Right to Work States Preserving the American Dream

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For many Americans, a major part of achieving the “American Dream” is owning a home. That has become more difficult in many areas of the country as ever higher property taxes are necessary to pay the public sector unions who have a stranglehold on state politics. There is, however, an antidote. In states with right to work laws, which prevent compulsory union membership and dues paying, homes are more affordable. The National Right to Work Committee explains:

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Last year, Apartment List, a private service company that connects renters with apartment listings, surveyed 6,400 millennials on their plans for homeownership.

The company reports that 89% of millennials want to own their own homes, but just 4.9% “say they will do so within the next year,” and 34% expect they will have to wait five years or more.

Of those who are putting off homeownership, 72% cite affordability as a reason.

Fortunately, single-family homes are far more affordable in some regions of the country than in others.

Of the 10 Bottom-Ranking States For Housing Permits, Nine Are Forced-Unionism

And U.S. Bureau of the Census (BOC) data have long shown that making the transition from renter to homeowner is far less difficult in Right to Work states than in states where employees aren’t protected from compulsory unionism.

For example, the BOC’s tracking of housing authorizations shows that there were 3.59 permits for construction of privately-owned, single-unit houses per 1,000 residents in the 27 Right to Work states as a group last year.

That’s well over double the 2018 average of 1.62 per 1,000 residents in the 23 forced-dues states.

In absolute terms, there were 592,600 single-unit housing authorizations in Right to Work states last year. That’s 126% more than the total for states where employees may be fired for refusal to join or pay fees to a union.

“The correlation between state laws prohibiting forced union dues and fees as a condition of employment and single-unit housing authorizations is quite robust,” said National Right to Work Committee Vice President Matthew Leen.

“Eleven of the 13 states with the most authorizations per capita of such housing are Right to Work states.

But all of the six bottom-ranking states — Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island — and nine of the 10 bottom-ranking states are forced-dues.”

E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.