Where my pay goes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no one HAS to live in Dupont.

This is what is pissing me off in this thread. Nannies whining "I DON'T EARN A LIVING WAGE. I WORK IN GEORGETOWN AND SHOULD BE PAID TO LIVE IN GEORGETOWN! I NEED $2800 A MONTH TO COVER RENT!!!!"

Nannies, go live in SE, pay $350 a month by splitting a 2BR and take the metro to anywhere in DC. It's not that hard.

SE? I'm sure if you ever even had to drive through SE, you'd have your music off, windows up, doors locked, and your head down. If you are okay with your nanny living in the slums, please exit the thread, because the grown ups are trying to have a conversation.

To the other posters suggesting silver spring, again, you are living in the past. Silver Spring may have been much cheaper than DC in the past. Where that $750/month Dupont studio is now $1800-$2300/month, a silver spring studio is $1600-$1800/month. I live in a semi-safe area of PG county, and my studio is $1275/month! I suppose I should split it with a stranger, ie. roommate?

Stereotype much? I used to go to SE a lot for a volunteer job I had and the only group that ever bothered me was a religious group trying to convert me.

Oh so you did not house your children and everything you own and hold dear in that neighborhood? You did not live among the poor and share the burdens of poverty. Never sent your kids to the worst schools in America or walk home alone after dark in that neighborhood? Aren't you a model of humility.

While I did not grow up in SE, I grew up in a very poor household and have lived in less than desirable neighborhoods in my life where if you walked outside at night, you never knew what you were going to encounter. Are there bad neighborhoods in SE? But to make a blanket statement about all of SE without spending time there is stereotyping and judging. Some of the scariest neighborhoods I have been through in DC were not in the SE, but in the NW before they cleaned them up.

Okay? I'm not what exactly your point is. You suggested that a nanny go live there. It is cheap to live there for a reason. I know I couldn't send someone I gave a shit about home to that each night so that I could save a buck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no one HAS to live in Dupont.

This is what is pissing me off in this thread. Nannies whining "I DON'T EARN A LIVING WAGE. I WORK IN GEORGETOWN AND SHOULD BE PAID TO LIVE IN GEORGETOWN! I NEED $2800 A MONTH TO COVER RENT!!!!"

Nannies, go live in SE, pay $350 a month by splitting a 2BR and take the metro to anywhere in DC. It's not that hard.

SE? I'm sure if you ever even had to drive through SE, you'd have your music off, windows up, doors locked, and your head down. If you are okay with your nanny living in the slums, please exit the thread, because the grown ups are trying to have a conversation.

To the other posters suggesting silver spring, again, you are living in the past. Silver Spring may have been much cheaper than DC in the past. Where that $750/month Dupont studio is now $1800-$2300/month, a silver spring studio is $1600-$1800/month. I live in a semi-safe area of PG county, and my studio is $1275/month! I suppose I should split it with a stranger, ie. roommate?

I live in the Palisades in a 1BR that costs $1350. Its not updated but its nice, the building is nice, the neighborhood is great, and I'm right on MacArthur. I don't know where you are getting these crazy high inflated prices, but again a nanny should NOT be living in Georgetown/Palisades/NW/Etc, that is a LUXURY, you should be living downtown and splitting a place with a roommate. Teachers and young lawyers do this, why should a nanny not have too?

Silly poster, don't you know that nannies are a special breed that are entitled to the same lifestyles as their employers, even though they have no experience and expect to get paid better than your average teacher or lawyer? And despite the fact that millions of Americans live in less than stellar living conditions, you are a bad employer if you know your nanny is living in one of those areas because she is more special than everyone else.

No one has said any of that. Yes we all know that there are workers that have it even worse, but that is only in an abstract way. I would hope that if any of us actually knew someone struggling to pay their bills we would help, no? If you employ a nanny, she is not an abstract idea, she is a real person, coming to your house daily, caring for your child home and family, and you should give a damn if YOU are the reason she can't afford to live like a decent human being, even though she works 50 hours a week for you.

If an employer offers a salary and then the employee accepts the job and salary, why then is the employer responsible as to where the employee lives?

