The houses

As the rift between the affluent and the lower middle class becomes wider, housing prices are driven up. Rent hikes mean many families pay 60 to 75 percent of their income to keep a roof over their heads. Low- and middle-income wage earners are in many places being squeezed out of family-friendly communities. In some towns committees for affordable housing are active. They mandate development of low-income homes for service employees (for example, firemen, grocery clerks, and teachers). But those houses are too often snatched up by retirees or by the wealthy as rentals or vacation residences.