Posted on 11/09/2018 12:34:47 PM PST by Kaslin
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman elected to Congress and a Democratic socialist, told The New York Times Wednesday that she can’t afford an apartment in D.C. until she gets her Congressional salary in three months.
Ocasio-Cortez, 29, said the transition period will be “very unusual, because I can’t really take a salary. I have three months without a salary before I’m a member of Congress. So, how do I get an apartment? Those little things are very real.”
She added that she has saved money before leaving her bartending job and “planned accordingly with her partner.”
“We’re kind of just dealing with the logistics of it day by day, but I’ve really been just kind of squirreling away and then hoping that gets me to January,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted about the issue Thursday arguing that it was an example of “many little ways in which our electoral system isn’t even designed (nor prepared) for working-class people to lead.”
There are many little ways in which our electoral system isn’t even designed (nor prepared) for working-class people to lead.
This is one of them (don’t worry btw - we’re working it out!)
?? https://t.co/PEQ5ccSDSO— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 8, 2018
NBC noted that Ocasio-Cortez will make $174,000 a year as a member of Congress and that the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in D.C. is $2,170 a month, making it the seventh-highest rent in the nation.
However, Ocasio-Cortez is moving from New York which has the second highest median rent in the nation for a one bedroom apartment costing $2,850 a month.
As Townhall noted earlier this year, reports, including from Harvard and the New Democrat Coalition, indicate that the affordable housing crisis is exacerbated by burdensome government regulations.
According to one recent report, released in June by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), “regulation imposed by all levels of government accounts for an average of 32.1 percent of multifamily development costs,” and “in a quarter of cases, that number can reach as high as 42.6 percent.”
Ocasio-Cortez believes that housing is "a human right" and "Congress must tip the balance away from housing as a gambling chip for Wall Street banks and fight for accessible housing that's actually within working families' reach."
Her solution to the crisis, however, is not deregulation but costly government intervention. She wants to "give tax benefits to working- and middle-class homeowners, expand the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, provide housing for the homeless, and permanently fund the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund."
Some on Twitter who disagreed with her politically did sympathize with her difficulty with the cost of housing in the city.
I am no fan of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but I'm a bit mystified that people are making fun of her for having trouble finding/affording housing in DC. That's, uh, a very relatable problem!— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) November 9, 2018
This is actually correct. There, I said it, OCASIO-CORTEZ IS RIGHT. https://t.co/jAeeTYTMsK— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) November 9, 2018
Tell me more about this "PARTNER"...
Try renting a room near West Point around graduation time!
Did she try the boarding house, located at Eleven B Street, Northeast?
There he is—Mr. Lincoln—looking right at you as you come up the steps— sitting there like he was waiting for someone to come along—
‘—with malice toward none, with charity for all—with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right...’
But; she doesn't HAVE one; yet!
Just the kind of person Sen. Paine wanted.
Has she any pigeons?
Simple solution
Marriott, Crystal City
It sits atop a mall and a metro terminal
NP
Motel 6, out by the recycling center.
Well, Jean Arthur is no longer available, so...
Can”t she “just write a check”? That’s the way she thinks government should pay for single payer health care. If it works for the government why not for everything? /s
What's wrong with sperm donor?
...let alone bags!
Well; a Living Wage sure as hell is!!!
She is just trolling for someone to pay her rent.
What a good communist. Use someone elses money.
She probably has a bunch of cash stashed away, but wants someone else to pay her way.
She doesn’t need to be there until she gets an office.
Once she has an office, she can sleep in it like other House members.
Right. She’s got a problem paying her rent so she’s gotta talk now about shaking down the American taxpayers to pay everybody’s rent. Go to hell you mindless money grubbing communist!! This is one idiot who is going to grind my gears every single day she’s in office.
Wait till she gets to Congress and Pelosi sends her on Starbucks runs.
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