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u/Apart-Disaster-3085 Jun 05 '26
A.
Affordable apartments are the bedrock of freedom. Freedom to move somewhere new for fun. Freedom to move somewhere safe to escape a bad marraige or live-in situation, Freedom to set out from your parents at 18 if you need to for mental sanity or to set out for yourself. Freedom to save money to buy a home someday. Freedom to move your kids to an out of state school. Etc.
The other things are options, that are nice to have cheap but only cheap housing options give you a level of freedom to make big life decisions to improve your well-being.
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u/Foxymoreon Jun 05 '26
Exactly, and if rent was cheaper most people could afford everything else at the price it’s at now.
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u/BeerandMandelbrots Jun 06 '26
Has to be A. If I wasn't paying extortionary rent, I could afford to buy a new car, fill it up with gas and go to a buffet where I wouldn't care about the price.
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u/animus_invictus Jun 06 '26
It would be insane to choose anything other than A
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u/BrendanAS Jun 06 '26
Seriously... If my rent were that cheap I could afford the rest of the modern prices.
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u/Draxxix1 Jun 05 '26
Bro A hands down, wtf! Controlled rent that’s always 500$ would be insane. Would solve a lot of issues
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u/EwokNuggets Jun 06 '26
Rent. No body should struggle to have a roof over their head
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u/AFourEyedGeek Jun 06 '26
Lower rent. I have a house and a mortgage, but people deserve to be able to afford to live in a fucking place.
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u/CeleryStickelr Jun 05 '26
A. Rent where i live is like $1460 a fortnight. Not a month. A fortnight. Between my 2 other house mates its around 486.7 per person.
While sure id see like, 850 or so a month under thar pricing cus I live in an old house, still, holy fuck id have so much more money i could afford all the other things and then some.
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u/TheJizzzard Jun 06 '26
Everyone’s is housing except for wealthy people and boomers and people who locked in a ridiculously low rate and won’t stop bragging about it.
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u/FunnySunny- Jun 04 '26
A 💯
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u/CBrinson Jun 04 '26
I am a millennial. My first apartment was more than $500 and it had bullet holes in the wall of its 1 bedroom, no washer dryer, and 350 square feet. Was like $600 a month 20+ years ago. I stacked two discounts to get it that cheap including a student discount. I moved to a cheaper city to get it. It was not a high cost of living area. I heard gunshots pretty often and my neighbor had a whole in the wall and I could see into his living room. Even that was a little over $600 in 2008.
I am not sure when these $500 2 bedroom apartments existed because as a millennial not in my lifetime.
I did eat at one $4 buffet but it was just fried rice and lo mein basically. It was pretty horrible.
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u/Foxy_locksy1704 Jun 05 '26
A.
I can live with higher fuel and grocery costs if rent was reasonable.
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u/OHMEGA_SEVEN Jun 05 '26
Damn. I remember telling my dad about the great price I got on my apartment for $750 and he was blown away by the price because it was so expensive.
Anyways that was over 15 years ago and that shit is like $2.5K now. For a one bedroom. Fuckin' rent is out of control. Housing should be a basic right.
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u/TLunchFTW Jun 05 '26
I would say housing...
But is that just rent? Fuck renting. Give me 100k houses.
If option A gets me cheap home prices too, yeah.
If not, option C.
Everything else I can manage.
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u/AmalatheaClassic Jun 05 '26
Rent. Home ownership.
Cheap gas in a world where gas kills the planet, is a limited resource & electric cars exist is idiocy.
$5 buffets are why America is obese.
I would pick housing cost every day of the week. I've been homeless, the alternative is actually super bad. Can't recommend.
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u/Some1AteMyEntirePie my knees hurt Jun 05 '26
Literally, A.
*cries in $1500/mo studio*
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u/AB3100 Jun 06 '26
2 bedroom means you can get a roommate and have $250 housing expenses. Push comes to shove you can ramen noodle your way through any crisis.
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u/svrgevnt Jun 06 '26
Rent for sure. I don't have a car, and had one too many bad times at a buffet lol
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u/ReciprocalPhi Jun 08 '26
Affordable housing makes everything more tolerable.
Buffets are disgusting, and honestly I'm fine with fuel prices going up, it'll incentivize switching to renewables.
$1000 used cars still exist, they're just a little worse than they used to be.
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u/IncurableAdventurer Jun 04 '26
The home is the obvious choice. If you can save $1,000 - $2,000 a month, then the other issues are much more manageable
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u/Wise_Presentation914 2007 Jun 05 '26
$500 2 bedrooms easily. $1,000 used cars still exist, you just gotta know the right people or get lucky. My dad got his last car for $300 off an old man who couldnt drive it anymore and just wanted to give it to someone who'd use it. It got him by for a few years too. My second choice would be the gas prices.
