Single mom Caitlyn Colbert watched as rent for her two-bedroom apartment doubled, then tripled and then quadrupled over a decade in Denver — from $750 to $3,374 last year.
Every month, like millions of Americans, Colbert juggled her costs. Pay rent or swim team fees for one of her three kids. Rent or school supplies. Rent or groceries. Colbert, a social worker who helps people stay financially afloat, would often arrive home to notices giving her 30 days to pay rent and a late fee or face eviction.
“Every month you just gotta budget and then you still fall short,” she said, adding what became a monthly refrain: “Well, this month at least we have $13 left.”
Millions of Americans, especially people of color, are facing those same, painful decisions as a record number struggle with unaffordable rent increases, a crisis fueled by rising prices from inflation, a shortage of affordable housing and the end of pandemic relief.
The latest data from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, released in January, found that a record high 22.4 million renter households — or half of renters nationwide — were spending more than 30% of their income on rent in 2022. The number of affordable units — with rents under $600 — also dropped to 7.2 million that year, 2.1 million fewer than a decade earlier.
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In Congress, lawmakers are working on a bill that would expand a federal program that awards tax credits to housing developers who agree to set aside units for low-income tenants. Supporters say that could lead to the construction of 200,000 more affordable homes. Some lawmakers are also calling for more rental assistance, including a significant increase in funding for housing vouchers.
Yes the great republican lie, that the president single handedly controls the economy with a little knob under the desk in the oval office…
bruh, what?
no, bidey is literally out there boasting about how “good” the economy is doing. And by the traditional measures of economy, he’s right. Stock market hitting all time highs, record low unemployment, record high oil production, etc.
But, the reality on the ground includes a record high population of unhoused people, over 60% of Americans who cannot afford an emergency $400 bill, unchecked greed by rent seeking corporate landlords, and people working 2-3 jobs at once and still unable to make it work, living paycheck to paycheck with no hope of affording basic preventative medical care.
It’s a late stage capitalistic hellscape, and we are constantly gaslighted into believing it’s normal from all sides of the political spectrum. This isn’t a “guhh, republicans bad.” It’s a “dude, America is fucked and we need to change course NOW or the empire will fall.”
Not telling me anything I already know. But your context of what you meant clarifies things. But I’d argue the empire will fall due to DT being elected sooner than it will fall because of our fucked up economy. So “so what” if politicians are politicianing. We just need to get past 2024 and then we can try to fix the real problems.
