Substack Socialists

Two graduate degrees, 1,900 free subscribers, and a landlord who inherited the building.

Reference marketFirst identified in Somerville, Massachusetts (ZIP areas 02145, 02143, 02144).

Also found inOakland, California; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, District of Columbia; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Thesis

The household has spent nine years arguing that housing should not be an asset while paying $3,050 a month to the person for whom it is one.

Credentialed, housed, unpropertied, and theoretically opposed to the arrangement.

Portrait

In their own words

Age32
Income$96K
Net worth$11K
Education100%
Home$1.09M — the landlord's
Ownership0%
HouseholdTwo adults, one lease, no children, a cat named after an economist
VehicleNone. A bike-share membership and one car reservation a month
Debt$61K federal, income-driven

Vice: A $3,050 one-bedroom
Most likely to: File 1,400 words on the housing crisis from inside it
Signals: Substack dashboard, co-op membership, a standing desk in the living room

Who they are

Two adults, 32 and 34, $96,000 combined, net worth $11,000, both holding graduate degrees, renting 640 square feet for $3,050 a month from a landlord who inherited the building in 2009. She works from home four days a week at a table that is also where they eat. The newsletter has 1,900 free subscribers and 41 paid at $5 a month, which is $2,460 a year before Stripe, and it is described in conversation as the main thing. Federal loans total $61,000 on an income-driven plan she calls a policy problem rather than a balance. The building traded in March for $1.09 million. They found out from a listing site.

Our neighborhood

Triple-deckers on a hill, 78 percent renter-occupied, within one mile of a subway stop that added $400 to every lease on the street when it opened. A bakery, a bookstore that hosts readings, two bars with no televisions, and a hardware store the neighborhood mentions in every conversation about what is being lost. Median rent is in the 95th percentile nationally and every unit on the block is owned by somebody who does not live on it.

Shopping

The co-op, the bulk bins, and a $16 jar of something fermented that is bought monthly and discussed as a small luxury. Furniture arrives secondhand and is refinished on the porch. Clothing is replaced rather than added to. The largest recurring purchase after rent is the internet, at $95 a month, because the internet is the job.

Spending

Rent is $3,050 against $96,000 combined, which is 38 percent and is quoted precisely and often. Net worth $11,000, most of it a Roth opened in 2021 and funded twice. Retirement contribution is 3 percent, matched at 3 percent, and unexamined. The emergency fund covers seven weeks and is described as adequate.

Media

The newsletter, three group chats, a podcast recorded in a room like theirs, and a paid subscription to a quarterly they read cover to cover. She has 4,100 followers and a draft folder with nine pieces in it. The analysis is good. That is the frustrating part.

Interests

The tenants' union, attended twice. A reading series. An argument about decommodification conducted at length with people who agree. The lease renews in September at an increase they have already modeled and will pay.