Yahoo Autos U.S. Tourist Destination Opens Safe Parking Lots Instead Of Affordable Housing
There’s a serious lack of affordable housing in cities across the country. Not only are housing prices outpacing wage growth, but many areas haven’t built enough housing. Officials at local and state levels don’t seem to know how to solve the problem either, moving to solutions like letting people sleep in their cars instead of building affordable housing. Sedona, Arizona is one of these cities, as the Washington Post reported.
Like many cities, Sedona is experiencing a double smack of unaffordability in housing and a growing number of working-class people who don’t make enough to afford it. And things have only gotten worse in the last few years due to the popularity of buyers snapping up short-term rentals. Says the Post:
Home prices have shot up 50 percent since 2020, from an average of $645,000 in the first half of 2020 to $971,000 in the first half of 2023, according to the staff report. Rent for an average two-bedroom apartment is now $2,150 a month.
Short-term rentals have greatly increased since 2020, from 744 (12 percent of the city’s housing stock) to 1,089 units (16 percent) now. That has provided more space for tourists and created jobs while “decreasing housing availability for locals,” according to the agenda item.