BECAUSE NANNIES ARE REAL PEOPLE CARING FOR YOUR CHILDREN!!! YOU SHOULD PAY THEM A TON SO THEY CAN LIVE IN DC AND DRIVE A NICE CAR AND HAVE AN IPHONE YOU HORRIBLE MB!!!

Cars and cell phones are not necessities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no one HAS to live in Dupont.

This is what is pissing me off in this thread. Nannies whining "I DON'T EARN A LIVING WAGE. I WORK IN GEORGETOWN AND SHOULD BE PAID TO LIVE IN GEORGETOWN! I NEED $2800 A MONTH TO COVER RENT!!!!"

Nannies, go live in SE, pay $350 a month by splitting a 2BR and take the metro to anywhere in DC. It's not that hard.

SE? I'm sure if you ever even had to drive through SE, you'd have your music off, windows up, doors locked, and your head down. If you are okay with your nanny living in the slums, please exit the thread, because the grown ups are trying to have a conversation.

To the other posters suggesting silver spring, again, you are living in the past. Silver Spring may have been much cheaper than DC in the past. Where that $750/month Dupont studio is now $1800-$2300/month, a silver spring studio is $1600-$1800/month. I live in a semi-safe area of PG county, and my studio is $1275/month! I suppose I should split it with a stranger, ie. roommate?

Stereotype much? I used to go to SE a lot for a volunteer job I had and the only group that ever bothered me was a religious group trying to convert me.

Oh so you did not house your children and everything you own and hold dear in that neighborhood? You did not live among the poor and share the burdens of poverty. Never sent your kids to the worst schools in America or walk home alone after dark in that neighborhood? Aren't you a model of humility.

While I did not grow up in SE, I grew up in a very poor household and have lived in less than desirable neighborhoods in my life where if you walked outside at night, you never knew what you were going to encounter. Are there bad neighborhoods in SE? But to make a blanket statement about all of SE without spending time there is stereotyping and judging. Some of the scariest neighborhoods I have been through in DC were not in the SE, but in the NW before they cleaned them up.

Okay? I'm not what exactly your point is. You suggested that a nanny go live there. It is cheap to live there for a reason. I know I couldn't send someone I gave a shit about home to that each night so that I could save a buck.

No, I am not the poster who said nannies should live in SE. But I think the general statement that just because it is SE it isn't a safe place to live is incorrect. There is a lot of cleaning up going on down there and people who wouldn't have lived there before are moving there. Not everyone who lives there is a thug out to rob, rape, or kill you. Get to know the people and the area before you make ignorant comments about a place you know nothing about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I have always said those nannies are troll(s) for one, and 2, I'm married so my rates don't need to be sky high. Stability is more important. And 3, I am also a business owner with a second income. My point was that many nannies make little more than PP made 10-15 years ago, and apartment costs, utility costs, and transportation costs are unrecognizeable from what she paid. She and many others are comparing apples to oranges.

This is off topic but if you're lowering your rates because you're married, you're being (I don't want to say stupid) imprudent. The rates for services have nothing to do with the personal circumstances of the service provider. They have everything to do with the value of these services in the marketplace. Even if you had a trust fund, you should still charge market rates.

I don't think anyone said that the nanny should find that elusive unicorn of the $750 Dupont studio. The point was that people who are starting their careers live modestly, in small, often shared apartments. Being strapped when you're young or work a low-pay job is entirely normal!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have always said those nannies are troll(s) for one, and 2, I'm married so my rates don't need to be sky high. Stability is more important. And 3, I am also a business owner with a second income. My point was that many nannies make little more than PP made 10-15 years ago, and apartment costs, utility costs, and transportation costs are unrecognizeable from what she paid. She and many others are comparing apples to oranges.

This is off topic but if you're lowering your rates because you're married, you're being (I don't want to say stupid) imprudent. The rates for services have nothing to do with the personal circumstances of the service provider. They have everything to do with the value of these services in the marketplace. Even if you had a trust fund, you should still charge market rates.

