Daniel, on the Ressentiment front, check out this story in today’s Maryland Gazette, “Rising Rents, Stagnant Rights Have Renters Crying Foul” — a cri de coeur for new rent regulations that features David Cohen and his wife, who retired to an apartment in Chevy Chase planning to live “their twilight years in comfort”:
Although the couple has a fixed income, their pensions — from more than 60 years of combined work as federal employees — allow them to live in a luxury apartment building and travel occasionally. But David Cohen, 70, is feeling less comfortable about his retirement after learning his rent will increase for the second straight year, this time by 5 percent.
“People are hurting from this,” said Cohen, who lives at The Irene, where an efficiency costs about $1,600 per month and a larger two-bedroom more than $4,000. “It’s that much more you pay this year and next year and five years from now.”
Cohen isn’t alone. This year, more Montgomery County renters are crying foul about rent increases at a time when income levels are dropping, prompting tenant associations to lobby for rent control measures.
Poor David Cohen, who retired at 62 and forgot to take into account inflation and now must — horrors — move to Rockville or vacation on the Eastern Shore.