Phoenix: hottest, least sustainable city is also the top destination for movers
Phil Rosen of Business Insider reported on the record number of homebuyers who are trying to move away from unaffordable areas of the country (top three: San Francisco, NYC, Boston) to more affordable areas. 25.4% of people looking to move are house hunting in a different metro-area. Before the pandemic, only 20% of homebuyers were looking outside of their current area.The most-searched for areas, according to Redfin data, are Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Miami. And while those areas have a lower cost of living and more affordable housing, they also have a deteriorating quality of life due to intense heat and storm activity, thanks to climate change.Arizona is now limiting construction in the Greater Phoenix area because the groundwater is not sufficient to support the additional residents who are coming in. Phoenix is the hottest city in the US, the least-sustainable city in the US and is also the #1 most searched for destination for people moving. The temperature is now steadily over 100 degrees in the summer, which is almost unbearable and definitely not sustainable for human life. An article on Salon recently suggested that Phoenix will be uninhabitable by 2099.The median single family home in Phoenix costs $450,000. In Boston, the median single family home costs $820,000. People are clearly willing to sustain the heat if they can't sustain the costs of the cooler Northeast.Remote work is surely playing a part in people seeking to move South and West, but all that computer work also uses electricity, putting further pressure on the grid.
Haitian and Latin American Migrants Coming to Mass in Record Numbers
Economic and political turmoil in Haiti and Latin and Central America are resulting in a surge of migrants coming to Massachusetts and this influx of new people, many of whom do not speak English and are in need of shelter and medical and social services, is overwhelming shelters and service providers. 900 homeless families have been placed in hotels as emergency shelter and Governor Healey’s proposed FY24 budget includes $324 million for shelters, but that might not be enough, according to a Boston Globe article.