I don't think anyone said that the nanny should find that elusive unicorn of the $750 Dupont studio. The point was that people who are starting their careers live modestly, in small, often shared apartments. Being strapped when you're young or work a low-pay job is entirely normal!

For the last time, not every nanny is just starting her career. Some of these women have been doing this for 20 years, yet you all still want to pay them $15/hour with only 2 weeks of vacation, one of which you choose. Its BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have always said those nannies are troll(s) for one, and 2, I'm married so my rates don't need to be sky high. Stability is more important. And 3, I am also a business owner with a second income. My point was that many nannies make little more than PP made 10-15 years ago, and apartment costs, utility costs, and transportation costs are unrecognizeable from what she paid. She and many others are comparing apples to oranges.

This is off topic but if you're lowering your rates because you're married, you're being (I don't want to say stupid) imprudent. The rates for services have nothing to do with the personal circumstances of the service provider. They have everything to do with the value of these services in the marketplace. Even if you had a trust fund, you should still charge market rates.

I don't think anyone said that the nanny should find that elusive unicorn of the $750 Dupont studio. The point was that people who are starting their careers live modestly, in small, often shared apartments. Being strapped when you're young or work a low-pay job is entirely normal!

For the last time, not every nanny is just starting her career. Some of these women have been doing this for 20 years, yet you all still want to pay them $15/hour with only 2 weeks of vacation, one of which you choose. Its BS.

No - it's the profession and the reality of the competition. I'll pay what I need to pay. IF I have great people available to me at $15/hr then I will hire one of them. If I have to pay $20/hr to get what I want then I'll pay $20/hr.

Pretty simple really.

If you can't earn what you want or need change jobs, change professions, take on additional work, pursue additional credentials to increase your rate, etc... But if an employer has a qualified applicant pool at rates lower than your you will be out of luck. If your pound of grapes is a dollar cheaper at Safeway than at Whole Foods you'll buy them at Safeway right? Still good fruit, just a better deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have always said those nannies are troll(s) for one, and 2, I'm married so my rates don't need to be sky high. Stability is more important. And 3, I am also a business owner with a second income. My point was that many nannies make little more than PP made 10-15 years ago, and apartment costs, utility costs, and transportation costs are unrecognizeable from what she paid. She and many others are comparing apples to oranges.

This is off topic but if you're lowering your rates because you're married, you're being (I don't want to say stupid) imprudent. The rates for services have nothing to do with the personal circumstances of the service provider. They have everything to do with the value of these services in the marketplace. Even if you had a trust fund, you should still charge market rates.

I don't think anyone said that the nanny should find that elusive unicorn of the $750 Dupont studio. The point was that people who are starting their careers live modestly, in small, often shared apartments. Being strapped when you're young or work a low-pay job is entirely normal!

For the last time, not every nanny is just starting her career. Some of these women have been doing this for 20 years, yet you all still want to pay them $15/hour with only 2 weeks of vacation, one of which you choose. Its BS.

No - it's the profession and the reality of the competition. I'll pay what I need to pay. IF I have great people available to me at $15/hr then I will hire one of them. If I have to pay $20/hr to get what I want then I'll pay $20/hr.

Pretty simple really.

If you can't earn what you want or need change jobs, change professions, take on additional work, pursue additional credentials to increase your rate, etc... But if an employer has a qualified applicant pool at rates lower than your you will be out of luck. If your pound of grapes is a dollar cheaper at Safeway than at Whole Foods you'll buy them at Safeway right? Still good fruit, just a better deal.

I think that is the sad sad disconnect here. You think paying a nanny is the same thing as buying grapes. One doesn't have bills to pay. One doesn't love your kids. One doesn't rock them to sleep when you aren't there. One doesn't wake up early so you can get to an emergency meeting. One doesn't make you dinner when you've have a long week. One doesn't listen and nod while you complain about everything under the sun. One hasn't been in your home caring for your family every day for 3 years. But if the grapes and the nanny are the same, you and I will never reach any kind of understanding. You are a money grubbing soulless piece of trash, and I actually care about people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have always said those nannies are troll(s) for one, and 2, I'm married so my rates don't need to be sky high. Stability is more important. And 3, I am also a business owner with a second income. My point was that many nannies make little more than PP made 10-15 years ago, and apartment costs, utility costs, and transportation costs are unrecognizeable from what she paid. She and many others are comparing apples to oranges.

