Alexandra Ocasion-Cortez Proves Working Class Bonafides By Not Being Able to Afford Rent in DC

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Here’s how you know Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the elected representative to New York’s 14th district, is going to be good. While other politicians deal with the problems of their constituents on a purely theoretical level, Cortez deals with it in an on the ground level involving her youth and her income. In a testament to this kind of connection to the very people she’s representing, like so many of her peers in their 20’s, Alexandra Ocasion-Cortez has told The New York Times that she is unable to afford an apartment in Washington DC until her first check clears. I’m sure anyone here who is living paycheck to paycheck in a series of increasingly odd jobs can absolutely relate.

The quote, in the New York Times, in an excellent profile you should read if you are a fan of the woman, as many of us are, reads as follows:

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said the transition period will be “very unusual, because I can’t really take a salary. I have three months without a salary before I’m a member of Congress. So, how do I get an apartment? Those little things are very real.” She said she saved money before leaving her job at the restaurant, and planned accordingly with her partner. “We’re kind of just dealing with the logistics of it day by day, but I’ve really been just kind of squirreling away and then hoping that gets me.

The average rent in DC, according to RentCafe, is around $2,200 a month which — according to Mashable is about 40% more than the New York borough of the Bronx that Ocasio-Cortez is representing. Even prices have gone up for Newark apartments.  As measures such as Prop 10 in California — attempting to curb the rising rent prices — is shot down by voters, it’s good to know that Washington will have politicians willing to help those who are in the throes of the increasingly hostile economy and rising rent prices.

As for Ocasio-Cortez — not to worry. She says that the rent situation is currently being handled.

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