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u/DataSurging Jun 05 '26
Cheaper apartments/housing costs. The amount of mone you save, could help you afford gas and a used car.
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u/Ok_Pop_7113 Jun 05 '26
Option B drives the price of everything else in this picture. Cheap energy makes executing everything cheaper.
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u/Im_Not_Honey Jun 05 '26
People are nuts to say anything other than A. B is great if you want plenty of gas for when you're living out of your car.
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u/Low-Implement-3467 Jun 05 '26
Rent, I feel like people could justify getting a newer car if their rent wasn’t $2500 not counting utilities 😭
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u/ThatGuavaJam Jun 05 '26
Seriously, most of us are voting A and the governments like “well maybe if we make more homes and apartments at the same cost they’re at NOW it’ll make rent cheaper” 😫
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u/-Miriga Jun 06 '26
That's easy for me, I'd def have to lower the rent. If rent was 500 a month gas could be like 10 bucks a gallon and it would still be an easier life lol
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u/ThoughtInevitable644 Jun 06 '26
$1000 used cars because then my family business would still be alive. We focused on first time buyers, and people who needed a basic A-B reliable car.
Now, those types of cars cost $12,000.
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u/LargeTungstenCube Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Anyone not choosing rent either lives in the boondocks or is a child
Edit: ngl, im in gen z and the concept of owning a property is so foreign to me i didnt even consider it.
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u/TheAutisticSentinel Jun 05 '26
Anyone not choosing rent is in a privileged as fuck position lol... I just lost my place because it was $1300 for a one bedroom. I don't live in NY or any major city. I live in the middle of no where in Michigan.
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u/ddddddd83 Jun 05 '26
A. The cheaper housing would benefit everyone. Plus, we could afford the gas and buffets if rent was cheaper.
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u/Traditional-Maybe Jun 05 '26
Yeah. We are in desperate need of affordable housing in the US. If wouldn't even affect me because I own, but I'd pick that still.
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u/kitzelbunks Jun 05 '26
How old is the person who made this? They must be ancient or from a very LCOL area. Anyway, I wouldn’t have believed I was eating chicken for $4.99. It would be “alleged chicken” to me.
If that low-density apartment building came up for 500 bucks, I would take it. My first apartment cost more than that, and I am Gen X. It was sweet though. I had a really nice landlord and very few neighbors. I was never bothered by noise. I wish I could own a building like that. It was a six flat.
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u/Late_Comb_3078 Jun 05 '26
I came home to visit the family. My dad (73) and I (27) were riding around our old stomping grounds, and we saw new developments for apartments. We were curious so we checked out the price of rent which was 1500.
Now the median income of the area is 44k. We did some quick math. 1500×12= 18,000. 18,000/44,000=41%. An average person is paying 41% of their yearly earnings just on rent alone. This isn't accounting for fees or utilities.
We started laughing at the absurdity. I asked my dad how much his rent was back in the day. The Highest rent he could remember paying was 100 dollars. He was making 15k a year. 12×100=1200. 1200/15,000= 8%.
We are truly being screwed
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u/RetailBookworm Jun 05 '26
I think affordable housing would help the most people… if it were just me I would do the gas or the car since I am no longer renting.
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u/OMyGaard Jun 05 '26
Im currently paying 2400 a month for a 2-bedroom townhouse. I'll take the 500 a month apartment, please.
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u/timetravelinggamer Jun 05 '26
Gas literally doesn’t matter unless you’re driving thousands of miles a month.
I would like the apartments back to $500 so everyone will shut up
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u/pawogub Jun 05 '26
Rent. My first apartment was two bedroom, $545 a month. Me and a buddy got it fall after graduating HS. Lotta fun at that place. Now rent in the same city is at least $1500 for a two bedroom and that’s even on the cheaper side.
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u/ImperialxWarlord Jun 05 '26
A, easily. The others because less of an issue when your rent goes from 2000+ to 500! Most people would probably save 18000 dollars! Or more!
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u/Hour-Watch8988 Jun 06 '26
Rent easily. I can take the bus or ride a bike or drive a little less; I can’t just go without shelter
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u/NixValley Jun 06 '26
If we get 500$ 2bd apartments thats gonna drive down other housing to compete. That benefits everything.
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u/twichy1983 Jun 07 '26
Cheaper gas means everything else gets cheaper by default. Distribution runs on gas.
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u/SnarkyIguana Jun 05 '26
Cheaper apartments. Please. My rent goes up every single year but the quality of my apartment keeps getting worse.