This is off topic but if you're lowering your rates because you're married, you're being (I don't want to say stupid) imprudent. The rates for services have nothing to do with the personal circumstances of the service provider. They have everything to do with the value of these services in the marketplace. Even if you had a trust fund, you should still charge market rates.

I don't think anyone said that the nanny should find that elusive unicorn of the $750 Dupont studio. The point was that people who are starting their careers live modestly, in small, often shared apartments. Being strapped when you're young or work a low-pay job is entirely normal!

For the last time, not every nanny is just starting her career. Some of these women have been doing this for 20 years, yet you all still want to pay them $15/hour with only 2 weeks of vacation, one of which you choose. Its BS.

No - it's the profession and the reality of the competition. I'll pay what I need to pay. IF I have great people available to me at $15/hr then I will hire one of them. If I have to pay $20/hr to get what I want then I'll pay $20/hr.

Pretty simple really.

If you can't earn what you want or need change jobs, change professions, take on additional work, pursue additional credentials to increase your rate, etc... But if an employer has a qualified applicant pool at rates lower than your you will be out of luck. If your pound of grapes is a dollar cheaper at Safeway than at Whole Foods you'll buy them at Safeway right? Still good fruit, just a better deal.

I think that is the sad sad disconnect here. You think paying a nanny is the same thing as buying grapes. One doesn't have bills to pay. One doesn't love your kids. One doesn't rock them to sleep when you aren't there. One doesn't wake up early so you can get to an emergency meeting. One doesn't make you dinner when you've have a long week. One doesn't listen and nod while you complain about everything under the sun. One hasn't been in your home caring for your family every day for 3 years. But if the grapes and the nanny are the same, you and I will never reach any kind of understanding. You are a money grubbing soulless piece of trash, and I actually care about people.

No, I'm comparing the buying decision - not the product.

I have found produce to be pretty substandard in terms of childcare competencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have always said those nannies are troll(s) for one, and 2, I'm married so my rates don't need to be sky high. Stability is more important. And 3, I am also a business owner with a second income. My point was that many nannies make little more than PP made 10-15 years ago, and apartment costs, utility costs, and transportation costs are unrecognizeable from what she paid. She and many others are comparing apples to oranges.

This is off topic but if you're lowering your rates because you're married, you're being (I don't want to say stupid) imprudent. The rates for services have nothing to do with the personal circumstances of the service provider. They have everything to do with the value of these services in the marketplace. Even if you had a trust fund, you should still charge market rates.

I don't think anyone said that the nanny should find that elusive unicorn of the $750 Dupont studio. The point was that people who are starting their careers live modestly, in small, often shared apartments. Being strapped when you're young or work a low-pay job is entirely normal!

For the last time, not every nanny is just starting her career. Some of these women have been doing this for 20 years, yet you all still want to pay them $15/hour with only 2 weeks of vacation, one of which you choose. Its BS.

No - it's the profession and the reality of the competition. I'll pay what I need to pay. IF I have great people available to me at $15/hr then I will hire one of them. If I have to pay $20/hr to get what I want then I'll pay $20/hr.

Pretty simple really.

If you can't earn what you want or need change jobs, change professions, take on additional work, pursue additional credentials to increase your rate, etc... But if an employer has a qualified applicant pool at rates lower than your you will be out of luck. If your pound of grapes is a dollar cheaper at Safeway than at Whole Foods you'll buy them at Safeway right? Still good fruit, just a better deal.

I think that is the sad sad disconnect here. You think paying a nanny is the same thing as buying grapes. One doesn't have bills to pay. One doesn't love your kids. One doesn't rock them to sleep when you aren't there. One doesn't wake up early so you can get to an emergency meeting. One doesn't make you dinner when you've have a long week. One doesn't listen and nod while you complain about everything under the sun. One hasn't been in your home caring for your family every day for 3 years. But if the grapes and the nanny are the same, you and I will never reach any kind of understanding. You are a money grubbing soulless piece of trash, and I actually care about people.

