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
No worries, she will be worth millions in no time.
Her first bill will be for Congressional Housing Subsidies.....only for Socialists.....
Who will play her in the bio-pic of her rise to glory?
Why is this on Town Hall?
—
Anyway, she’ll be there fifty years and end up a billionaire.
Many in that age group refuse to consider neighborhoods on the outter fringe affordable areas or shared housing.They want the chic expensive areas with all the bells and whistles.
>>>Yes.
Her office.
Other congressmen sleep in their offices. She can too.<<<
I just think she would feel so much more at home in a tent somewhere.
“She’s just pushing for free housing for all lawmakers. She’s one of the elite now. Isn’t she entitled? /sarc”
Stop the sarcasm, you are correct b
This is nonsense.
There is an ulterior motive. There always is.
She wants the government or her constituents to give her money to pay her rent.
That’s actually perfect.
Occasional Kotex is about to find the world beyond her Daddy’s couch.
She should take her own advice and “ juat pay for it”. Sheese ,has any other congressman ever told the news they cant afford an apartment ? her constituents must be oh so proud. . She is going to be a laugh a minute the next 4 years.
“It’s either your boyfriend or girlfriend - “partner” in the context she’s using it is elitist drivel.”
Adult people having “boyfriends” and “girlfriends” has always sounded stupid too.
I invested 30 seconds in researching short term rentals, which is apparently more time than she has for doing her homework. The cheapest Airbnb I saw on Capitol Hill was $29 a night for a small unit four blocks from the Capitol building. Monthly rentals for very nice places are $2,300 a month and up. She should talk to some Members, many of whom lived in their offices or bunked with roommates when they landed in DC. She seems to have grandiose ideas about the lifestyle of a typical congress critter.
Her “partner” better watch out for those choppers!
Her wealthy acolytes are going to give her a bunch of money.
Boo Hoo! Let her get a loan from Chuck Schumer.
As she said
Just pay for it
Just pay for it. Easy peasy.
re: “She always looks like she’s on the verge of a stroke. Those neck veins...”
Her and “Beto” both ...
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