Homelessness is a scourge in the United States, but with rising rents, the number of homeless people is higher than ever.
According to a study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, approximately 653,000 people were homeless in January 2023, 12% more than in 2022 and 48% more than in 2015. This is a record increase, according to the researchers.
Although the situation has long been known in some states, such as California or Washington, we see that homelessness is increasingly common in historically affordable states, such as Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas, CBS News reported.
“During the early years of the pandemic, tenant protections, income supports, and rental assistance helped prevent a dramatic increase in homelessness. However, many of these protections ended in 2022, at a time when rents were rising rapidly and increasing numbers of migrants were barred from working,” the researchers noted in their report.
While the average annual income of Americans is between $45,000 and $74,999, a large number of households invest between 30 and 50% of their paychecks on their rent. This is explained by a meteoric rise in the average rent, which reached $1,964 per month last December, an increase of 23% compared to before the pandemic.
“Rapidly rising rents, combined with wage losses at the start of the pandemic, highlighted the inadequacy of the existing housing safety net, particularly in times of crisis,” the document published on January 25 reads. last by Harvard.
