Housing advocates lament the fact that a full-time worker making minimum wage can’t afford a two-bedroom apartment. This, they want us to believe, is an example of the affordable housing crisis. But they fail to explain why a two-bedroom apartment is the standard. They fail to explain why a one-bedroom apartment or a studio apartment won’t suffice.
Most of us desire things that we can’t afford at a particular moment in time. That fact doesn’t mean that there is an affordable luxury automobile crisis or an affordable around-the-world cruise crisis an affordable private jet crisis. It does mean that our desire is not realistic given our present financial circumstances.
When we face such a situation, we have several options. We can modify our desire to something more affordable or abandon the desire altogether. We can delay our gratification and save money over time. Or, we can find a way to earn additional money. If we desire a particular value, then we must take the actions necessary to produce or earn it. This is true of luxury automobiles, cruises, and airplanes, and it is equally true of housing.
If an individual making minimum wage desires a two-bedroom apartment, then he should take the actions necessary to earn it. If he wants his desires fulfilled, then he should take responsibility for doing so.
Housing advocates say virtually nothing about self-responsibility. Indeed, their policy proposals focus on absolving individuals of responsibility. They call for more government housing subsidies for low-income families and more laws that control what landlords may charge. Housing advocates want others—taxpayers and landlords—to foot the housing bill for low-income families.
A growing number of Americans believe that when reality clashes with their desires, reality is the problem. They take their desires as an unquestionable given and then whine when they are unable to fulfill their desires. And so, they demand that others do what they can’t and won’t do—produce the values that their lives require. Mick Jagger has noted that you can’t always get what you want. But if you try, if you take the actions necessary to earn a value, you often get what you want and need.