I understood you meant the first one. I’m also biased towards the people of my former home city.
There are several sources that collude to raise prices for the average New Yorker, rent and food amongst them. I’m not at all blaming the lady taking the job remotely, there is pain in financing & operating the business, for the employees in getting to and from, and getting paid close to what their work is actually worth.
The bitch is that none of this system is voluntary. Work or starve, how inhumane.