Nationally, the average price of a house in any given area is about 4 to 5 times the average income of that area. If the average goes higher than that, then the houses start pricing themselves out of the range that can be bought by the average person and still make payments. However, some areas of the country can have significantly proportions. A couple of days ago, el Nuevo Herald — the Spanish version of the Miami Herald — published a report that, in Miami, the price of houses is about 10 times the average income of the area. Adding the higher than national average prices for house insurance, and the highest taxes in the state, this means that 2/3 of the families in Miami cannot afford to buy a house.
Now, one would expect that simple supply and demand would drive the prices lower. And there has, indeed, been some price adjustment during the current economic downturn. But, South Florida has a secret. That secret is the influx of retired people and foreigners who have money to spend. That influx is what has both driven prices high and keeps them high. A retiree has the money to buy up front. The foreigner may be buying a second home, and has money to spend. Either way, houses are being bought by people who are not having to live on the average income of that area.
But, that brings up a difficult dilemma. The houses are now priced so high that the very people who service the local economy cannot expect to own a house in that area. And, with rising gas prices, they are less and less able to afford to commute to that area from a house they could own far outside the Miami area. In fact, most do not commute, they simply try to do one of two things. One is to find cheap rentals. But, realistically, the second is having to work multiple jobs. Thus, it is not unusual for a married couple in that situation to have three to four jobs between them.
Yet, this leads to an even more difficult situation. One has to ask what are we doing to marriages? Even more, what are we doing to the children of those marriages? If mom and dad always have to be on the go, who ensures that the children can participate in sports and will have a good solid moral upbringing? Worse, when the jobs are available in the city and not outside, but no reasonable housing is available in the city, what options are we leaving for young couples? Are we comfortable with the image of people working well over 8 hours a day, and probably 6 to 7 days a week with no other choice?
And, what does an Orthodox priest say to that young couple? Cities cannot run without people working many of the service jobs. We are not talking about upper middle class people who have multiple jobs in order to have things. We are talking about an average wage person trying to simply have housing. And, may God have mercy on those who are earn below the average income of that area. I have ministered in the inner city in another state. The housing available to those working below the national average (cleaning hotels, working at gas stations, staffing fast food joints, doing lawncare, being waiters and waitresses at lower end restaurants, working Wal-Mart) is pitiful, and most often in a dangerous area of the city. There the innocent suffer along with the guilty.
So, do I say “be warmed and be filled”? Do I admonish them for not attending church as often as they should, even though that might be their only free day? Do I simply shrug my shoulders and say that this is capitalism and that the alternative would be worse? Often, for them, the alternative may not be worse. This is a point that is hard for some to understand. Do I try to start child care centers? Actually, yes we need to do that. But, those child care centers are a bandage that does not answer the question of buying a house and not needing to have three to four jobs in your family. Do we do free clinics? Well, of course we do. My Pastora (my wife, my presbitera, my matushka, my khourie) was on the board of an organization that provided nomadic basic-level free clinics. She, and all our daughters, provided volunteer help to that organization at the free clinics. But, these are also bandages.
So, what does the Church have to say into this situation? I wish I had a good answer; I would share it with everyone. But, I know that, somehow, the Church needs to develop some type of coherent and united voice in this area of life. I also know that I hurt inside whenever I remember some of the lovely people I met in that inner city in another state, people who were moral and church attenders, but were having to live in difficult situations and having to work their fingers to the bone while their children had to roam free far too often. Oh, yes, I also buried a 14 and a 15 year old during that time, who had roamed free but too far from their anchors.
So, what do we say, as Orthodox?
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