It is a desperate time for many Americans struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Erica Duvall often feels like keeping up with the rent on the one-bedroom apartment she shares with her 9-year-old daughter is an “impossible” task.
“I definitely make the most money that I’ve ever made…and it’s still not enough to keep up,” the single mom said. Duvall said her rent went up $100 when she renewed her lease in December, and she expects a similar hike this winter.
“When you’re working as hard as some of us work and you still can’t stay on top of it, it’s really hard to not get to the point where it’s like why…am I working so hard,” she said.
Duvall, 29, is far from alone. According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, rent growth has slowed in recent months, but is still up 26% since early 2020. Recent data from the Census Bureau also shows that 21 million households — nearly half of all renters — were cost-burdened last year, meaning they spent more than a third of their income on rent.