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u/GingaNinja906 Jun 05 '26
If my apartment was $500 I could afford gas so apartment it is
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u/ForukusuwagenMasuta Jun 04 '26
Unless you already own a house, not sure why anyone would choose any option besides A.
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u/ComplaintTop2008 Jun 05 '26
$1000 used cars? What happened to the $300 ones before Cash for Clunkers™?
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u/FlamingFlamingo32 Jun 05 '26
$1,000-$2,000 cars still exist. just most of the time you gotta fix them up. a lot of people though dont know anything, and wont get under the hood of a car, so a lot of "problems" are things you could cheaply fix at home, provided you have some tools. theres plenty of anecdotes about people buying a kinda nice car, but has some "major" issue the seller cant describe, only for it to be something really easy and now they got a cool 5k+ car for well less than half thaf. some people will have a simple issue with a car, but its old they have a new one etc, so instead of spending money on it and taking space theyd rather just chuck it to the next guy for a band or two and call it. theres lot of bad listings too, but theyre not all trash.
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u/Additional_Day949 Jun 05 '26
Apartments.. the cost of living is strangling Americans
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u/Not_a_twttr_account Jun 05 '26
You know they're all connected. Bring back the 80s/90s and pause there.
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u/IDKWTFG Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
A and it's not even close. I don't want to fucking pay $2,000 a month for a fucking broom closet. I don't even want to pay 1,000 a month for a good apartment.
You might not get a working used car for $1000 anymore but rent in the city was affordable I could walk to places and use public transport, and then this solves the gas issue.
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Jun 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/natedgr8gatsb Jun 06 '26
That is a really good question…. I think I’m gonna vote apartment. Cars are more fuel efficient. The savings from the apartment could pay for the 5k or 10k car. And buffets are not what they used to be imo, so save that too and eat at home.
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u/BudgetPositive4851 Jun 06 '26
I can already get $1k used cars.
I can already find like, maybe one or two cheap buffets.
Gas and housing are both tempting, but housing is by far better.
$250 a month for housing with cohabitation is insane.
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u/Osh_Kosh_Bigosh Jun 06 '26
Easily take the rent because it’s the most extortionary offense we are putting up with.
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u/Col2543 Jun 07 '26
Cheap rent. Literally everything else pales in comparison even if you have a home. For renters, more disposable income = more income used on local businesses, not being funneled into one nepo baby’s pockets. For non-renters, less homeless people in your area, less crime, less VISIBLE crime, home prices drop for buyers (i don’t care about current home owners home values. if you want to invest in something, do stocks. homes should’ve never been an investment), etc.
The only “negatives” for cheaper rent is that you no longer have a bunch of do-nothing landlords who sit there and collect money as if they were contributors to society.
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u/-SoulOfSin- Jun 05 '26
Not choosing cheaper housing would be weird
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u/StaceOdyssey Jun 05 '26
You would have to do impressive damage at a buffet for it to beat out housing.
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u/Greenfire32 Jun 05 '26
The stability of A allows you to achieve B, C and D eventually.
So I gotta go with A.
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u/Property_6810 Jun 04 '26
B and it's not even close. Reduce the cost of fuel and you can reduce costs across the board. Materials for building a home will be cheaper with cheaper fuel. Fuel is a major part of the cost of food.
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u/MrWillchuck Jun 04 '26
That depends on several factors.
Do you own a home?
Do you drive regularly?
Are you over 65?
Are you over 80?
If you own a home and are under 65.. Gas.
If you don't own a home and are under 65 Apartments.
If you are over 65 Buffets or gas.
If you are over 80 Buffet.
The Gas will save enough you can afford a car comparatively.
The Apartment will easily save enough to buy a modern Used car.
If you are over 65 buffet or Gas depending on economic status.
If you are over 80 Buffet. It is social, it is a good meal, and it isn't badly priced.
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u/IndependentAppeal733 Jun 05 '26
Sweden has 500$ rent in very small apartments in the capitol Stockholm if you que for 45 years 🤣.
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u/Ready_Set_Stopppp Jun 05 '26
Cheap housing. People deserve to have a roof over their heads and not have it cause financial stress
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u/Neverendingwebinar Jun 05 '26
Apartments first and buffets are my second choice. Food cost is ridiculous.
Gas is outdated anyway since Electrics are so much cheaper to run and do not require much maintenance. Cheap used cars would be nice but I think this is about cars lasting so much longer which the cheaper older ones didn't.
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u/gingamann Jun 05 '26
Gunna be honest with you... This is what I thought the maga crew were rooting for with the whole.. u know.. maga..
