A Plea for Dignity: We Can’t Afford to Live Here Anymore

 

A Plea for Dignity: We Can’t Afford to Live Here Anymore

What kind of civilization are we becoming when the very workers who keep our cities alive—teachers, sanitation workers, bus drivers, hospital aides—can no longer afford to live in them?

In Ft. Greene, a newly built high-rise offers studios for $3,000 a month, one-bedrooms for $3,661, and two-bedrooms for $4,376. To qualify, your income must start at over $100,000 and climb as high as $227,000. Who are these units for? Not the average city worker. Not the single mother juggling two jobs. Not the recent graduate saddled with debt. Not the countless youth being raised in a system that shows them early that they are unwanted in the very cities they call home.

Let’s be honest: this is not development. This is displacement.

The average American earns less than $35,000 a year. No promise of raising minimum wage to $30 an hour will bridge the chasm between income and housing costs like these. Even at $30/hour, working full-time, you’d make $62,400—still far short of affording a one-bedroom in many urban centers.

This is not just about numbers. This is about dignity. About whether people deserve a safe, stable place to live.

We are living in cities we cannot afford. We are voting for leaders who speak in word salads, and democratic values  while homelessness increases and housing becomes a privilege instead of a human right. We are watching our youth become discouraged, disconnected, and displaced. What are we telling them? That unless they enter high-income industries or win a lottery, they do not belong?

This is a crisis. A quiet one for some, but a screaming one for those who live it every day.

We deserve better.

We need housing that matches the realities of real people’s lives—not developer dreams or investor portfolios.

We need wages that reflect the cost of living—not fantasy calculations that doesn't reflect the people who live in cities and towns.

We new leadership that works for us—not the highest bidder.

It is shameful and uncivilized that in the richest nation on earth, the working class must beg for shelter. And if we cannot secure that basic right, then what are we really building?

Not communities. Not futures. 

Let the people live less stressful lives.

God wants his people to be happy.