Rent Increase and Illegals?

Question

I've often wondered what causes rent to increase so FREQUENTLY in the USA, especially in BIG CITIES like New York and Chicago. The only answer that I can think about is the number of illegals in our country.

What else can it be? Rent goes up when there is an increase in the amount of people in a given area (sociology of overpopulation 101).

Not only are illegals making hard for those born in the USA, they [the illegals] are making it hard for legal immigrants in this country.

Gettting back to the rent issue, what causes rent increase?

Secondly, is the amount of illegals in this country responsible for the insane rent increase that most check-to-check people have to deal with?

If so, why don't Americans stand up and speak their mind?

Your input?

Answer 1

that's funny. you blame illegals for rent increase? while you are at it, blame them Global Warming too.

Answer 2

Rent, like anything else is determined by suply and demand. Suply is the number of units available for rent in the area, demand is the number of people wishing to live in that area /who do not own a place to live/. (There's also just plain inflation, the cost of everything goes up over time - or rather, the value of the currency continually errodes - so landlord must raise rents to recieve the same real income from thier properties).

Population increase will, indeed, drive up rents, if there isn't a corresponding increase in available rental units, and immigration is the only thing driving population growth in America (without immigration, the population would be flat or slowly declining).

However, another thing that will drive up rents is owners becoming renters. Currently, there has been a rash of foreclosures, and a tightening of the mortgage market, this has lead more people to become renters rather than buyers. It's reciprocal to what happend durring the real estate bubble, when seemingly anyone could qualify for a mortgage: rental units went vacant and rents stagnated or even dropped in some markets.

Answer 3

There is the section 8 program that was set up to help the poor. What that means is a slum lord can rent a piece of junk and charge rent rates for decent housing expecting the government to cover the difference. That is what that is for, for those that don't know this. They may charge you 100 bucks but they have the government pay the other 900 per month. In many cases these places would be condemned. So instead of risking that.....they sign up for the section 8 program. In the real world many of these places would be destroyed they are so awful.....but instead...if they sign up....they get a guarenteed 900 per month whether you pay or not for a building that should be condemned. So they have tons of people signed up for junk....paying TOP dollar for it. Which then drives the rest of the rent up. Why should I charge 250 for a place when I can get tripple that by going section 8? But there's a limit on both ends....which drives the price up.....never down.

Taxes ALWAYS go up so that is reflected in the rent. Insurance goes up....reflected in the rent. Garbage whatever......makes rent skyrocket.

I rented a 2 bedroom house in Nebraska for 250.00 bucks a month. Try finding that in the city. Thats why so many people got suckered into this housing thing. Why pay 2000. a month to RENT when you could be buying something for 950.? Except when they pull something like this and you loose it and then someone comes in for pocket change and buys it and then charges a huge sum of money for it for rent.

Profit isn't enough anymore. I was told I could rent my house and make enough to also buy another home without spending a dime! Call me old fashioned....just couldn't do that. Profit is one thing......feeding off people is another. I could rent my house for 2000.oo a month. I could charge 500 and still make a profit. A decent profit. Problem is....they are charging prople to rent to cover that home and their other 2 or 3 homes. This house has been paid for 10x's over.
Yet to this day they could take it away for a medical bill or taxes. I think that's a crime as well.

I rented these god awful places and was screwed over royally......went to tennents rights groups and everything......slum lords rule.....then when I moved here again and read a story about a hispanic woman who rented an apartment and didn't get immediate results when she complained to a slum lord.....she was crying racism and everything under the sun.....all that came to my mind was .....being hispanic hasn't got squat to do with it.....you rented from a slum lord....be thankful theres glass in your windows. Heck what did these people think poor Americans lived in? Hers was a renovated building. LOL

Now when they have things in the papers of housing violations......it's hispanic OWNERS not offering anything more but charging their own people top dollar for crap.....and they say I'm the problem? Greed is the problem. When is enough enough and when can people be responsible for themselves? The home across the street was rented to illegals....ya...they paid big rent....but when they left....they didn't leave a basic paint job and carpet cleaning for normal use......they did 35,000 worth of damage. Why? Coz after 6 mos. of no rent....they were mad. That's another reason for high rent.....people who just destroy rental units. Some landlords fix it....others leave it as it is and just rent it again. Others can't keep affording to do so. SOMEONE ALWAYS PAYS somewhere down the line.

Answer 4

First off, price increases like in any other sector of the economy is determined by supply/ demand. These rent increases have done so because of:
1) taxes increases
2) insurance rates increasing
3) more demand
4) less supply
5) local governments that continue to raise tax rates and property evaluations (usually by liberal politicians giving that money away to illegals/poor in the form of "social services and benefits".
6) property building permits are heavily limited in metro areas becuase of environmental groups who continue to prevent builders to build more properties and provide the attrition critical to offset higher demand
7) sub prime blowup-the mortgage industry has tanked, liquidity is drying up and theres little money and tighter restrictions for people to get mortgages to buy forcing them rent instead.
This cannot be blamed on illegals, although I am against illegal limmigration. I am a property owner and rent to many people and know why rent has increased.

Answer 5

Most rent increases have to do with no rent cap. Sense most cities no longer have the rent cap people charge more for rent even though the place may not be worth it.Also the housing market is very bad at the moment for average citizens because a place worth 100,000 dollars will be sold for 500,000 dollars. Illegal immigrants have nothing to do with it. You should actually thank them because instead of buying 8 different apartments they buy one and split the rent eight ways leaving citizens 7 places to choose from among the already thousands.

Answer 6

Supply and demand. Illegals do cause an increase in the rent you pay, and Chicago has at least 1 million illegals. They also cause taxes to rise to pay for their social services (schools, medical, prisons, etc.) as well as lowering our wages. Those who have children here also qualify for welfare.

Illegals have a devastating effect on working class people, especially in the largest cities. The larger cities have the highest population of illegal aliens and the highest cost of living.

Answer 7

Razor Jim said it first but I will repeat it.

Every item that is priced from supply/demand will be affected when there are 12-20 million additional people out of a country of 300 million.

We will pay more for schools.
More for housing.
More for gasoline.
More for electricity.
More for natural gas.
Etc etc

This even affects higher end properties. As the demand for low-income areas goes up it puts pressure on higher priced units too. People who can't find a good $500 apartment decide to spend more then they want and get a $600 apartment. This effect just keeps going.

Illegals cost us FAR FAR more then that cheap tomato saves us.

Answer 8

It may have started with landlords taking advantage of illegals by charging rent by the person instead of by the unit. I've seen this happen even in low income housing. When they see how much money they can make this way, they either refuse to rent to citizens or charge ridiculously high rent, and evict them on a whim.

Answer 9

I own several rental properties in south Florida - I base my rent on property taxes, expected repairs, and demand. Quite frankly, the types of homes we own . . . illegals can not afford. However, we do rent to foreign nationals who are here for work. One of our tenants works for a large South American telecommunications company. I would agree that foreign demand elevates rental price . . .

Answer 10

Most undocumented can't compete economically with big cities prices like Chicago or New York. I think that perhaps if you are talking about lower-income areas there may be some correlation, but, if you are talking about the increasing cost in a gated community or similar, the competitors for these residences are undoubtedly citizens.

Answer 11

Rent like many other commodities rise and fall by supply and demand. Illegals simply cause more demand.