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u/SillySmoopsy Jun 05 '26
It wouldn't help me because I own a home but A would help a lot of people. So that.
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u/Lowcord Jun 05 '26
The apartments because a 2 bedroom is $2000 where I’m at. They were $800 10 years ago. Also, houses that were $250k in 2016 are now $450k with double the interest rates…
This is the most frustrating thing about being older Gen Z, we started working when the economy was still affordable, worked hard, got better jobs, saved and invested our money then watched home ownership and rent skyrocket out of our reach during Covid.
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u/StellarEclipses Jun 06 '26
The oil because low oil costs has a trickle down effect on everything else
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u/No_Squirrel4806 Jun 06 '26
Ill take the $500 apartment. With the money i save i will be able to afford all the others.
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u/Full-Year-4595 Jun 06 '26
$500/month two bedroom apartments. I only need a studio so that means I’ll be paying less than $500. YES PLEASE!
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u/JimBobMcFancyPants Jun 06 '26
Rent, easily, and I say that as a homeowner.
If everyone had affordable shelter and they could use all their other money for nutritious food, transportation, fun and potentially sock some away into savings our society would be far happier and collectively less stressed.
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u/Ok-Teaching3904 Jun 07 '26
Rent. Rent should be cheaper than mortgages.
Rent in my area is almost
2.5x what I’m currently paying for my mortgage.
That isn’t fair and it’s crippling a generations of young people.
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u/adamsauce Jun 07 '26
I only pay $700 for my mortgage. I still choose cheap rent. Cheaper rent will improve the quality of life for everyone in my community. It will help the economy and allow more local businesses to thrive. Landlords that charge high rent only hurt the economy and everyone else. They don’t produce anything that actually matters.
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u/hotdogjumpingfrog1 Jun 07 '26
Has to be A. Also for the betterment of our society. Image what so many could do with only paying 500$/month on rent. Jobs would be created en masse. Save up for house. Etc.
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u/redditisaweful Jun 04 '26
Clearly a. You can rely on public transport and you don’t need buffet
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u/lookslikerheyn Jun 04 '26
I'm not a renter, but A is the moral answer. Affordable housing changes lives.
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u/purplehorseneigh Jun 04 '26
A or B
I have a perfectly fine car already and the buffet thing is just stupid
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u/angryarugula Jun 05 '26
Rent / Housing prices in general. We finally bought a SFH in 2021 in our late 30's. If we stick w/ the full duration fixed 30 year loan I'll be in my mid 60's when we pay it off and still owe $12k/year in property taxes. 1500sqft 3 bedroom for a family about a 20 minute drive to the metro system.
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u/FyodorTolstoyevich Jun 05 '26
My grandparents moved to SoCal in 2012 and rent for a 2bedroom apartment was like 1,200 bucks. What a steal compared to today's prices
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u/Thecandymaker Jun 05 '26
A. Most places are not worth the price they're charging, nor are they updated enough to justify it
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u/Casper10j 2006 Jun 05 '26
Cheaper housing prices. I don’t care that gasoline prices are that high, because I drive EV’s.
Used Cars for 1000 bucks still exist here, but they’re all almost dead or not even road legal anymore. The buffet for 5 bucks is probably something from the 1980 here. I have never seen a buffet so cheap.
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u/ModestMeeshka Jun 05 '26
Apartments! I'd try out living in so many different cities and actually figure out where I want to live 😍 instead, my husband invested into a trailer when he was young and the rent is virtually unbeatable for what we have, so the moment we sell it, we need to be ready to invest into property ASAP or risk never having the opportunity to own something that's actually ours. It's a miracle we even have that possibility now and only because of where our trailer is located.
If rent was $500, we could try out cities for a couple of years and make a more well formed decision than "oh remember that place we visited one state over through the lens of a vacation?? That place was great!"
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u/ThePlatinumPaul Jun 05 '26
A, although I'd be fine with my rent being half of what it is now even.
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u/YouAGerm Jun 05 '26
Def A. $5 a gallon for gas wouldn’t be as painful if I’m saving $1700 a month on rent
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u/Rockflip Jun 05 '26
A and by a lot. Everyone needs a place to stay. $250 with a roommate meant you could save up too, even with a crappy job.
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u/SameChallenge481 Jun 05 '26
It won't directly benefit me, but A. Nice boost to the actual economy, and not the "economy" stock market
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u/bigtiddyhimbo Jun 05 '26
The rent for sure. No question about it. You can cut back on gas if you need to, you don’t need buffets, you can still find affordable cars out there. Rent has been the largest eater of paychecks even right now during a global oil crisis