Cameron Toroni, a 24-year-old Uber driver in Chicago, wonders if he’ll ever be able to afford what his parents and grandparents had.
The older generations of his family own their homes, he said, “but they purchased them during times when it was actually affordable.”
Toroni completed one year of college, but dropped out when everything went online during the pandemic, and isn't sure what he wants to do next. Driving full-time for Uber, at weird hours, he’s making about minimum wage, he reckons. Meanwhile, rent costs $2,000 a month for a mid-range, not very fancy apartment.
“One of the big questions that I still don't have the answer to is how (housing) became so expensive in relation to wages and incomes that we get from normal jobs,” Toroni said. “I feel like that's the biggest disconnect that I haven't even been able to figure out.”
Toroni is hardly alone. The rent is too high – but so is the mortgage, the utility bill, the property taxes and the homeowners insurance. The housing affordability crisis, for many Americans, feels like a stranglehold.
