By Ciara Dawson, Class of 2025 

As young people, many of us struggle not only with student debt, the horrific effects of gun violence, and higher rates of mental health struggles. Seeing so many Americans struggling to pay rent and mortgages, many Gen Zers worry about their future ability to buy a house and overall financial stability. 

I can vividly remember my mother telling me how, at my age in 1988, she worked at her local post office and could afford the rent for a one-bedroom apartment, a car, and vacations – just off of one salary, with no college degree. That seems impossible in today’s economy.  

Take my small town of Greensboro, for example. The average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment is $1,120 per month and the minimum wage is $7.25. If you work 40 hours a week, you would barely have enough to pay your rent, let alone buy food, clothes, gas, or other necessities. This economic reality puts young people like me in a difficult situation, worried about being able to afford to live and work in our home state. 

Fortunately, we have a candidate for governor who has already taken steps to broaden economic opportunity and lower costs for first-time home buyers and renters: Attorney General Josh Stein. He’s advocated for raising the minimum wage and cutting taxes for working families.  

As Attorney General, Stein has held landlords accountable for scamming college students and helped young people access legal resources. Last year, Stein and his team investigated a landlord who refused to return a $3,100 security deposit to her tenants who were students at NC State. On top of that, she billed them $23,000 for “cleaning fees.” However, after action by Stein, the landlord was ordered to pay back $25,040 in security deposits to former renters and create a 90-day lookback period to allow renters to request refunds. It can seem easy to take advantage of college students with few legal resources, but Josh Stein has shown that he is willing to protect people most in need. 

This example was just one landlord in Raleigh, but what about when bigger corporations take advantage of renters across North Carolina? RealPage is a software company that sells rent-pricing systems to property managers nationwide. In August, Josh Stein filed a lawsuit alleging they were artificially inflating rent prices for customers while giving landlords information on how to get customers to accept these “recommendations.” For years, corporations like RealPage have been able to rob working-class North Carolinians of the money that they needed for their families. By holding these actors accountable, Stein is lowering prices for all North Carolinians and ensuring that North Carolina is a fairer and more affordable place to live.  

Josh Stein has shown his ability to stick up for the young and underrepresented and fight for every North Carolinian to get a fair shot. He also supports public education and North Carolina’s teachers. As Governor, Stein would ensure that the future of Gen Z is bright, filled with opportunity and financial stability. This November, as Spartans and proud public-school students, let’s vote for someone who is willing to fight – not for what is easy, but for what is right.