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Half of New York families struggle to afford basics
May 06,2023   By:China Daily Global

May 6, 2023 -- New York City is becoming a tale of two halves, as 50 percent of households struggle to afford basic necessities such as food, transportation and rent while the other half thrives, data shows.

Jonathan Bonds, 40, a plumber and carpenter "born and raised" in Brooklyn, remembers when things weren't so hard before the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. He has had to take on more side hustles lately to boost his income.

"I just think that there are increased costs across the board," Bonds told China Daily. "Food, rent is very difficult as well, everyday costs, gas, because I drive — I don't know why — it's very expensive as well. Utilities are very expensive, those have gone up for me exponentially over the past three years, since COVID hit. I'm barely above water."

New York City is in the grip of the worst cost-of-living crisis in 20 years, according to a report by the Fund for the City of New York. The organization was established by the Ford Foundation in 1968 and the United Way of New York to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers.

Also, when compared to the Overlooked & Undercounted: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in New York City report for 2021, the number of households without adequate income has grown significantly. Two years ago, just 36 percent of working-age households struggled to make ends meet.

But not everyone is cash-strapped. The average bonus paid in 2022 to those working in the securities industry was $176,000, according to New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The average securities analyst salary was $151,720 as of March.

In most other sectors in the city, the median household income is $70,663, data from the Census Bureau showed. But the report estimates that households must make $100,000 to afford the basics. Families in southern New York City must make $150,000.

Angelica, a 25-year-old video editor who did not want to give her family name, has been living in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, for a few years. She has to move due to rising costs. She admits that her salary makes things tight.

"I'm struggling to cope with rent and food. I am," she told China Daily. "I have to move out of my apartment end of June, so I'm looking for apartments. I live alone. I had been living in a rent-stabilized place, but I have to go now.

"It's so hard on my own. The rent and food are the hardest to pay, because even if you go to the grocery store and get ingredients for cooking, it's still expensive. It costs about the same if I order food than if I go to the restaurant. I have to take public transport mostly to keep costs down. I'm forced to take on more work."

Hispanic, immigrant and black families were hardest hit with rising costs. But overall, money is tight in 80 percent of households with one working adult, the report said.

"New York City families struggling to make ends meet are neither a small nor a marginal group, but rather represent a substantial proportion of households in the state," the report said.

Reiner Gonzalez, a retired 61-year-old from the Bronx, has one son aged 40. She was on her way to pick up groceries at her local supermarket when she stopped to complain about how hard things are.

"Oh my gosh it's expensive," she told China Daily. "Expensive, everything, Oh my God. The worst thing is the rent, that's number one. And the food, that's number two. It's much more expensive than a year ago.

"I take Social Security. I pay the bills, rent and food like that. My son doesn't live with me, so he doesn't help. I think you do need $100,000 to live here. I ain't got that. I just want costs to go down, especially food."

Over half of workers who struggle in New York have a college degree, a graduate degree or some college credit. That equates to 1,298,212 working-age households or 2,991,973 people.

Greg W. Locke, a 43-year-old filmmaker and graduate living in Brooklyn, said that he finds it difficult to buy the basics but also worries about people on a lower income than him who will be "destroyed" by the costs.

"Food is out of control for sure!" Locke told China Daily. "I'm in a rent-controlled place, so I'm lucky, but I must say that when I first moved to New York, my rent was $1,300, and that apartment went up to $2,000.

"I used to only take jobs that I could be passionate about, now I look at how much jobs pay, so I'm still kind of privileged in that way. I mean I'm broke, and I've always been broke, but I'd rather be happy and broke, than miserable and comfortable. I've been taking higher-paid jobs that I've hated.

"Up until I was 39, the most I ever made was $36,000, so, I never made much, but I made it work. The most I ever made, was one of those jobs that I hated and that was $80,000. Hopefully, the food costs go down because there are people that that's destroying."