A new study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University concludes that half of renters in the U.S. cannot afford their rent. 

The data is from 2022, and rent has only gone up since then. 

According to the report, as rents went up during the COVID-19 pandemic, half of U.S. renters were paying more than 30% of their income for rent and utilities, according to a report by NPR. 

Of that number, almost half were facing a crisis because they were paying more than 50% of their income on rent and utilities.

“We actually saw increases across every single income category that we look at, which sort of surprised us,” the report’s lead author Whitney Airgood-Obrycki said. 

It’s not just the poverty-stricken who are in trouble. Households making $30,000 to $74,999 a year were the most impacted, according to the study. 

Last year, U.S. homelessness rates hit a record high, according to the report. The record number of homelessness goes hand in hand with the severe housing shortage that has helped drive up prices. 

https://twitter.com/scottbudman/status/1750200790583795852

To make matters worse, housing is hard to find due in part to Biden’s open border policies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt_aLAYQiSo

The open border has led to a surge in illegal immigration, which worsens the U.S. housing crisis because cities don’t have enough affordable housing, homeless shelters or money to meet the rising need.

The strain on already scanty resources has left thousands of people out on the street.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. saw a spike in homelessness from 2022 to 2023. At the same time, state and local officials were scrambling to house thousands of migrants arriving from the border.

It’s a perfect storm. If you’re middle class or poor, rent is too expensive, period.

A post on X by Wall Street Silver sums up the problem:

“Guess what happens if you let 10 million fake refugees into your country? Rent prices goes up for everyone at the bottom and wages go down because there is plenty of unskilled labor.”

https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1750688366356484173

Elon Musk responded by posting, “That number may be closer to 20 million.”

If Bidenomics is such a success, why are so many people either living on the streets or a paycheck away from it?