No, I'm comparing the buying decision - not the product.

I have found produce to be pretty substandard in terms of childcare competencies.

Different poster here, but I must say, your line of thinking seems to be out of sinc with the reality of people who are very different from yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No - it's the profession and the reality of the competition. I'll pay what I need to pay. IF I have great people available to me at $15/hr then I will hire one of them. If I have to pay $20/hr to get what I want then I'll pay $20/hr.

Pretty simple really.

If you can't earn what you want or need change jobs, change professions, take on additional work, pursue additional credentials to increase your rate, etc... But if an employer has a qualified applicant pool at rates lower than your you will be out of luck. If your pound of grapes is a dollar cheaper at Safeway than at Whole Foods you'll buy them at Safeway right? Still good fruit, just a better deal.

I think that is the sad sad disconnect here. You think paying a nanny is the same thing as buying grapes. One doesn't have bills to pay. One doesn't love your kids. One doesn't rock them to sleep when you aren't there. One doesn't wake up early so you can get to an emergency meeting. One doesn't make you dinner when you've have a long week. One doesn't listen and nod while you complain about everything under the sun. One hasn't been in your home caring for your family every day for 3 years. But if the grapes and the nanny are the same, you and I will never reach any kind of understanding. You are a money grubbing soulless piece of trash, and I actually care about people.

It may be sad, sad, but this exactly how employment market in every other profession is. If you never worked for a company, only for families, then you may be not aware of it. But there are no magic unicorns there for anyone. Sadly, sadly, everyone has to compete with others who are also experienced and qualified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Different poster here, but I must say, your line of thinking seems to be out of sinc with the reality of people who are very different from yourself.

Uh, what? Clearly my line of thinking is out of "sinc" (sync by the way) with other people on this thread. Clearly we're pretty different, and happily not in each other's daily lives beyond this virtual silliness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No - it's the profession and the reality of the competition. I'll pay what I need to pay. IF I have great people available to me at $15/hr then I will hire one of them. If I have to pay $20/hr to get what I want then I'll pay $20/hr.

Pretty simple really.

If you can't earn what you want or need change jobs, change professions, take on additional work, pursue additional credentials to increase your rate, etc... But if an employer has a qualified applicant pool at rates lower than your you will be out of luck. If your pound of grapes is a dollar cheaper at Safeway than at Whole Foods you'll buy them at Safeway right? Still good fruit, just a better deal.

I think that is the sad sad disconnect here. You think paying a nanny is the same thing as buying grapes. One doesn't have bills to pay. One doesn't love your kids. One doesn't rock them to sleep when you aren't there. One doesn't wake up early so you can get to an emergency meeting. One doesn't make you dinner when you've have a long week. One doesn't listen and nod while you complain about everything under the sun. One hasn't been in your home caring for your family every day for 3 years. But if the grapes and the nanny are the same, you and I will never reach any kind of understanding. You are a money grubbing soulless piece of trash, and I actually care about people.

It may be sad, sad, but this exactly how employment market in every other profession is. If you never worked for a company, only for families, then you may be not aware of it. But there are no magic unicorns there for anyone. Sadly, sadly, everyone has to compete with others who are also experienced and qualified.

Exactly. That is EXACTLY it.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

There is a unicorn out there. The market is the unicorn. As a matter of shorthand it makes sense to talk about the 'market' as an objective, unbiased, benevolent structure but that is not actually what it is. What some of you keep calling the market is actually a national economic system of capitalism. In a capitalist system individuals are free to make their own decisions and do so in self-interest. People who have the most capital have the most influence on how the system functions. That is why blacks, and gay people, and children, and anyone else who is not made in the image of the majority have been protected by government regulation - because the self-interest of the economic majority is often arbitrary and exclusive.

When you make a decision about how much something is worth and then initiate a transaction based on that assessment you are the market. The only market that really exists is the individual. If we are in a place where care providers are being exploited then it is because the self-interest of the economically privileged works against their favor.

