The case for communal living/house sharing...
According to Zumper.com, the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in Atlanta Georgia is $1,600.00 per month. Per the United States census, the median income in Atlanta Georgia is 59,948.00. However, the median income for African Americans per statista.com is 45,870.00. Please check out Statista.Com and peruse the data. I was surprised at the many disparities. Moving on, one can most definitely find a one-bedroom for less than $1,600.00 per month, but at what cost? Good schools, safety and amenities in close proximity to where one resides are important to quality of life. We we all want a good meal we do not have to cook without driving thirty minutes to get it. Should we not want our neighborhood to benefit from those tax dollars we are forced to pay?
I live in a predominately African American community. Other cultures blend well in my residential landscape. I have observed various cultures living communally or house sharing. Nice cars in front of garages in the zip codes around me. There was a house outside of my subdivision that appeared uninhabitable and sat empty for years. Kudzu had grown out of control on one side of the house and it appeared the roof collapsed on the corner of the house. One day, I drove passed the house and three maybe four cars were parked on the property. The next day the grass was cut, windows were replaced, and the corner of the roof was repaired. A week later, men who appeared to be Hispanic were playing soccer in the front yard. It appeared that several people were living in the house while restoring it.
I drive passed this house every day on my way home. I recalled a story my mother told me. When she graduated high school, she left Alabama and moved with her uncle Phillip and his wife in their home in New Jersey. As she says, she paid her keep. Communal living/house sharing is not new to the African American community. I propose this is a model that needs to be revisited. With solid rules and a good understanding, communal living/house sharing just may be what is needed to close the wealth gap while creating wealth.
What are your thoughts?