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Comment by bobthepanda | Hacker News Reader

The NYT recently did a piece on how the tendrils of the housing crisis have made it out to places like Kalamazoo, MI that are not really traditionally high COL cities with booming economies. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/business/economy/housing-...

We are running out of cheap places to live in. Remote work has mostly pushed the crisis to other places without a corresponding pressure release in the high COL areas.

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I can't read the article because of the paywall, but Kalamazoo is unique due to the Kalamazoo Promise, where college tuition (in the state of MI) is paid for if you attend Kalamazoo Public Schools. For me that was $60k of tuition I didn't have to take out loans for. Housing/grocery prices have gone up there but not nearly as dramatically as other places.

> Kalamazoo is unique

Our rents in Florida have doubled for unique reasons. My loved ones in VA, DE, MD, KY, NC and MI are seeing rents over 50% higher for reasons unique to each area.

It kind of feels like a pattern.

Half of builders went out of business in 2008 and 1/3 left the trades.

We only just recently reached the level of new home starts we were hitting pre great-recession.

We have a decade's worth of supply deficit and in most locale's aren't doing much to overcome this.

Wow, the Kalamazoo Promise has been going on since 2005. I wasn't aware of this program; that's very cool.

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