Robert Halcomb: Gen Z dreams of owning a home are often just that: a dream

Dec. 29—As my generation, Gen Z, quickly matures into adulthood, we are faced with financial challenges that only seem to grow worse.

Recently, I attended a listening tour hosted by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce that featured a discussion centered around housing in Kentucky.

One aspect of that discussion was for attendees to respond to polls given by the speaker. The questions were centered around our opinions on the state of housing costs/availability and what we thought may be done to circumvent it.

The responses were generally along the same line: bereft of hope for an immediate, lasting solution.

It is common knowledge, at this point in time, that owning a home has never been more financially burdensome.

In fact, the cost of constructing a new home has risen 49% since the pandemic began.

The median price of a Kentucky home is approximately $247,000, but our median household income is only approximately $66,000.

Of course, renting is always an option, but that too has become burdensome for most, and prohibitively expensive for others.

So then, as myself and others of my generation are just now stepping out of educational institutions that we attended on the premise of a bachelors degree earning one an at least somewhat lucrative career, we are dismayed to find ourselves in this precarious situation.

We are dismayed to find out that the promises made to us by leaders and role models, specifically in regard to four year degrees, were woefully untrue.

Many are dismayed to find out that they encumbered themselves with tremendous debt, only to be unable to find a career suitable to pay it off.

Many are dismayed that their only hope of paying off aforementioned debt is to remain lodged with their parents for a length of time unsatisfactory to both parties.

For what my word is worth, I can assure you of this: most of us are just as disgruntled at having to remain with our parents as they are.

It is not our collective hope that we scathe by.

We want to depart from the nest, but, in many ways, our wings have been clipped.

Consider this: those of us that, in hindsight, smartly opted to attend a career and technical school most assuredly find themselves better off today than the majority of us who opted for the traditional bachelors degree.

Even purchasing a vehicle has become a monumental task with rising interest rates and MSRPs (manufacturer suggested retail price) deterring even middle-class families from purchasing new or lightly used vehicles.

When Herbert Hoover ran for president in 1928, he utilized the slogan "two cars in every garage, a chicken in every pot."

To have a home to attach a garage to, for some of us, would be a profound blessing.

Hoover would go on to be blamed in part for the Great Depression, another tumultuous time in American history.

As someone who appreciates the cyclical nature of history, it is not unlikely that this period of time is simply one of the many lows that precede one of the many highs.

That is my deepest hope for Gen Z and future generations.

On the other hand, though, we cannot simply sit idly by and wait out the bad times. We should, and must, examine the causes of this situation and work to alter our circumstances.

We cannot, as we often do, treat only the symptoms. We must treat the root causes.