Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought that having a place to live, privacy etc was a basic human right. Of course, we’re not begging to all live in 10,000 sq ft mansions (though that would be nice), but we all deserve at least a room, right?
The other extreme would be tenement houses, buildings full of crowded rooms where 6-10 people would sleep in the 18/19th centuries. Those no longer exist, as people have realized that stuffing 6 people in one room is unacceptable. So…what exactly is considered acceptable?
I’m lucky enough to attend a private university in my state, and though I’m on financial aid, over half of the student body is paying the full $80,000 ticket price, including ~$20,000 for 9 months of housing. That comes to around $2,200/month, and almost every room has 2 or 3 students in them. Some rooms are actually meant for 1-2 people, but they often stick bunk beds to fit another tuition paying student. The rooms with only one student in them are practically the size of jail cells, only without a bathroom to oneself. Many of the buildings are almost 100 years old, with broken laundry/kitchen/showers etc. My room, for example, doesn’t even have an overhead light.
How is it okay for universities to charge $80k per year for students to live in rooms the size of shoeboxes, crammed in 2 sets of bunk beds? Besides the lack of space, there is almost no privacy at any given moment. Changing privately is almost out of the question, as the bathroom is 100 ft away.
If humans have a right to shelter, does it mean it’s okay to charge people $2,200 a month to live in bunk beds, or single rooms the size of jail cells??