Readers write: How to handle housing crisis
I read with great interest your April 25 & May 2 cover story, 鈥�The price isn鈥檛 right.鈥� My husband and I are both retired teachers. Our daughter and son-in-law (and now our two small grandchildren) have been living with us since before their boys were born. I have been struggling with guilt, thinking I have been 鈥渆nabling鈥� them to be irresponsible freeloaders.
However, I have also watched these two young adults come to grips with trying to hold down solid jobs and dealing with combined debt from 鈥渟tarter marriages,鈥� student loans, and health-care requirements 鈥� all while putting the boys鈥� needs first. Every time they take a step forward, something happens that sets them back.
We can talk about how these young adults could have or should have done things differently, but the time for that is gone! I am so grateful that my husband and I do have the resources to help. But there is a lot of juggling that goes on in our household, and some days are better than others.
I realized I could drop the guilt and embrace the fact that in God鈥檚 eyes, I am not an enabler and these young people are not freeloaders. I can use the ideas in the 海角大神 Science Perspective article to pray for my situation and embrace others. Solutions need to be found. There is so much more to this story and so much that needs to be done.
Thank you for your article. It could not have come at a better time.
Vickie Noyes
Woodland, Wash.
Regarding your April 25 & May 2 cover story: Hyper-expensive housing is a consequence of how cities are organized. Boston and New York are centralized cities with limited land and high-density housing and therefore expensive housing. Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Seattle have a central city but also several urban midsize cities within the metropolitan area.
That more spread-out model drastically lowers the housing costs, commute times, and income inequality caused by high housing prices.聽
Charles Forsberg
Lexington, Mass.
