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1976dave t1_ja7zrwd wrote

< 600 sq ft houses being touted as "affordable" when they're anticipated to go for 1200/month seems like the perfect picture of what's gone wrong here. I'll avoid calling this a company town since it's not explicitly housing built for one specific employer -- but the employer's big motivation is having housing for their workforce. Glassdoor says the assisted living facility in the article pays 14-16 an hour. If we naively call it an average of 15 an hour, you're taking home $913 every two weeks. 613/month does not seem like a lot to pay for the rest of living, especially when you consider that these houses are meant to largely be starter places for young people. It feels extra fucked if you frame it in light of your employer saying "hey live in this house I built and work for me. Here's your pay check, I'll have 2/3 of it back now"

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Curious_Buffalo_1206 t1_ja83by0 wrote

> "hey live in this house I built and work for me. Here's your pay check, I'll have 2/3 of it back now"

You wipe 16 bums, what do you get?

Another day older and deeper in debt.

Saint Peter don’t call me ‘cause I can’t go.

I owe my soul to the company store.

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comefromawayfan2022 t1_jab0blm wrote

16 bums is a generous ratio. My friend works night shifts at various nursing homes here in the state as a travel lna and sometimes it's two lnas for 30-50 people

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Goodbye11035Karma t1_ja830c4 wrote

> they're anticipated to go for 1200/month

Are you for real? I spend that on a full-sized house (except upstairs; that was built for hobbits and I'm slightly taller than the average hobbit) in an expensive area.

What a money grab!

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TheMobyDicks t1_ja87y68 wrote

> Here's your pay check, I'll have 2/3 of it back now

The 30% rule notes that one should only pay 30% of gross salary for housing. In NH many renters pay WAY more than that. This couple who are building the cottage units in Dover also built an apartment building in Durham with daycare on the first floor for their workers. One option for their workers is to pay 30% of their salary to live there. They are certainly not required to do so, but - considering the cost of living on the seacoast - it's an attractive option. And, by the way, the apartments are spacious, well lit all have balconies over looking the river. It's a really nice place and, if the Randolphs opted to, they could charge a heckuva lot more.

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simonhunterhawk t1_ja8enra wrote

It’s becoming the norm for people to pay 50% of their wages or more in rent these days, it’s really fucked. And out of touch boomers will say it’s our fault we can’t afford homes.

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BiffWiff t1_ja9cwry wrote

Before the recent rapid inflation, 50% wasn’t so bad. Now it’s really tough.

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simonhunterhawk t1_ja9obgp wrote

Yeah i pay for most of our groceries so my roomie can afford his half of the rent. But I make like 50% more than he does so I don’t mind doing it.

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1976dave t1_ja8j605 wrote

That's pretty good to hear. Especially if the childcare is included with that, thats an incredible value and its frankly great to see that kind of a solution. I don't know enough to form an opinion on this specific case, in general I think I don't like relying on the benevolence of an employer to provide affordable housing/childcare. This sounds like a local employer with roots in the area, so that probably helps. I hesitate to say this is a good scalable model (meaning vertically integrated employer provides employee housing at a cost) just because i have a hard time thinking the amazons of the world are going to be very benevolent.

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littleedge t1_ja82z8a wrote

Yeah that’s the piece.

“At or below the…$1,200” level for such a tiny house? Im assuming it’ll be at. I’m all for these small housing options - some people don’t want or need a huge space - but this is like a $600/month home, tops.

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the_nobodys t1_ja8op7d wrote

Sadly, not if you want to live in Seacoast NH.

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FaustusC t1_jaae0b2 wrote

Yeah. 2018 I looked at something the same size. $1600-$1700 if I remember correctly.

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TheTowerBard t1_ja862am wrote

I have a spacious apartment in CT that I pay $1,200 / month for and I can walk to the beach from… I know I have a good deal (that’s why I’ve hung on to it) but my gods man. These places should be $600 top. Less if you’re an employee of the company that owns the town… er uh… “house.”

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Emperor-Commodus t1_jab6o2w wrote

It always cracks me up that we're this deep into a housing shortage and people are still this out of touch about housing prices.

Yes, $1200/m is about how much a 600 new sqft would go for, especially as they're separated homes, not combined apartments. I pay more for a teeny old 1BR apt in Manch.

The only way these prices are going down is by building more housing. I don't care who does it, just happy to see more becoming available.

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dannychan25 t1_jaa3etw wrote

Luckily, I was able to purchase my first home with my gf at 22. Now… a lot of things had to fall into place ‘perfectly’ for this to happen. And surprisingly they all did.

We each pay 1250 a month for mortgage which is slightly under half months pay (one pay check bi weekly). It is really tough, especially when you couple that with electricity, utilities, plowing, groceries, oil/gas/propane heating, and kids/pets if you have them (I only have 2 dogs and they eat a shit ton).

If you look at it this way, you save a lot of money by renting and don’t have to worry about upkeep and any of the above mentioned things. However, the “fact” that it’s impossible to own a home is simply not true.

A lot of these landlords are paying off their mortgage by renting out apartments. Why pay for their mortgage when you can get your own. All in all, I do have a partner to help split the mortgage with, but at least we are building equity and don’t have to deal with rules/annoying neighbors.

Lastly, I have so many friends who say they can’t afford a mortgage when they are literally paying one to rent an apartment. Wait for rates to go back down before shopping for a home.

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