What Voters Are Facing: High Costs, Low Wages, and an Economy That Doesn’t Work
What Many Voters Are Facing: High Costs, Low Wages, and an Economy That Doesn’t Work
By Denise Scott, Bell and Notice Advisors
The housing crisis isn’t just about sky-high rents and eye-popping home prices. It’s about an economy that flat-out doesn’t work for most Americans. The math simply isn’t mathing—and hasn’t for a long time.
Rents, related housing costs for both tenants and landlords, and other household expenses are too damn high—while wages for many are too low. The government safety net is fast dwindling. One does not need a calculator to figure this out.
Even before inflation started tap-dancing on our budgets, wages weren’t keeping up. And now, a modest two-bedroom rental feels like a pipe dream for millions of full-time workers.
No disputing that tenants have to pay rent and landlords have to cover expenses. But the conversation about affordability must include a hard look at income—or rather, the lack thereof.
Many corporations have quietly relied on public benefits to prop up low-wage business models. SNAP, housing vouchers, and Medicaid have filled the gap their payrolls leave behind. It’s an indirect subsidy—one rarely acknowledged in boardrooms.
But what happens when that safety net starts to unravel? As public resources are being retrenched, the workers who’ve kept this economy running are left even more vulnerable.
We are watching, in real time, the consequences of an economic system where workers are paid too little to live on and are at times told to be grateful for crumbs. And an economy where especially young people see very limited opportunities for financial stability and growth.
Back in November 2024, across the country, voters rolled the dice on a hollow promise of economic rescue, and now many are realizing how much of a mistake that choice was.
In New York City’s Mayoral primary election, people voted for the candidate who didn’t need a pollster to understand economic pain. Someone who is at least talking about income and economic power.
There’s a through-line from November to now, and it doesn’t require a PhD in political science, or a rocket scientist, to spot it.
Voters are hungry for someone, anyone, who actually gets it.
It’s about the economy, stupid!
So, maybe instead of whisper campaigns and backroom politics, we shift the focus to actual solutions. Imagine that! Because while the “Anybody But Zohran” crowd is busy hoping to increase their interests, regular folks are dealing with rent they can’t afford, groceries they can’t buy, and futures they can’t see.
This isn’t the time for political cowardice. It’s time for courage and for bold leadership across sectors to mitigate the damages that are unfolding in the wake of sweeping cuts to federal programs.
This means now we have to dig in our heels even harder to ensure access for better wages and stronger public investment for shared prosperity.
This is what many voters have come to realize!
Bold leadership in the business sector could offer pathways to a stable economy.
In corporate boardrooms, you have the platform and influence to send a clear message: federal cuts to public services won’t help the economy—they’ll hurt it. And for those who understand how much federal aid props up your sector, the implications are clear: your own bottom lines are at risk too.
These spending cuts don’t just lack moral imagination—they defy basic economic logic. Undermining key drivers of the economy—healthcare, education, technology, workforce development, housing, and infrastructure—will have severe, possibly irreversible consequences.
Take the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and New Markets Tax Credit, for example. These tools, while extremely valuable, mainly focus on the investor side of the equation. But with deep cuts to public services, who will help tenants in LIHTC buildings pay their share of the rent? If residents can’t afford their homes, investor equity is at risk too.
Experts across various sectors are identifying similar fault lines—gaps created by these cuts that will further destabilize communities and the businesses that serve them.
And to the many elected Representatives who have either remained silent or who are complicit in dismantling federal safety nets:
Really?
What are y’all afraid of?
It’s not about ideology or political persuasion; it’s about having the guts to protect the wellbeing and livelihood of your constituents.
Shoutout to those of you who do get it.
But for the rest of you, are you really too afraid to fight for the financial interest and future viability of this economy?
Are you willing to destroy some of the most productive sectors of our society?
These times require the courage to do something about the tale of two cities- where even some in the middle class (a fairly reliable voting block) are now slipping into the class of the expanding have nots.
Many of your constituents are about to face worsening housing instability, deepening food insecurity, diminishing access to healthcare, education and other basic needs.
What’s your game plan for managing the aftermath?
Denise Scott, Founder of Bell and Notice Advisors, is a nationally recognized leader in community development finance. Over the course of her nearly 40 year career she oversaw the implementation of billions of dollars of investments in cities and rural communities nationwide.
