New study shows that Grand Rapids is 8th in the country with an increase in the price of housing, but local news people don’t even bother to ask why

A recent study by the group Smart Asset showed that the cost of housing went up across the US, with Grand Rapids identified as having the 8th largest increase.

Now, considering the fact that the housing crisis in Grand Rapids has been one of the most talked about issues over the last decade, the new study didn’t garner much attention. In fact, only WZZM 13 ran a story based on the Smart Asset study, but kept their coverage to the simple numbers from the study. In fact, the channel 13 story doesn’t even bother to talk about what this means for home buyers or renters.

The Smart Asset study also reported the data, which shows that not only did the average cost of housing go up by 12% over the past year, it went up 64.4% over the past 5 years.

Now, one would think that any reasonable person would ask the question, have people’s incomes gone up by 64.4% over the past 5 years? If the cost of housing has increased that much, then it seems like an important question to ask regarding the income level of people wanting to buy a home. Of course, we know that most people’s income did not increase by 64.4% over the past 5 years, except for the super rich, like the Meijer family.

Remember, the past 5 years would be 2019 – 2024, which included the COVID 19 pandemic, where many people lost jobs or couldn’t work because of the public health risks. 

So, how is it that local news agencies failed to report on this increase in the price of housing, especially since housing is such a hot topic? Could it be that the local commercial news agencies have internalized the belief that the market dictates the price of housing, instead of housing by a right for everyone? 

In addition, the price of rent in this city has gone up tremendously over the past decade, making the rental prices unattainable by many. In fact, the increases rental costs are so high that according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, for people to afford the average cost of rent in Grand Rapids they would have to earn $25.50 an hour with a full time job. These are the kinds of questions we need to ask and these are the discussions we need to have if we really want housing justice in this city.