homeowners are being pushed out by skyrocketing real estate values.
Next-door neighbors and Duvall Riverside Village homeowners Stephanie Rosevear (L) and Danelle Knapp (R) return home from a walk.
Anna Boiko-Weyrauch for Marketplace

Denver wants to help the middle class move on up

Jan 16, 2018
A new housing subsidy plan in Denver aims to make high end apartments affordable.