When Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, picked a place to live in Washington, DC, they picked the Eastern Market neighborhood on Capitol Hill, a pricey and elite neighborhood that is not experiencing the surge of crime taking place in other areas of the city.

According to a gushing profile of Chasten Buttigieg in the Washington Post, the couple love the food and charm of Eastern Market but had to settle for an 800-square-foot one bedroom because they allegedly can’t afford a larger apartment. 

Even for this elite couple, housing in the District is unaffordable, the Post reported:

It’s a short stroll from charmed to sticker-shocked, and one of the couple’s favorite Washington pastimes is playing Zillow Price Is Right, where they try to guess the out-of-reach appraisal values of homes they admire and then look up the actual estimate online.

The Buttigieges themselves moved into an 800-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment near Eastern Market. “We couldn’t afford the one-bedroom-plus-den,” Chasten says. They chose the high-end building because of its location and the security it offered — the couple has faced threats and even a break-in back in South Bend. Rent for currently available two-bedrooms start at $5,650, though Chasten says they got their one-bedroom for closer to $3,000 by locking in a long lease that gave them two months rent-free.

“We’re doing fine for ourselves, and [yet] the city is almost unaffordable,” he adds, while driving their Subaru Outback up I-395. “Which tells you how extremely unaffordable it is for many people.” (The transportation secretary’s salary is $221,400.)

The Post reported they sold their house in South Bend, Indiana, but own a second home on Lake Michigan in the town Chasten was raised.

Meanwhile, crime is surging all around their Eastern Market digs, according to CBS television affiliate WUSA9: 

A 45-year-old man from Southeast D.C. is Washington’s 100th homicide death of 2021, according to the Metropolitan Police Department data and information. The 100th homicide for the District happened around 11 p.m. on Friday in the 1400 block of 41st Street SE, according to police.

Willie Parker is the man who died during the shooting on 41st Street, according to MPD. One other person was injured during the shooting but sustained only non-life-threatening injuries, added the department.

Between 2020 and 2021, according to MPD data, homicides are up 8% as of Friday, July 9. Motor vehicle thefts have gone up by 21% and are nearly at 1,700.

The media outlet noted that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said on national television her administration is “trying to pinpoint causes and solutions to the surge in deadly violence.”

Ironically, while Pete is constantly championing bike riding to help fight climate change, the Post interviewed Chasten as he drove on I-395.

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