Again, this is not a race issue. I’m black and went to Hampton, earned a BS in Finance in 2002 and make enough money so that I was able to purchased a condo in this building. The issues you are raising are related to class. Race has it’s place in a debate about affordable housing, but it is far more complicated than just saying rent is high to push black people out.

My family purchased land that was occupied in Northern Virginia by mostly poor rural white people. 20 years ago a developer grabbed all the land and we built a 8,000 sq house next to houses even larger. Those poor white people can’t afford to live where they grew up either.

Not so much now. Lots of companies have been outsourcing those jobs to India and in-outsourcing to foreign guest workers on temporary work visas. Just like the factory jobs of old. These aren’t the inevitable, natural course of things: You can thank free trade agreements and guest work programs for that, and while you’re at it thank the corporate lobbyists and politicians on both sides of the aisle that they bought off.

Individual choices definitely have their role to play, but there are also much bigger structural forces that are shaping this economy. No one should be working 40+ hours per week and unable to support a family on their hard-earned wages, but this is the economy we keep creating here.

Lack of affordable housing is just a symptom of this much bigger problem.

However, I attended Howard in the 70′s and I was able to apply for a free grant entitled, ‘Basic Educational Opportunity Grant’. If it had not been for programs like this back in the early and mid seventies, many minorities like myself wouldn’t have been able to afford to attend college. I am not privileged like many of the new comers moving into the District of Columbia. Most federal government jobs in D.C. are going to white educated professionals moving into the District. It’s about who you know, not what you know. As a black native Washingtonian born in 1955, I remember many of these so called neighborhoods considered the ghetto. Why is it, when whites move into black neighborhoods, the property value increase and when blacks move into white neighborhoods, the property value decrease?

Highly regarded schools are ranked every year per program (financial times, us news, etc etc), it is what it is. You take out the loans and incur the debt to make the salary to get by in this city. 3k for a 2 bedroom on u st with parking is awesome. I’d love to pay less as well, but it’s supply and demand!