With rents on the rise in cities nationwide and salaries not keeping pace, housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable for many.
Per the newly launched Make Room campaign, from Maryland-based Enterprise Community Partners and the MacArthur Foundation, one in four renters spends half their income on rent alone — and the problem is the worst in Florida, New Jersey, California and New York. (Next City receives funding support from MacArthur.)
There are certainly plenty of charts and reports documenting the bill-paying choices rent-burdened people have to make every day. But the Make Room campaign is banking on star power — and living-room-style conversations among neighbors and friends — to bring more attention to the issue.
For the first of each month (the day the rent is often due), Make Room will recruit popular musicians to perform in the living rooms of some of those struggling renters. They kicked things off with Carly Rae Jepsen on May 1st. The “Call Me Maybe” singer performed in the living room of the Duarte family, who rent in Los Angeles’ Highland Park neighborhood. The informal concert kicked off a fundraising campaign to help the Duartes make ends meet.
RT @NHSCleveland: It's time to #MakeRoom because #HomeMatters whether you rent or own your home! @MakeRoomUSA @HomeMattersUSA @neighborworks
— NeighborWorks (@neighborworks) May 1, 2015Rents rising, wages stagnating. Families forced to make impossible choices. Food or medicine? Gas or diapers? Let's #makeroom @MakeRoomUSA
— Diane Yentel (@dianeyentel) May 1, 2015Of course, monthly free concerts aren’t the only effort of the organization, which bases its work on the idea that the rent crisis is a solvable problem. In addition to raising awareness about a lack of affordable housing, the organization also seeks to make more partnerships with businesses and advocates that could potentially lead to policy change.
“We are in the middle of a silent rental housing crisis in America,” said Ron Terwilliger, chairman of the board of Enterprise Community Partners. “It’s time to shine a spotlight on the rental housing crisis and move it out of the shadows. Without a comprehensive and sustained response from the public and private sectors, the burden of unaffordable rent will only grow, undermining the stability of millions of American families.”
Marielle Mondon is an editor and freelance journalist in Philadelphia. Her work has appeared in Philadelphia City Paper, Wild Magazine, and PolicyMic. She previously reported on communities in Northern Manhattan while earning an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University.
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