More and more Americans with jobs still don’t have homes because rents are going up and prices are going up.
The Washington Post found that more and more people with steady jobs are coming into area shelters and volunteer groups. One group in Tulsa said that the main reason many people are homeless is that they can’t find cheap housing.
“Years of fast-rising rents and a shortage of affordable housing have created a situation where even a strong labor market and rising wages haven’t been enough to offset the financial strains of inflation,” it said.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) says that there were about 653,104 homeless people on a single night in 2023, which is 12% more than in 2022. This is the most homeless people the country has seen since the yearly point-in-time poll began in 2007.
People who talked to the Post said they lived in their cars, hotels, or with friends outside of homeless centers. Some said they had slept in parks.
“Many who spoke with The Washington Post said they’re trapped in an impossible position — making too much money to qualify for food stamps and other types of government assistance, but not enough to secure housing,” the article said.
Then, “All said they were working toward saving enough to cover first and last month’s rent, plus a security deposit, required by many rentals, but were hampered by everyday living costs.”
Aaron Reed, 22, who works at Amazon, said, “Even though I work 50 hours a week, it’s still really hard to keep up.”
Reed, his mother, and their dog have been sleeping in his mother’s Hyundai SUV, even though Reed makes $21 an hour. He talked about the extra costs of being homeless, like having to buy jugs of bottled water because there is no running water.
“Every day, it’s like, ‘Which bills can we pay?’” Reed said. “We’re behind on our car payments, then we’ve got gas, insurance, phones.”
The National Low Income Housing Coalition said that in six states, a $20-an-hour wage could only cover a two-bedroom apartment, even though the minimum wage is $15 in many states.
“I am lucky to make $15 an hour, but living costs are high, and that amount doesn’t even cover rent and utilities,” Marie, 28, a supervisor at a hotel and casino, said. “With everything going up … we cannot save to even get a place to rent.”
There are still a lot of homeless people in big towns across the U.S. Following a Supreme Court decision earlier this year, some Democratic lawmakers have called for bans on homeless camps as a way to try to crack down on the problem.