“The rent is too damn high.”
Thus spoke New York politician Jimmy McMillan during a 2010 gubernatorial debate in the Excelsior State. He had, in fact, named his party the Rent is Too Damn High Party. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to convince voters and 2010 saw the election of Andrew Cuomo, the now-disgraced governor who presided over the state for a further eleven years.
But it seems McMillan’s words were not only accurate at the time; they were also prophetic.
As rents continue to rise amid record inflation, a trend of younger adults moving back in with their parents is emerging. A Lending Tree survey conducted in August found that 32 percent of the 1,300 people surveyed moved back home either during or after the COVID pandemic in order to ease their financial burdens.
The cities of Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, New York, Nashville, and Portland fill in the top spots for spikes in rental costs.
One single mother of three named Shonda Austin left the city of Las Vegas after her rent increased by 24 percent and moved back in with her mother in Flint, Michigan.
“My goal is to just save as much as I can,” Austin told The Wall Street Journal.
Another survey conducted in September by UBS found that 18 percent of adults in the U.S. have taken to living rent-free with family or friends just in the last six months; an increase of 11 percent compared to the same time period a year ago.
One couple living in Birmingham, Alabama, and paying $2,800 a month for a loft apartment packed up their belongings and got the hell out of Dodge after their landlord announced she was raising the monthly rent by $900 due to local demand. They told the Journal, “Fingers crossed other landlords come to their senses soon.” Where the couple ended up was not reported by the Daily Mail.
Bailey Byrum, a 27-year-old bartender, said her younger sister recently moved in with her at her home.
“She has a good job… but places by yourself are like $500 to $600 out of her budget,” the elder Byrum said.
According to Bloomberg, the median rent increased nationally to $2,032 in July; up 14 percent from the previous year.
“It’s a signal that rent can’t continue at the same level it has sustained over the last couple of years,” UBS analyst Michael Goldsmith told the Journal. “We’ve reached a point where renters are maybe willing to pull out of the market.”
Cincinnati tops the list with an increase of 26 percent in rental prices while nationally the price of rent increased 7.8 percent in September, which is still 25 percent higher than pre-pandemic averages, making the median U.S. rent $1,759 per month.
The cities of Milwaukee, WI, and Minneapolis, MN, actually saw a decrease in demand and thus a decrease in rent prices (criminal element, maybe?), while the cities of Houston and Chicago remained nearly static.
In any case, it seems the rent is too damn high.
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Frank (Chip) Webster is a musician and composer, former teacher of percussion and U.S. Army Infantry veteran. He holds a degree in English from Arizona State University.
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