A surge in rents and home prices left more lower-income households with no place else to go.

Summary

A growing number of Americans are seeking shelter in budget motels due to rising rents and home prices, with families experiencing cramped, unstable living conditions.

In New York’s Hudson Valley, over 550 families with children lived in motels in 2023, a 21% increase from 2018.

High costs, safety concerns, and limited housing options make escaping this cycle difficult.

Advocacy groups warn motels are an unsustainable solution as housing costs outpace wages, while waitlists for subsidized housing and vouchers remain long.

    • @[email protected]
      73•1 day ago

      As someone who recently lived in one for about 8 months, I can tell you that it’s not. But, they don’t require first + last month deposits, no credit checks, no utility accounts, are generally closer to public transport, etc.

        • Eugene V. Debs' GhostEnglish
          20•19 hours ago

          The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

          Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

          But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

          GNU Terry Pratchett, from “Men at Arms”

        • @LifeInMultipleChoice
          17•23 hours ago

          Let’s look at the new average cost of a car. Roughly 50k. The average loan amount for new cars is right over 40k. (Meaning they are paying 20% upfront by either trade-ins or down payments. The average car loan interest and length are 6.84% at around 67 months.

          So that would mean the average person pays $8,235 more than a rich person.

          So it really makes out to be that there is a 120% charge on the 40k they borrowed.

          Note: car insurance costs are based off the area you reside in, and your credit score. So you will pay more to have it as well.

          Poor people pay more on everything. And when you compare how much money someone makes it isn’t direct like many people view it.
          Someone who makes 40k vs 50k isn’t a “well they don’t make that much more”

          If the cost of living in the area is 35 a year. One has $13.69 /day spending money. The other has $41.07 /day spending money. $178/day if you made 100k in that area.

          So someone making 40k if they spent money on nothing else, could buy that car outright in 10 years… 100k doing the same could buy it in October, of that same year (271ish days)

          Drastically different living/saving possibilities between them.

    • @RememberTheApollo_
      14•21 hours ago

      These are pretty crappy hotels most of the time. They’re has-been places that cater to the living-in-a-hotel poverty set. Rates are pretty low, and they’re generally not places you’d want to stay when vacationing or visiting an area.

    • @hark
      11•1 day ago

      The solution is to jack up prices of these motels to keep the market “efficient”.

    • @JordanZ
      7•23 hours ago

      It was odd when I figured out one of my coworkers lived in the long term stay place behind the office for like 2 years. This was about a decade ago but I think he said it was like ~500 a month. He was making ~70K and absolutely could afford an apartment but that was somehow cheaper. He said it had trade offs…everything he owned fit in a suitcase and backpack.