Friday, February 17, 2012

Laredo tops in foodstamps but near bottom in affordable housing

That'll be two arms and one leg please. And don't let the picture fool you. You'll only get 5 ft of property on either side.

Leave it up to Laredo to defy logic. Just yesterday, LT posted about Laredo being ranked as one of cities most dependent on food stamps in the entire USA. Now, lo and behold, the Gateway City is ranked  as one of the least affordable places in the country for prospective home owners. I think we should have sociologists down here at TAMIU giving us their best take on how Laredo can simultaneously be at both ends of apparently-opposite spectrums.

 From Building Online.com

Among smaller housing markets, the most affordable was Kokomo, Ind., where 99.2 percent of homes sold during the fourth quarter of 2011 were affordable to families earning the median income of $59,100. Other smaller housing markets at the top of the index included Fairbanks, Alaska; Cumberland, Md.-W.Va.; Lima, Ohio; and Rockford, Ill.

In New York-White Plain-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J., the least affordable major housing market during 2011's fourth quarter, 29.0 percent of all homes sold were affordable to those earning the area's media income of $67,400. This was the 15th consecutive quarter in which the New York metropolitan division held this position.

Other major metro area at the bottom of the affordability index included Honolulu; San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif.; Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif.; and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif., respectively.

Ocean City, N.J., where 47.5 percent of the homes were affordable to families earning the median income of $70,100, was the least affordable of the smaller metro housing markets in the country during the fourth quarter. Other small metro areas ranking near the bottom included Laredo, Texas; San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif.; Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif.; and Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas.
Please visit www.nahb.org/hoi for tables, historic data and details.

5 comments:

  1. On a similar note see:

    "Restore Opportunity with a Living Wage".

    http://www.populist.com/12.04.troxell.html

    America, the land of opportunity. That expression is strong and inviting. It gives one the impression that anything is possible. It is an idea that appeals to Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians alike.

    But the very base of our socio-economic foundation is in danger of crumbling because the backbone workers of America, the minimum-wage worker, comprised of construction laborers, child-care workers, elder-care aides, security guards, restaurant workers, retail sales workers, landscape workers, ambulance drivers, are all in economic danger of falling out of the system and into homelessness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Minimum-wage should be a springboard for going to college, NOt a living wage.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i believe it! i looked high and low for places to rent when i moved back in 2006 and anything that was not a rat's nest was more expensive than Austin. i moved twice more and each time its been impossible finding a decent cheap place to rent or buy. people criticize folks for living out in colonias, but they just want to be home owners like everyone else.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Laredo should be listed in Ripley's Believe it or Not!

    ReplyDelete
  5. America, the land of opportunity. That expression is strong and inviting. It gives one the impression that anything is possible. It is an idea that appeals to Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians alike.
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    ReplyDelete