Rents over the last two decades have risen much faster than employee pay, contributing to an escalating homelessness crisis in the U.S.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11260607

A growing number of Americans are ending up homeless as soaring rents in recent years squeeze their budgets.

According to a Jan. 25 report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, roughly 653,000 people reported experiencing homelessness in January of 2023, up roughly 12% from the same time a year prior and 48% from 2015. That marks the largest single-year increase in the country’s unhoused population on record, Harvard researchers said.

  • workerONE@lemmy.world
    101·
    10 months ago

    The article is new but it’s citing data that’s a year old.

    "roughly 653,000 people reported experiencing homelessness in January of 2023, up roughly 12% from the same time a year prior and 48% from 2015. "

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
      151·
      10 months ago

      Probably the newest data available. There’s no way that the trend has reversed rather than sped up since then.

      • P1r4nha@feddit.de
        51·
        10 months ago

        At least inflation rate went down, but with ever increasing rental cost the picture probably doesn’t look much better.

        EDIT: Added “rate” to avoid any confusion that I may suggest there’s deflation.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
          5·
          10 months ago

          Inflation didn’t even go down, it’s just increasing at a slower rate. Things are still getting more expensive compared to how much money people have available.

          That might be what you meant, but just wanted to make it crystal clear…

          • P1r4nha@feddit.de
            3·
            10 months ago

            Right… usually people talk about the inflation rate, not the overall devaluation of the currency. I wasn’t trying to suggestion there’s a deflation with the dollar.