That's exactly where I would move to if I had to leave my place in midtown.
Many who complain about high rents, and feeling poor, for reasons I do not entirely understand, have a stigma of living in the other boroughs other than Manhattan.
In Queens, in a well connected (express subway line) area, one can get the same 400 sqft "dump" the author cites, for less than 1000$. And commute-wise, about 30 minutes to midtown.
Having lived both in Queens and Manhattan over many years, I find this "Manhattan or broke" attitude with largely people who move from outside NYC.
I moved to Manhattan from Queens, when I was able to afford it and not when it became affordable.
However, PATH is meandering near the border of MTA's hellish confines and looks drunk enough to stumble in. Couple that with the incessant development (there are 4 towers in constructions near Paulus hook) and already stressed PATH infra and you can guess what can happen next.
On the whole, JC is better than BK for a myriad of reasons.
Overcrowding is certainly an issue and while I know there are some capacity improvements in progress (CBTC signaling, more cars), I have never seen a clear timeline from the PA as to when more capacity will actually happen.
I'm trying to decide if this is a tongue-in-cheek post or not.
* Dishwasher is much more common these days.
* In-unit laundry: Sometimes you'll find an in-unit washer, but no dryer. If there is an in-unit dryer, you have to ask whether it's a 110V electric or a true 220V vented. If it's the former, lower end models can take up to 4 hours to dry a small load. We had an in-unit washer, but just hung our clothes to dry and saved money instead of buying an in-unit dryer. Often times, you'll have no washer or dryer and simply take your laundry to a neighborhood coin-operated laundromat. If you're lucky, you might have coin-operated laundry facilities in the building.
* Central air is still a rarity. Most of the older housing (i.e. apartment) stock use radiator heating and window AC units.
"There are $100k used cars, many with functioning windows, heaters, and airbags!"
Yeah, but those metro areas are where the good income opportunities are disproportionately located.