MBs can not hide behind a big monster called the market. It is not real. You want us to believe that it is, but it is only a fiction of your semantics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a unicorn out there. The market is the unicorn. As a matter of shorthand it makes sense to talk about the 'market' as an objective, unbiased, benevolent structure but that is not actually what it is. What some of you keep calling the market is actually a national economic system of capitalism. In a capitalist system individuals are free to make their own decisions and do so in self-interest. People who have the most capital have the most influence on how the system functions. That is why blacks, and gay people, and children, and anyone else who is not made in the image of the majority have been protected by government regulation - because the self-interest of the economic majority is often arbitrary and exclusive.

When you make a decision about how much something is worth and then initiate a transaction based on that assessment you are the market. The only market that really exists is the individual. If we are in a place where care providers are being exploited then it is because the self-interest of the economically privileged works against their favor.

MBs can not hide behind a big monster called the market. It is not real. You want us to believe that it is, but it is only a fiction of your semantics.

Thank you! This is what we have been trying to say! Don't blame low wages on the market when you yourself are creating said market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no one HAS to live in Dupont.

This is what is pissing me off in this thread. Nannies whining "I DON'T EARN A LIVING WAGE. I WORK IN GEORGETOWN AND SHOULD BE PAID TO LIVE IN GEORGETOWN! I NEED $2800 A MONTH TO COVER RENT!!!!"

Nannies, go live in SE, pay $350 a month by splitting a 2BR and take the metro to anywhere in DC. It's not that hard.

SE? I'm sure if you ever even had to drive through SE, you'd have your music off, windows up, doors locked, and your head down. If you are okay with your nanny living in the slums, please exit the thread, because the grown ups are trying to have a conversation.

To the other posters suggesting silver spring, again, you are living in the past. Silver Spring may have been much cheaper than DC in the past. Where that $750/month Dupont studio is now $1800-$2300/month, a silver spring studio is $1600-$1800/month. I live in a semi-safe area of PG county, and my studio is $1275/month! I suppose I should split it with a stranger, ie. roommate?

Stereotype much? I used to go to SE a lot for a volunteer job I had and the only group that ever bothered me was a religious group trying to convert me.

Oh so you did not house your children and everything you own and hold dear in that neighborhood? You did not live among the poor and share the burdens of poverty. Never sent your kids to the worst schools in America or walk home alone after dark in that neighborhood? Aren't you a model of humility.

While I did not grow up in SE, I grew up in a very poor household and have lived in less than desirable neighborhoods in my life where if you walked outside at night, you never knew what you were going to encounter. Are there bad neighborhoods in SE? But to make a blanket statement about all of SE without spending time there is stereotyping and judging. Some of the scariest neighborhoods I have been through in DC were not in the SE, but in the NW before they cleaned them up.

Okay? I'm not what exactly your point is. You suggested that a nanny go live there. It is cheap to live there for a reason. I know I couldn't send someone I gave a shit about home to that each night so that I could save a buck.

No, I am not the poster who said nannies should live in SE. But I think the general statement that just because it is SE it isn't a safe place to live is incorrect. There is a lot of cleaning up going on down there and people who wouldn't have lived there before are moving there. Not everyone who lives there is a thug out to rob, rape, or kill you. Get to know the people and the area before you make ignorant comments about a place you know nothing about.

This is true. Parts of SE have actually become pretty nice. I've also known some young white professionals with law degrees from top schools who have lived there because that is the level of housing they could afford given their not-for-profit career paths. They have enjoyed the experience and the sense of community there. It isn't Georgetown or Dupont Circle, but it is home to many hard working people who for a variety of reasons are not in high-paying careers.

To the studio dweller above who pays $1275 in rent, there is always a cost premium to live alone, even in a studio. Yes, maybe you do need to consider a larger apartment with more roommates, or a room in a private home, or if living alone is a priority, move to a lesser neighborhood or an area that is further away from the city. This is what people do when they are breaking into a new field or have chosen a low-paid job or career in one of the country's most expensive areas.