通勤鐵路線新建高層公寓 員工被高房價逼走

The oft-used advertisement — “If you lived here, you’d be home by now” — usually seen stretched across blocks of new high-rise flats overlooking commuter train lines, carries a cruel irony for the passengers who pass it every day.

在可以俯瞰通勤鐵路線的新建高層公寓附近，人們經常會看到這種頻繁出現的廣告：“如果你住在這裏，你現在已經到家啦”。對於每天經過這幅廣告的乘客而言，它帶有一種殘忍的諷刺。

Many of them would love to live there but cannot afford to. So they live outside the city and travel in each day.

很多人願意住在這裏，但買不起。因此，他們住在城市外面，每天通勤。

Economically successful cities are growing rapidly and struggling to find housing for their swelling populations. At the same time some have seen an influx of the international rich, although this is said to benefit an area’s economy, according to research published last year by property analysts Ramidus Consulting. The average buyer of a ￡15m UK home, it said, spent ￡4m to ￡5m a year on goods and services in Britain. In total, Ramidus calculated, London’s super-rich added ￡4bn a year to the capital’s economy.

經濟成功的城市正快速發展，它們很難爲日益增長的人口找到住房。同時，國際富豪涌入其中一些城市——儘管根據房地產分析機構Ramidus Consulting去年公佈的研究，這有利於該地區經濟。研究稱，在英國購置了價值1500萬英鎊的房子的典型買家，每年在英國的商品和服務上花銷400萬至500萬英鎊。據Ramidus計算，倫敦超富人羣每年爲倫敦經濟做出總計40億英鎊的貢獻。

But by flocking to thriving conurbations such as London, incomers risk killing some of the things they may love about an area. By driving up house prices, they push out the diverse mix of locals who give the place its buzzy vibe.

但外來者涌入倫敦等蓬勃發展的大都市圈，可能會毀滅這個地區的一些或許爲他們喜愛的東西。通過推升房價，他們把那些給這個城市帶來熱鬧氛圍的多樣化的本地人擠了出去。

City dwellers around the world pay $650bn more a year in housing costs than they can afford as rapid urban growth meets a constrained supply, research published last year by consultants McKinsey found.

諮詢機構麥肯錫(McKinsey)去年公佈的研究發現，由於城市的快速發展遇上供應有限的瓶頸，全球城市居民每年付出的住房成本超出他們的承受能力6500億美元。

Some of the world’s leading urban areas face the biggest housing cost problems, with New York, Tokyo and London among the worst affected. Beijing, São Paulo and Buenos Aires are among those suffering most in lower-income cities.

全球一些領先城市地區正面臨最嚴重的住房成本問題，紐約、東京和倫敦受到的影響最爲嚴重。北京、聖保羅和布宜諾斯艾利斯是收入較低城市中受到影響最爲嚴重的幾個。

Toby Lloyd, head of policy at Shelter, a British housing charity, says that cities need to accommodate people on a wide range of incomes in order to thrive. “If a city can’t provide the homes its nurses, teachers, shop workers and cleaners can afford, eventually it will choke off its own economic success,” he says.

英國住房慈善組織Shelter政策主管託比•勞埃德(Toby Lloyd)表示，要想繁榮，城市需要容納不同收入的人羣。他表示：“如果一個城市不能爲護士、教師、商店員工和清潔工提供住房，最終這將扼殺其經濟成功。”

A third of workers in developed economies need some form of housing subsidy, according to Christine Whitehead, a professor of housing economics at the London School of Economics. But many big cities’ policy makers have not kept up with their rising populations. As a result, more people are moving further away from their workplaces and commuting long distances.

倫敦政治經濟學院(London School of Economics)住房經濟學教授克里斯蒂娜•懷特黑德(Christine Whitehead)表示，在發達國家，三分之一的勞動者需要某種形式的住房補貼。但很多大城市的政策制定者沒有跟上人口增長的需要。因此，更多的人搬到距離工作地更遠的地方住，每天長距離上下班。

In London, which is battling rapidly rising house prices, the problem has become acute. House prices increased by 9.4 per cent in the past year, according to official data. KPMG research says a Londoner must earn ￡77,000 a year in order to be able to buy. Salaries in the city average ￡34,320.

在正應對房價快速上漲的倫敦，這個問題已變得嚴重起來。根據官方數據，過去一年，倫敦房價上漲9.4%。畢馬威(KPMG)研究稱，倫敦人必須每年掙7.7萬英鎊才能買得起房。而倫敦的平均薪資爲34320美元。

Businesses are worried. The London Chamber of Commerce and fellow lobbyists London First have cited housing affordability as one of their members’ biggest concerns. More than half of employees surveyed by London First say rent or mortgage costs make it difficult for them to live and work in the capital.

企業感到擔憂。倫敦工商會(London Chamber of Commerce)和另一個遊說團體London First指出，它們的會員企業最大的顧慮之一就是房價可承受度。在接受London First調查的員工中，超過一半表示，租金或房貸成本讓他們很難在倫敦生活和工作。

Baroness Jo Valentine, London First chief executive, says: “London’s chronic housing shortage is making it difficult for many of those with the talents the capital needs to live and work here, and this problem will only get worse unless we start building more homes.” Particularly badly hit are younger workers, aged between 25 and 40.

London First首席執行官喬•瓦倫丁女男爵(Baroness Jo Valentine)表示：“倫敦長期的住房短缺讓很多倫敦需要的人才很難在這裏生活和工作，除非我們開始建設更多住房，否則這個問題只會越來越嚴重。”較爲年輕的員工（年齡介於25歲至40歲之間）受到的影響最大。

“For a world-leading city that owes much of its success to the service sector and knowledge-based industries, losing a tranche of its young professionals would be disastrous,” she adds.

她補充稱：“對於一個其成功很大程度上有賴於服務業和知識性行業的世界領先城市而言，部分年輕專業人士的流失將是災難性的。”

High housing costs in cities often spread into areas to which priced-out former city-dwellers move. Their influx pushes up prices in other parts of the country, as workers commute ever longer distances.

城市的高房價通常會向外溢出，影響到被高房價逼走的曾經的城市居民搬往的地區。他們的涌入擡高了該國其他地區的房價，勞動者通勤里程越來越長。

Savills, a property group, last year found that growing numbers of London employees are becoming “work tourists”, while areas with more London workers have seen house price rises.

房地產集團第一太平戴維斯(Savills)去年發現，越來越多的倫敦員工正成爲“工作遊客”，擁有較多在倫敦工作的上班族的地區出現房價上漲。

Perhaps the best-known example of new housing built for those priced out of cities was US housebuilder William Levitt’s post-second world war prefabricated suburbs known as “Levittowns”. He had four of these developments built in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Puerto Rico.

爲那些被城市高房價逼走的人們建造新房的最知名例子，或許就是美國房屋建築商威廉•萊維特(William Levitt)在二戰後打造的人造郊區，也就是所謂“萊維特鎮”(Levittowns)。他在紐約、賓夕法尼亞、新澤西和波多黎各開發了4個這樣的項目。

The houses were sold to war veterans who wished to move out of pokey city apartments into spacious family housing, which meant a long commute for those wanting to keep their jobs.

這些房子銷售給那些希望搬出沉悶的城市公寓、住進寬敞的家庭式住房的退伍老兵，這意味着，那些希望繼續工作的人要每天長時間通勤。

En route to and from the city, Levittown residents probably went past highly-priced new developments, which, like many of today’s workers, they simply could not afford.

在往返城市的路上，萊維特鎮居民很可能會經過一些價格高昂的新房地產開發項目，與今天很多員工一樣，他們根本買不起。